Farmer Focus: R Neill & Son, Northumberland
Tom Neill is the third generation of his family to milk cows at Thornington Farm, Mindrum, in North Northumberland. Now milking 320 British Friesians, averaging around 7,800kg, he is looking forward to opening the gates for the upcoming British Friesian Breeders Club Herd Visit on the 3rd of June.
The AYR calving herd of robust and hardy Friesian cows typically grazes from Mid April to October. The herd is currently averaging 4.42% butterfat, and 3.4% protein, and has a calving interval of 362 days. Being on an ARLA ALDI contract from 2018-2023 and ARLA C.A.R.E since 2023, Tom aims to use best practices across animal health and welfare, people development, environmental and natural resource management, community engagement, and economic resilience and reinvestment.
In 1954 Tom’s grandfather Robert moved with the dairy cows to Thornington Farm from Ayrshire on a chartered train. From then on, the farm business has constantly grown and evolved to its current size of 2500 acres. A new shed was built in 2012 to house the milking herd and incorporates underground slurry storage and slatted walkways, locking head yolks, cow brushes, and tipping water troughs to maximise cow comfort and welfare, as well as time management.
A strong reliance is placed on home-grown forages, with over 700 acres of grain harvested annually for this. As much as possible a three-way land split of spring and winter barley and winter wheat is used to feed on the farm before any surplus is sold. Feeding to yield in the DeLaval 28:28 herringbone parlour is automated and fed on the back of milk recording each animal at each milking, in conjunction with the cows having EID tags and auto ID in the parlour.
The Neill family have been milk recording with The Cattle Information Service since 2001, having had the same milk recorder, Allison Fortune, for all that time. Since the move to the ARLA C.A.R.E. contract, the herd milk records on a monthly basis and quarterly bulk health tests for IBR, Lepto, and BVD and individual tests for Johnes. Cell Count results are a priority from the milk records, to investigate any cows with high results and use the previous three results for selective dry cow therapy when drying off. This is important to reduce antibiotic usage to meet their milk contract parameters, as well as for financial savings.
The British Friesian’s desirability at Thornington Farm lies in their ability to generate few problems, their willingness to graze when the grass is available, and their inherent good fertility. The herd’s calving interval is minimised by the cows being checked by the vet post-calving, receiving one straw of British Friesian semen, and then running with one of the herd’s two stock bulls. All cows are then pd’d at 40 to 60 days after service, and anything not in calf is treated by the vet. However, the number needing vet treatment is minimal.
The breed comes into its own, according to Tom, when he factors up that between the cull cows, fresh heifers, Limousin cross bulling heifers, fat steers and calves, it amounts annually to an extra 20p per litre on all milk produced.
Hereford and Angus are used on heifers, and what Tom considers the lower end of the herd, with these beef-cross calves sold to one of Tom’s brothers, Robert, who runs a 350-head beef-cross herd. Tom’s other brother, David, keeps 1,800 breeding sheep at nearby Downham Farm, which operates as a single unit alongside Thornington Farm (spanning 1,500 acres), as well as an additional 1,000 acres rented each year for grazing or cropping from local farms.
Tom credits his entire family for winning the Northern Dairy Farmer award in 2020, as his parents, George and Mary, are still involved in the business, along with Tom’s wife, Nicola, and children, Emma and Michael.
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