Testimonials

Success with Beef InFocus™ in a Spring Block Flying Herd

David Hichens, Kerris Dairy, Cornwall manages a Spring Block flying herd on an Arla contract. David is a new entrant having bought the herd in Spring 2021, in-calf to Genus ABS British Blue sires. The herd comprises of 190 head of Jersey X and Irish Friesian X cows; all cattle have now been served back […]
Herd Size: 190

Successfully using a Sexcel® & Beef InFocus™ strategy to expand our block calving herd

Robert Bowden, Gwealavellan Partners, in Cornwall operates a 12 week Spring block calving herd comprising 145 head on a once-a-day milking system. Rob is a new entrant into dairy farming and is incredibly forward-thinking and progressive, with plans to expand to 250-300 head in the near future. Therefore a Sexcel® & Beef InFocus™ strategy has […]
Herd Size: 145

Joining the GENEadvance® service to help make faster genetic progress!

Bower Park Farm in Kent, owned by the Billings family, have significant expansion and improvement plans for the farm over the next five years.  They currently have nearly 400 cows but plan to expand to around 1,000, a new rotary parlour has recently been installed and new housing is being built to accommodate the growing […]
Herd Size: 400

Success with Sexcel® & Beef InFocus™ in an autumn block calving herd

Owner of Common Farm, Tom Matthews, and Herd Manager, Clive Bond, manage a 230-cow breeding herd, averaging 9,000kgs/cow on an autumn block calving, grass-based system. In 2019, they used Sexcel® for the first time on heifers and were delighted with the results. “We purchased 80 straws of Sexcel® Seagull-Bay Kimball which resulted in 58 pregnancies […]
Herd Size: 230

Crossbreeding provides trouble-free cows and improved herd performance

John Barber farms 400 cows on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border at Oakley Park Farm on a 10-year farm business tenancy. Owned by Friend Farms Ltd, the 560 acres farm has switched the dairy system to a strict 12 week autumn block calving system. John’s foundation cows came from the original herd and were big Holsteins. Relative […]
Herd Size: 400

The Herd Ranking tool allowing Block Calving herds to achieve goals faster

Mathew & Coral senior milk 320 British Friesian X cows in an organic block calving system. The herd is split into both Spring and Autumn block calving patterns (9 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively). Lely robots were installed 2 years ago and the cows graze from the middle of February to November. The average yield […]
Herd Size: 320

Success with Breeder Tag System

“The Breeder Tag System was put in for the 2018\19 breeding season and we have been getting on well with it.  I was sceptical at first about how well it would work, but soon gained trust in the system.  It has picked up on cows that we have not seen, it is like having eyes […]
Herd Size: 120

Data Drives Performance Improvements

While improving fertility was the prime reason for investing in a pedometer-based heat detection system, the additional management information provided has resulted in other significant improvements.
Dairy
Herd Size: 890

“Exactly what we want!”

The Taylor family have been farming at Stryt Fawr for over 40 years. In the foothills of the Clywdian Range in North Wales the 100 strong herd consists of mainly Brown Swiss cattle. The herd supply Arla and a small portion of the milk goes to the farms other public facing business ‘Chilly Cow Ice […]
Herd Size: 100

Replacement success with Breeder Tag System

Peter and Mark Hewitt are milking 400 cows three times a day at Battye Hill Farm, Lancashire. They currently average 11,800 litres with over 200 heifers, the aim is to keep expanding the herd so breeding replacement heifers from their best animals is paramount.  In October 2020 they wanted to use a heat detection system […]
Herd Size: 400

Success With Breeder Tag System

James Powell of Gwarcwm operate all year-round calving, high input, high output farm. They are currently milking 173 cows, averaging a milk yield of 11,000 litres. James started using Breeder Tag System early in January 2021 and is already experiencing many benefits in addition to accurate heat detection. “We installed the system primarily to help […]
Herd Size: 173

How a Sexcel® and Beef InFocus™ strategy has added value to two different types of systems; Spring Block & All-Year-Round Calving, Deans Farms LTD, Cheshire.

In the hills of the Cheshire/Derbyshire fringe of the peak district, Paul Dean operates Deans Farms LTD, a family managed farming business that is tailoring its breeding strategies to the farm land that makes it up. The business runs 550 cows across three farms; Midgley & Hammerton farms at Wincle and Sutton based Symondley Farm. […]
Herd Size: 200

Gawsworth Spring Calving Herd reaping the benefits of a Sexcel® and Beef InFocus™ breeding strategy.

Martin Wheelton manages two Spring Block calving herds in Gawsworth, Cheshire. Mill End Farm is home to 550 cows averaging 7,000kgs per cow and Heaton Hall Farm home to 220 cows averaging 5,970kgs per cow. Both are recording about 4.6% fat and 3.6% protein. Decades ago, the herds were All-Year-Round calving until Martin made the […]
Herd Size: 770

A change in strategy alongside genetic tools to drive herd profitability.

Success with Sexcel®… We have used Sexcel®, for the past two breeding seasons. In year one, we took a cautious approach and only used half sexed semen and half conventional semen. Historically, our concerns would have been around lower conception rates and compromising our tight calving block. However, after the first year our conception rates […]
Herd Size: 1831

“Ranking my herd will enable me to profit from genetic progress.”

Chris Knowles milks 340 cows in a once a day milking Spring Block Calving herd based in St Ives, Cornwall. Cows are grazed up to 270 days a year and milk is supplied to their onsite award winning dairy, Trink dairy. “I’ve used the Genus ABS Herd Ranking tool for the last two seasons to […]
Herd Size: 345
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