Milking - The Dairy

Award-winning Dairy Farm with a 1300 strong pedigree high yeilding Holstein Herd.

Milking

Our herd is of an award-winning standard, with each cow wearing an electronic tag to record its full history whilst at the farm. We employ a clear focus on achieving exceptional animal welfare and care to ensure they are well looked after and kept in the best condition possible. Our milking parlour is of a rotary design and is supported by a hi-tech computer system to monitor the quality and quantity of milk yields. Milk produced is transported off site almost immediately to ensure its freshness when reaching the consumer.

1300 strong pedigree high yielding Holstein herd. The current average is 12,500 litres per cow per year at 3.9% butterfat and 3.3% protein. The cows are milked 3 times a day.

The dairy employs 35 people, most not from farming backgrounds and two thirds of them are ladies. The dairy staff have a diverse range of responsibilities from delivering calves to operating expensive equipment, full training is provided including health and safety.

Rotary Parlour

Our cows are milked on a 72 point American boumatic parlour. The cows really enjoy the gentle ride on the parlour. This is a pleasant environment for the cows and the operators.

Lactalign is a unique device that was invented in house to assist with the position on the cluster while milking the cows. This was done in conjunction with James Hudson. For more information about this see the link Lactalign below which has been sold to other gold cup winners.

Lactalign Info

The History of the Herd

John Metcalfe graded the herd up in the early 70’s through purchases through Leyburn Auction Mart, the herd was then expanded with quality stock that was bought from well known herds. The herd has been closed now, and the plan is to keep the herd closed for the time being to maintain the bio security and health of the herd.

Every female heifer calf born is DNA tested so we know which will be the most healthy animals entering the herd. We only look to breed these high genetic merit animals for future replacements, this has accelerated the genetic gain of the herd in a short time. So, we are now in the top 5% benchmarked against other herds genetically.

In 2018 we were fortunate enough to win the National Milk Records (NMR) The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) Gold Cup which is regarded as the top industry award for business performance and cow welfare. The award was presented to Phillip Metcalfe by Princess Anne.