One of Pembrokeshire’s largest dairy farms, which has a 2,000-strong dairy herd, has submitted a scheme for new calf buildings to “reduce reliance on third-party farms”.

Hugh James of Langdon Mill Farms Ltd has applied for permission for a calf building and weaned calf building, and associated yard areas, at Langdon Mill Farm, near Jeffreyston, Kilgetty.

A supporting statement, through agent Reading Agricultural Consultants, said: “Langdon Mill Farm is a dairy unit extending to approximately 1,215ha, comprising 283ha owned land and 730ha rented, located approximately 1km north of the village of Jeffreyston.

“A further 162ha is used by the business to spread slurry under informal agreements.  The holding currently has a milking herd of approximately 2,000 cows, which are housed indoors for the majority of the year, with dry cows [cows that are not lactating, prior to calving] and heifers grazed outdoors when weather and soil conditions permit.

“There has been significant investment in buildings and infrastructure at the farm over the last decade in respect of cattle accommodation, slurry storage, milking facilities, Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant and feed storage.  The unit is efficient, achieving yields of more than 10,000 litres/cow/year, with cows being milked three times/day in the 60-point rotary parlour.

“Langdon Mill Farm currently directly employs 21 full-time, and three part-time staff (including the applicants).  Of these, four live on site in the two dwellings opposite the farm, with the remaining staff living in the locality.”

urrently, calves are reared at Langdon Mill Farm for two months before being transported off-site to be reared at a number of third-party farms in the area.

At 22 months the in-calf heifers are brought back to the maternity building to calve, and then are introduced into the milking herd.

The proposed 61.2m long calf building is required to accommodate young-stock, following separation from the cows, to two-months, with the 164.8m weaned calf building to be used for calves from two months to seven months. Following the construction of the new calf accommodation, the existing building would be used for machinery and straw storage.

Currently, weaned calves are transported by tractor and cattle trailer to be reared at a farm in Cresselly, approximately 2.4km from Langdon Mill Farm.

The application says the proposals would “clearly make the enterprise more financially robust by reducing reliance on third party farms,” adding: “Despite the scale of the new buildings, their relationship to the existing dry cow/maternity building and proposed anaerobic digestion plant would ensure that landscape impact associated with the proposed development would not be significant.”

The application will be considered by planners at a later date.

A PEMBROKESHIRE spring-calving dairy farm is introducing a new feeding system for newborn calves in what is to be thought the first trial of its kind in a large-scale herd.

Will and Alex Prichard are feeding enriched pasteurised transition milk to calves in their first 10 days of life rather than abruptly transitioning them to whole milk or milk powder.

Research has shown that feeding transition milk to young calves vastly improves their digestive system’s ability to digest milk, with those benefits sustained to keep them healthy and thriving as they grow.

The Prichard’s, who produces milk from 500 spring calvers, were keen to trial this feeding system in their own herd at Escalwen, Letterston, in the hope of improving calf health and wellbeing.

They are doing this with support from the Farming Connect Try Out Fund, an initiative that funds individuals and groups of farmers and growers to experiment with ideas and bring them to life.

Although the health benefits from enriched pasteurised transition milk have previously been demonstrated in all-year round calving herds in the USA and Canada, it is believed to be the first time it has been trialled in a large-scale block calving herd.

Getting the correct nutrition is crucial in the early stages of a calf’s life.

Even after a few hours the animal loses its ability to absorb antibodies – there is a dramatic reduction within 10 hours of birth and, by 20 hours, that capacity has all but gone.

To establish the effectiveness of the transition milk product, calves born at Escalwen this spring are being blood tested for antibody levels.

The transition milk is also being tested for its immunoglobulin (IgG) status before and after it has been pasteurised.

If it needs enriching this is being done to raise the BRIX value to a minimum of 12.5%. It is then fed to calves during their first 10 days of life.

An optical refractometer is being used to measure milk BRIX as it gives an instant result but by the end of the study all batches of transition milk will have been tested for IgG using Radial Immunodiffusion Assay at the University of Edinburgh.

Vet Dr Ryan Davies, director of Veterinary Technical Consulting Ltd, who is providing expert input into the project, says this will enable the accuracy of milk BRIX to be determined to quantify IgG status.

“We will then assess this against the health status of the calves,’’ he says.

Mortality from neonatal calf diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and navel and joint ill is being monitored and antibiotic use too, as well as daily liveweight gains – at birth, at 30-35 days and at weaning.

The Try Out project hopes to understand more about how dairy farmers with large block calving herds can consistently produce animals that are healthy, productive and have a good quality of life through optimising calf health with preventative healthcare.

More productive animals mean less carbon emissions, higher standards of animal welfare and a reduction in antibiotic usage.

Not only do Will and Alex hope to reap the benefits in their own system but that other farmers will too when the findings are shared with the industry at the end of the project.

“Having the ability to acquire extra resources at the busiest time of our year has allowed us to monitor the results of our actions in a more scientific fashion,’’ says Will.

“Funding large scale testing is telling us so much about what is happening in our own herd environment and most importantly what behaviours and protocols are driving tangible improvements in herd health and antibiotic reduction.”

They had already made big gains in improving calf health before this project got underway.

The five-year average for morbidity in their pre-weaned calves from 2018-2022 was 45%, in line with the national average of 47% – in 2023 it was reduced to 17%.

Use of the Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics was reduced from 1.98mg/ population corrected unit (PCU) in 2022 to zero the following year.

AN eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge is helping mother and son Dianna and Iestyn Spary to continually improve their livestock farming enterprise and build a financially sustainable business fit for the future.

Technical expertise and good business sense are not qualities the Sparys lack since embarking on an impressive number of Farming Connect workshops, covering a range of animal health and welfare topics.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity, we have learned so much that we can apply within the day to day running of our farm and herd, and we can draw on that knowledge as we look at developing new enterprises and diversifications,’’ says Dianna.

She is the fifth generation of her family to farm at Goytre Farm at New Church West, Chepstow, Iestyn the sixth.

Together they farm 110 hectares, running a Hereford-cross beef suckler herd and also rearing beef cattle purchased as baby calves, including more recently British Blues, taking these through to slaughter.

Although they have been immersed in agriculture all their lives, they recognise that it is an industry that is constantly changing as new research and ideas are rolled out and applied.

This is where the Farming Connect workshops have been so incredibly valuable, says Dianna.

“You are never too old to learn, things are changing all the time. If we hadn’t got involved in attending the workshops, we would never have known about some of those new ways of doing things.’’

From learning how to maximise suckler cow productivity and protecting youngstock health to understanding diseases such as Johne’s and bovine TB, the animal health and welfare training workshops have been “enormously valuable’’, she adds.

The pair have tapped into Farming Connect accredited training courses covering areas such as calf management, health and housing, body condition scoring and safe use of veterinary medicines.

“You name it we have done it,’’ says Dianna.

They were announced the winners of the 2023 Farming Connect Animal Health and Welfare Award at the Lantra Cymru Awards in January.

The knowledge gained through Farming Connect workshops and training has helped inform changes in the business.

“We now monitor cattle weights more closely and have introduced different ways of feeding,’’ Dianna explains.

“We have also been revamping all the cattle sheds and have a couple of new ones that will be going up.

“We’ve also invested in calf jackets and if there are any drops in weights, we are more responsive with feed intakes, little things like that.’’

Iestyn has also benefited from a number of sheep-related topics offered through the animal health workshops.

Through the Farming Connect Advisory Service, they have received specialist veterinary advice on their Herd Health Plan with a focus on incoming stock and biosecurity. They have also had guidance on soil health through the soil clinic.

The Sparys largely use traditional farming methods at Goytre Farm where they have several hay meadows.

All feed is produced on-farm. “By doing everything in-house we know exactly what we are feeding and that’s important to us,’’ says Dianna.

That distinctiveness, which sets them apart from some of the more mainstream farming systems, has given them the confidence to consider establishing a diversification into meat box sales, what Dianna describes as a ‘farm to fork’ approach.

Working with a local butcher who has an abattoir licence, they hope to do everything on-site, from slaughter through to hanging the carcass for 28 days, and then selling cuts direct to the consumer.

“We have also spoken to a chef who is going to produce some recipe cards for us to include in the boxes along with a bit of history of where the meat has come from,’’ says Dianna.

Another future project could be converting stone barns in the farmyard to holiday accommodation.

To help focus their minds on their plans, the Sparys will get guidance at a Farming Connect diversification surgery; they have also signed up for a ‘planning a diversification’ training course and will attend a ‘Dos and Don’ts of Diversification’ event in the coming weeks.

For Iestyn, another form of diversification, into agricultural contracting, has provided a secondary income stream.

His customer base is largely farms with smaller acreages with crops that require harvesting or spraying.

Farming Connect has helped with this process too as Iestyn has gained his Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Pesticides (PA1) and Safe Application of Pesticides Using Vehicle mounted Boom Sprayer Equipment (PA2).

He also offers field maintenance and fencing and works on a neighbouring farm during the lambing season.

This is where Farming Connect has again helped; through the animal health workshops, he has covered modules advising on the prevention of lambing losses and lameness, improving lamb performance post-weaning and parasite controls.

Dianna says the opportunities available through Farming Connect have really helped to drive the family farming business forward.

“We have a good relationship with our local Farming Connect development officer Lisa Powell, she has been brilliant in giving us advice on which courses and workshops are right for us and signing us up for those,’’ she says.

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