The Farmers Mart Dec-Jan 2018 - Issue 54 | Page 62

62 J C COUNTRY DEC/JAN 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk FROM GRASS TO MILK John Carr is a fourth-generation farmer at Cleveley House Farm in Lancashire. The farm was originally purchased by his great grandfather back in the 1930’s from the Wynesdale Estate. Since then the farm has been greatly expanded upon, and then in 1970 the farm was divided in two between John’s father and Uncle. John is joint owner of the farm along with his mother, and runs the farm with his partner Nicola. JOHN has been farming since he was a small boy, way back when the herd was milked in the cattle sheds, which is now where the shop is situated. Today the farm consists of 150 acres, split into 90 acres near the farm buildings reserved for graz- ing, whilst another 60 acres further afield which is utilised for heifer rearing and si- lage. The farm has always been profitable, but 5 years ago John and Nicola faced the challenge of falling margins from the year round calving system. The farm currently supports 150 Friesian Jersey cross dairy cows, along with 60 replacements. Previously John had a herd of 100 Holstein Friesians, but switched to Friesian Jersey’s to help improve profitabil- ity. He also changed the emphasis of mak- ing lots of silage to focus on grazed grass approach. John runs a spring block calving system, which allows them to utilise as much grass as possible, reducing the need to rely on bought in supplements. The grazing platform on John’s farm is split into 21 smaller paddocks, which allows him to operate a rotational grazing system and graze the grass at the right stage (2600 Kg of Dry Matter per Hectare) and leave a residual in the paddock of approximately 1500- 1600 Kg of Dry Matter per Hectare. This has proved to be the most efficient way to graze grass throughout the growing season. On the farm are two types of track, the first type is made utilising second hand railway sleepers and the second is hardcore blinded with Limestone dust with the addition of second hand AstroTurf as the top layer. The AstroTurf has proved to be great, as it provides cushioning for the hooves and the herd are less likely to pick up stones. Also, the mud seems to wash straight off the AstroTurf. Though it’s a tricky job to lay because each roll weighs approximately half a tonne and once down it’s a tad difficult to adjust. Its not something you can easily move and adjust like you would with a carpet. John implements the spring block calving grazing system because it allows him to make best use of grass without the need of expensive machinery, which in turn creates a resilient business without relying on ex- pensive inputs. Machinery costs have been successfully reduced, with the farm now running a cou- ple of MF390’s, Kramar 312LX and a MF135, fertiliser spreader and more recently a mower to help with pasture management. These models were chosen because they were right for the size of the farm, as well as being easy to run and maintain. For all other field operations John uses local 68791 - CarrsBillingtonAgriculture-CarlisleBranch - 16TH.pdf contractors, whom have provided a good We are proud to support John Carr C M Agricultural Contractors for John Carr J C Country Store Plowing, Combination Drilling, Mowing, Muck Spreading, Hedge Cutting and much more... TEL: [phone] EMAIL: [email protected] Y CM MY CY CMY K Brock Country Store 01995 643200 carrs-billington.com 1 19/1