The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2017 - Issue 53 | Page 42

Low Thorgill Farm
‘We don’t push them. Our
herd average doesn’t move
much. It’s around 6200 litres
but over the last three years
we have managed to increase
the butterfat and protein levels
as ARLA is now paying on
that. This year was the earliest
turnout and earliest first cut
silage we’ve ever had, due
to the mild spring. The cows
were out on April 25, instead
of generally mid-May, and we
had our first cut on the last
day of May. Contractor Richard
Strickland picks it up and
brings it in for us.
‘In the past 10 years we
have invested considerably in
the dairy operation doubling
cow numbers, although the
previous two years prior to
this have been a real struggle
with the milk price and we
couldn’t have sustained
it much longer. We had to
severely tighten our belts and
stopped spending on anything
but necessities. Fortunately
the sheep were reasonably
buoyant last autumn and
through the winter. In the
past the sheep have been a
disaster and the cows have
helped. I certainly wouldn’t
have liked to have had
nothing but the cows for those
two years.’
‘It’s not what
time you get up
in a morning
that counts – it’s
what you get
done between
getting up and
going back to
bed that makes
the difference.’
Ever since the demise of
the Milk Marketing Board in
1995, Sean and his dad have
been with the same milk
42 Oct/Nov 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
buyer, albeit under a different
guise from time to time.
‘Our milk goes to ARLA.
When the MMB finished we
went to Northern Foods Milk
Partnership and then to Express
Dairies when they acquired
Northern. We didn’t change
contracts when Express was
in turn bought by ARLA and
now the business is farmer-
owned. We are one of only five
signatories that have never
changed to another company.
My dad called a meeting here
at Low Thorgill, when the
MMB was folding, and got all
the dairy farmers around the
area, nine at the time, and the
competing dairy companies
together to tell us why we
should go with each of them.
It was an unofficial producer
group and made sure that
we didn’t have four tankers
from four different companies
coming into the valley. Times
have changed and now we’re
the only milk producer left and
we’re still not that big.’
One of the quirks of living
in what is a tourist hotspot
means that Sean has to milk in
accordance with peak demands
for electricity.
‘I milk from six in the morning
and six at night. If I try to milk
while people are using their
power showers in the morning I
don’t have much electricity and
I can’t milk between four and
six in the afternoon as that’s
the peak demand for people
using their electricity in making
their teas, but as my dad has
always said ‘It’s not what time
you get up in a morning that
counts – it’s what you get done
between getting up and going
back to bed that makes the
difference.’
Sean had followed in his
father’s footsteps showing his
Ayrshires, but has moved away
from it recently.
‘We did well at shows years
ago and I was quite keen but
the past two or three years