The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2021 - Issue 77 | Page 33

BROOM HOUSE FARM 33 wet or too hot for the cows and there are no trees to give any shade .’
GROUNDWORKS & CONSTRUCTION
Proudly working with & supporting the Booth family for over 15 years . 07801 108442
• OCT / NOV 2021
BROOM HOUSE FARM 33 wet or too hot for the cows and there are no trees to give any shade .’
The Shawdale herd runs to 150 milkers and they also have around 190 young stock as all cattle are taken right through to calving .
‘ We sell newly calved heifers and dairy calves in Gisburn and Skipton livestock markets and also a few privately ,’ says David .
‘ We went to pedigree Holsteins in 1979 ,’ says David . ‘ Everything on the farm is homebred and we are on all year round calving . We use AI on the whole herd with 80 per cent of the cows receiving sexed semen and the rest beef AI . The sexed semen works . We had 107 heifer calves last year .
The Booths changed to robotic milking in 2015 and now the milkers are kept inside all year round .
‘ It ’ s not very easy to turn them outside when they are on robots ,’ says David . ‘ But
their atmosphere inside with ventilated curtains and fans is better than being at the vagaries of our weather up here . We keep the dry cows out in summer .’
‘ I ’ d been thinking of robots for a few years . We had been milking three times a day for 20 years and we ’ d had a man who did 5 or 6 nights a week every single week , but he couldn ’ t physically do it anymore .’
‘ We started with two Lely Astronaut A4 robots and went to three about 18 months later . Our cows are all in cubicles and are bedded down with mattresses and sawdust . Going back six years we invested heavily in the dairy operation putting up a new slurry store , silage clamp and the robots .’
‘ If Jennie hadn ’ t been coming back after finishing her studies at Harper Adams we maybe wouldn ’ t have done it but we ’ ve
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Established for over 50 years
LTD

GROUNDWORKS & CONSTRUCTION

Proudly working with & supporting the Booth family for over 15 years . 07801 108442

C H ART ERED A C C OUNTA NTS &
REGI S T ERED A U D I TORS Specialists in Farm Accounts and Agricultural Taxation
Contact Helen Herd or Tom Clarke
The Four Columns , Broughton Hall Business Park , Skipton , North Yorks . BD23 3AE Tel : 01756 795417 Email : information @ hodgson-meakin . co . uk
We are pleased to be associated with David , Margaret & Jennie Booth of Broom House Farm , wishing them continued success .