Farm of the Week: Quality of grassland may have effect on production

We meet him at the end of March, inspecting chunks of turf on High Moor Farm, near Beckwithshaw, between Harrogate and Otley.

The grass is already behind schedule and it has turned cold and wet again and there is more snow on the horizon.

Late turn-outs this spring will cost the average livestock farmer thousands, Martin tells his audience: "My phone is red hot with farmers wanting to know what to do about their grass."

It is a year for appreciating the value of the farmer's easiest crop and putting in some work to maximise next year's, he says.

On the field in question, brothers Gary and Steven Swires have made a start. They took an aerator across it nine days ago, because the cattle had been turning away from it. Today the farm is having an open day, organised by one of its suppliers, Farmway of Co. Durham, with speakers from various Farmway partners.

And Martin Driscoll, a plant scientist for Nutrifertil, is conducting a comparison of the aerated turf with an untouched area next door, for an audience of professional farmers.

You can already see the difference, he says. He points to traces of red oxide build-up, which occur where water hits the hard pan under the surface and nitrates sit and acidify and react with dissolved iron.

These giveaway marks are lower down in the aerated soil, meaning there is more depth of nutrients for the hair roots which take them up. And there are fewer black streaks of undigested organic matter – no good to plants until it has been through worms.

Apart from looking better, the aerated soil smells better, says Martin, and that is important: "If the soil stinks, the grass stinks, and you get less take-up."

He adds that the surface moulds on unhealthy turf are harbours for mastitis, so it is important to aerate under trees, where the cattle lie, as well as where they feed.

He offers a dozen suggestions for improving this particular field and getting the money back in grass – a less competitive clover; a late cut to take out long grasses which will keel over and cause "winter kill"; some shallow gravel "French drains"; a grass mix timed to be at its best for the silage cut.

He hands over to the man from Ritchie's, who claims their standard aerator – 2,450 plus VAT for three metres wide – will pay for itself in a season.

"You could spend a lot of money," comments Gary Swires. But he and his brother have been talked into an aerator and they are listening to the rest.

As the tour makes clear, they and their late father turned this farm into a substantial dairy business by always keeping up to date with the possibilities. That has involved at least half a million in investment over the past five years – a million-gallon slurry tank to cope with NVZ requirements; extra buildings for more cows to make the slurry tank worthwhile; and a new 40-place milking parlour with all the high-tech help it could have, short of robotry – installed by Hadrian Farm Services.

They are now milking 360 cows in two and three quarter hours against five to six hours for 200 cows three years ago – twice a day, of course.

"It will probably take a lifetime for the investment to pay off in money," Gary comments. "But it gives us a better life. And it makes it easier to get help, because people like to work in it."

One unusual item included in the refit was an 8,000 pasteuriser for milk for calves, which they reckoned would pay off in health. The brothers admit to some irritation that Yorkshire Forward is now paying other farmers half the cost of similar installations and other improvements they have paid for themselves, but they cannot get anything retrospectively.

"You can't help feeling it doesn't pay to get too far ahead of the game," comments Gary. He is 39. His brother is 38. Their grandfather came to the farm in 1935, as a tenant of the Harewood Estate, and eventually bought it and an adjoining farm, Shaw Head. His son, Keith, working with his own sons, added another 200 acres before he died, two years ago, at the age of 63, from complications from chicken pox. His widow, Josie, still runs the office for the 725 acres now in the business.

The brothers have two full-time hands, John France and David Bradley, and four relief milkers. That is a tight team for 10,000 litres of milk a day, plus breeding of replacements and rearing of the male calves to sell on at 20 months. The milkers are Holstein Friesians, averaging nearly 10,000 litres a lactation and being bred for better durability through a careful AI strategy. A Simmental bull runs with the cows and puts a bit of variety into the beef stores. One way and another, they have about 900 cattle and they grow almost all the feed for them.

They supply Asda, through Arla, and hung on to their contract in Asda's recent shake-out. It means an important penny a litre on the going rate but Asda does expect commitment to its producer group education programme and they are glad they have been conscientious attenders.

Gary says: "When my grandad came here, the farm would not keep two jack rabbits to the acre. He turned it into a living for our dad and dad did the same for me and Steven. He was always pushing ahead, investing for the long term, and we feel we should do the same for our own children."

CW 10/4/10