Grasstrac User Gains UK Title
The winner of the 2006 National Grassland Management Competition, sponsored by DLF Trifolium. is Thomas Craig, who is a Grasstrac user. Thomas is the brother of Robert and son of Jim who farm together on 442 acres on the edge of Lough Foyle, near Londonderry in N.Ireland. The dairy herd has 150 pedigree Holstein cows yielding 9,313 litres per year with 3,613 litres coming from forage.
Harold Moore gained excellent publicity earlier on this year with the attached photograph featuring Robert, who runs the arable side of the business and has been an excellent advocate of Yara Phosyn products.
Dr Tom Blair (above right) reports:
"Thomas Craig farms with his father Jim and brother Robert on 442 acres of reclaimed land on the edge of Loch Foyle. The land lies between 0.5m above and below sea level, and the silty sandy loam soil has a high pH of 6.5 to 7.8.
Thomas is in charge of the dairy enterprise which has 150 pedigree Holstein cows.
With the high land prices in Northern Ireland his strategy is based on an autumn calving system, where a total mixed ration is fed to produce high yields of quality milk through the winter.
The farm is managed in an environmentally sustainable way and as much home-grown feed is used as possible. As well as 180 acres of grass and 62 acres of lucerne, 40 acres of wholecrop cereals are grown on the arable acreage, along with 40 acres of cereals for crimping.
The cows yield 9,313 litres per year, with 3,613 litres coming from forage, and a stocking rate of 0.9 cow equivalents per acre. The cows go out in April and Thomas operates a 20 to 24 day grazing rotation using 7 to 9 acre paddocks, depending on grass growth. The paddocks are strip grazed moving the fence twice a day.
The family has almost completed a five year plan to fence 2km of ponds and 3km of double fencing for new or replanted hedging. 30,000 quicks and 400 trees have been planted since 1995."
And of course application of Yara Phosyn Grasstrac to boost those important nutrient levels in the pastures.
Author: John Keyte, UK
Published: January 2007