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Farm/dairy name: Pengwern Farm
Owners: Richard and Hugh Jones
No of dairy cows: 150
Housing: Loose housing
Milking system: 16/32 MidiLine™ parlour
“Yields have increased and milk constituents have improved due to more efficient concentrate use with ALPRO”
The Jones family live in a scenic area close to the sea and milk is supplied all year round to the local Coop. This farm won a BOCM award for quality silage.
The average yield for Pengwern farm ranges from 7,600 to 8,000 kilograms per annum with butterfat at 4.2 per cent and protein at 3.3 per cent. In January 2003 the Jones family invested in a new DeLaval parlour and hi tech equipment like the ALPRO herd management system, to increase production. Richard says “yields have increased and milk constituents have improved due to more efficient concentrate use with ALPRO”. They also noticed that average yield remains very steady while herd health and fertility has improved. “It’s useful to know which cows are doing well. If a cow does not eat or her milk yield is down you know something is wrong and can take immediate action.”
Before they changed to the new parlour it was taking the Jones men 2 ½ to three hours to milk the cows in a 12/12 DeLaval plant, which was installed in 1968. Richard and Hugh felt it was time to change. The new plant is a 16/32 Midiline parlour with swing over arms and splashguards to protect the milker from soiling. This ICE (Index Conventional Exit) parlour has 90º stalls and Richard says “milking is now done in less than half the time - saving up to three hours per day”. Father and son agree that milking is “much easier” and the cows are “not waiting in the yard for more than an hour”. Richard adds that everybody working on the farm “has more time off” and it is “easier to keep staff”.
The cows are fed using ALPRO, DeLaval in parlour feeders and a TMR system.
Richard believes that in the future nobody will work in an “old and out of date” parlour. “A good working environment is important” he says. Hugh adds that “if you are going to stick with dairying and keep the family interested, you have to invest in the future”.
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