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Farm/dairy name: Shirecombe Farm
Owners: Chris & Leo White
No Dairy cows: 250
Breed of cows: Friesian Holstein
Housing: Cubicle building
Milking system: DeLaval Herringbone 50°with Alpro system
Number of milkings per day: 2
Father and son team Chris and Leo White farm way up at the 1,000 foot level at the edge of Exmoor where most people think only the Beef cattle survive. The family have been dairy farmers at this farm since Leo’s grandfather moved here in 1956 with an Alfa Laval bucket plant and twelve cows.
Chris said
“My father made a good living in those days but was also prepared to move with the times” around about 1978 they installed another Alfa-Laval but this time a 5 x 10 which they used right up to 2006. Chris said “in 2005 we had 120 cows in old cow kennels which were seeing the end of their days, something had to be done”
A decision was made to not only stay in milk but to increase the cow numbers to 250 by the end of 2008. A plan was formulated - In the first year came the new cubicle building and silage clamp and an increase in cow numbers. Leo said “by this time the old parlour was over burdened, over worked and overdue for change we were ready for phase two.”
Then came the new DeLaval 24x24 parlour with all the latest management technology Leo added “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done. We should have done it years ago” “In the old parlour milking 140 cows took almost eight hours in the new one I can milk comfortably 80 – 85 cows per hour with a full routine with pre and post dip wiping and sampling” “We are really pleased with the parlour the attention to detail by the local dealer BH White who were excellent and they are on hand should anything go wrong”
With the new equipment their management skills have been enhanced by the very relevant details provided by the DeLaval Alpro system. The parlour has given them the time and comfort to make good day to day decisions and turned what was a laborious chore into an excellent business well set for the next three generations of the White family.
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