Two visitors from the Netherlands have praised the quality of the dairy cattle they saw in Cumbria and the attention paid to their breeding.
Dutch farmer and noted cattle judge Frank Winter and Miranda van Zessen, regional sales manager for the cattle breeding co-operative CRV and also a farmer, came to the county mainly to judge dairy stock at Skelton show, but also gave a talk to farmers and visited dairy farms.
They were invited at the suggestion of Skelton show livestock committee members Amy Wilson, of Hardrigg Hall, Ellonby, and Becky Atkinson, of Watermillock, who is a breeding sales adviser for CRV and was the main organiser of the visit.
Becky explained that, coming from a very flat country, the visitors wanted to stay in the Lakeland hills and so were booked to stay at the Troutbeck Inn, between Penrith and Keswick, which they appreciated.
Their first “official engagement”, on the evening they arrived, was at The Gavel cafe at Penrith mart, where about 35 farmers were interested to hear about the Dutch approach to dairy cattle breeding. Frank spoke of his own herd, based in the eastern part of the Netherlands, which comprises 285 black and white cows and 160 youngstock, kept on 102 hectares of land, of which 82 are grass and 20 maize.
Frank’s aim is to breed long lived cattle with minimal udder and foot issues and boasting impressively high lifetime milk production. Average production in his herd is 12,177kg at 4.43 per cent fat and 3.59 per cent protein. He has had 52 cows with a lifetime production of more than 100,000kg and nine cows still on his farm have exceeded this figure. One still in production has a lifetime yield of 187,000kg.
His cattle graze outside for 140 days a year, six hours a day. They are fed twice a day on 55 per cent grass silage and 45 per cent maize silage, with a total mixed ration also including beet pulp, brewer’s grains, maize flakes, protein flour, fat and minerals.
Miranda spoke about the CRV breeding programme, which is designed to produce cows which produce the same amount of milk as “standard” dairy cattle but with less feed.
Additionally, Marcus Fox, agricultural consultant with Scotland’s Rural College, who spoke about how efficiency results in farm profitability.
The following day, Frank and Miranda enjoyed a visit to the Wilson family’s Stowbeck Holsteins herd at Skirwith Hall Farm, where 450 cows are milked, with an average yield of 10,500 litres.
They saw some potential show cows and were impressed by their strength and dairy form. They also appreciated the fact Len Wilson knows all his cow families and pedigrees, and that one of his main aims is cow longevity.
After this, they headed down to the Kendal area to visit the Barton family’s Holstein herd at Lupton Hall, where CRV genetics have been in use for eight years. On the way back to Troutbeck, they enjoyed travelling through some Lake District scenery.
On the Saturday, they judged all the dairy classes at Skelton show. Frank had previous experience of judging Jersey types and said those at the show were of excellent quality. He and Miranda also enjoyed the sheer variety at Hutton-in-the-Forest, since the Dutch shows they go to feature just dairy cattle.
