Is 3 times a day milking for you?

Join us for an interactive workshop to explore the pro and cons of 3 times a day milking and the areas you need to consider.

Jim Kirk from Heanton Barton Farm will share his thoughts as he considers moving from 2x day to 3x day milking. You’ll get an opportunity to discuss the key areas that determine whether it will be sustainable, profitable and fit with the farm’s long-term goals.

You’ll also hear from Grant Hartman, a farm consultant and dairy farmer from Carmarthen with experience in both 2 x and 3 x day milking.

In the workshop you will learn about the:

• Practical implications, milk contract, seasonality and timing
• Staffing, rotas and team work
• Costs and margins
• Herd health and pressures on the cow
• Feeding requirements of the cow

To book your place contact the AHDB KE Events Hub on 01904 771216 or email ke.events@ahdb.org.uk

For further information contact Bryan Nicholson on 07976 181103 or Bryan.nicholson@ahdb.org.uk

About Heanton Barton Farm

A milking herd of 520 Holstein Friesians yielding 11 000 + litres with 350 youngstock and followers. The milking herd is fed a TMR ration and milked in a 60 point rotary parlour.

Most of the work including arable operations and silaging is done in house with limited use of contractors.

The Kirk family farm in North Devon and own 520 acres and rent 180 acres. Growing 80acres of maize which is bought as a standing crop and grow an additional 170 acres for their own feed. High quality maize and grass silage enables the cows to produce consistently high yields.

Jim works with his father and brother in law and employs 3 full time staff.  

Learn more about Heanton Barton and see their key performance figures

Strategic Dairy Farms

Strategic dairy farms aim to help farmers learn from each other through regular on-farm meetings where we will share key performance data and showcase what the best farmers are doing.

They form part of the Optimal Dairy Systems programme which aims to help dairy farmers reduce costs and increase efficiency by focusing on either a tight block or all-year-round calving system.

The growing network of strategic dairy farms have calculated KPIs for their enterprises which are shared at meetings and published online. These are physical and financial performance measures that are critical to success. Farmers can benchmark their businesses against these KPIs to help identify areas for improvement.

Explore our other strategic dairy farms