Strategic dairy farm launch: Cockhaise Farm, Sussex

Join us on Thursday June 4^th for the launch of Cockhaise Farm where we will be reviewing Dan Burdett ‘s current performance and processes as well as hearing more about his future ambitions over the next three years.

Since returning to the family farm from a successful career in the city, Dan and his family have continued their father’s organic dairy farm operations with great success.

Their approach is to aim to produce organic milk from a low-cost base. They operate a tight Autumn calving block with 95% of cows calved in the first six-weeks, based on a strategy of three weeks of AI to dairy and the rest to beef.

Over the next three years Dan will tackle lameness in this grazing herd, reduce the incidence of white-line disease, and find out how to use mobility scoring as a preventative tool.

Join Dan Burdett and Shirley Macmillan, of AHDB, for this launch webinar that will cover:

• An introduction to the background to the farm including a farm photo tour
• A look at current technical and financial performance against AHDB’s Optimal Dairy Systems defined KPI’s for autumn block calving herds
• The long-term vision for the farm, including developing a second unit while maintaining the performance of the home farm, with a critical look at areas for improvement and future focus

Who should attend?

• Anyone wanting to learn more about how organic management principles can benefit your soil structure and grassland management
• How to manage an incredibly tight six-week autumn block calving herd
• Anyone interested in utilising herbal leys 

Booking Details

Address:        Webinar

Date:               Thursday 4th June, 2020

Time:              12:00 – 13:00

Register for your place at this online webinar today 

For more information regarding the event please call Knowledge Exchange Manager, Shirley Macmillan: 07766 402393

About Cockhaise Farm

A herd of just under 300 Holstein Friesian crosses with some Montebeliarde, Norwegian Red and Jersey genes yielding 6,000 litres. There are 150 replacements, some reared off-farm.

Cockhaise Farm owns 142ha and contract-farms or rents a further 162ha. With just 8–12ha down to arable crops this means this farm is a grass-based unit operating multi-species swards and trying out some 22ha of lucerne and Timothy this year.  

The farm has been organic for 20 years and Dan is now the contractor, owning 90% of the cows on a 50:50 profit share basis. He employs two full-time and one-part time staff.

To compare your performance with Cockhaise Farm or to learn more about their story visit www.ahdb.org.uk/farm-excellence/cockhaise-farm

About 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 has 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.

Follow the programme and find other local SDFs at www.ahdb.org.uk/farm-excellence