Moorhouse Hall Farm

Follow our journey if you are interested in:

• Starting your journey to growing forage crops
• Enhancing your farm’s productivity and sustainability through genetics
• Achieving high standards of cow health and welfare
• Maximising your returns and cash out of your business

Overview

Located in Wigton, Cumbria, Moorhouse Hall Farm is managed by third-generation farmers John and Kate.

Chris Bailey, their son, works part-time on the farm, alongside his career as a large animal vet.

Our farm

Moorhouse Hall Farm is a 130-acre farm that offers a grass-based, multi-cut silage-based system for 100 Holstein-Friesian cows.

Their silage provides quality feed for the cows, through either four or five cuts.

Our herd

This all-year-round herd of 100 Holstein-Friesian cows average 10,200 litres per cow, per year, at 4.17% butterfat and 3.36% protein.

The herd has been closed for more than 50 years, using replacement heifers from their milking cows to continue the strong line of genetics, further allowing them flexibility with their herd.

The youngstock have won various awards for calf rearing, highlighting impressive animal health and welfare standards.

Calving takes place in small batches with a lot of the cows calving between late June and September. They have been calving heifers at or below 24 months since the grandfather’s generation.

Our journey

Originally tenant farmers in Lancashire, the Bailey family started their journey on Moorhouse Hall Farm in 2022 after purchasing the 130-acre farm.

The family have been all-year-round dairy farmers in Lancashire for four generations, with Chris’ great-grandfather taking on the original lease.

During October 2022, the herd of Holsteins were moved up to Wigton, with them settling into their new home in time for Christmas.

After only one year at Moorhouse Hall Farm, the Bailey family have opened their doors to gain advice from a steering group, through the Strategic Dairy Farm programme to help them build on what they are already doing and achieve further goals.

News

• The right system, the right life: Finding the right grazing and calving system (May 2025) The Bailey family have been weighing up whether to tighten their calving block into an autumn system or invest in robots to improve farm efficiency, reduce time spent milking and washing down, and better suit their lifestyle. Read more about how working with consultant Owen Atkinson helped them evaluate both options
• Slurry grants helped Cumbria dairy farm upgrade for the future (October 2024) The journey the Bailey family went on to plan and start building a new slurry store, whilst making use of the grants. This was written off the back of their meeting ‘whole slurry management systems – where do you start’
• How one farm is leading the charge in dairy herd performance (October 2024) The Bailey family is driving success by focusing on herd genetics, positioning themselves just shy of the top 1% for Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) for their youngstock. John Bailey discusses how they got there and what they are doing to continue improving their herd genetics
• Using genomics to improve dairy herds podcast (April 2024) Lifting the lid on the world of dairy genomics is AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager Alan McFadzean. Alan's joined by strategic dairy farmer John Bailey and veterinary surgeon Dr Neil Eastham to find out what they have achieved by embracing tools like the Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI)
• Strategic Farms provide platform for learning at launch events (November 2023) Reflecting back at the first three launches of the new Strategic Dairy Farm cohort
• Launching three new Strategic Dairy Farms (October 2023) Following a successful Strategic Dairy Farm recruitment campaign, AHDB announced the first three farms to launch, including Moorhouse Hall Farm

Press coverage

• Cumberland and Westmorland Herrald: Slurry grants helped Cumbria dairy farm upgrade for the future (November 2024) How the Bailey family utilised grants to plan and construct a new slurry store
• British Dairying: Slurry grants to help upgrade Cumbria farm (November 2024) Focused on herd genetics, the Bailey family is driving success, with their youngstock ranking just below the top 1% for Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI). John Bailey discusses the steps they’ve taken and their strategies for future improvement
• Cow Management: Genomics support breeding and sustainability (October 2024) The Bailey family's journey of planning and starting the development of a new slurry store, making use of grant funding
• Cumberland and Westmorland Herrald - Introducing Moorhouse Hall Farm (December 2023) Following a productive Strategic Dairy Farm recruitment effort, AHDB has named Moorhouse Hall Farm as one of the first three farms to be launched. In this article, Moorhouse Hall Farm is introduced to farmers in and around Cumbria
• Cow Management: Three dairy units join AHDB programme (October 2023) AHDB unveiled Moorhouse Hall Farm as one of the first three farms to launch after a successful Strategic Dairy Farm recruitment campaign
• Western Morning News: New additions to AHDB strategic farm network (October 2023) AHDB has announced the first three farms set to launch, including Moorhouse Hall Farm, following a successful Strategic Dairy Farm recruitment drive
• Farmers Guide: AHDB confirms three new additions to strategic dairy farm programme (October 2023) With the completion of a successful Strategic Dairy Farm recruitment campaign, AHDB introduced the first three farms, featuring Moorhouse Hall Farm as one of them

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