The first cut SAM3s have performed as well as our five-year lays in their second year; let's see what the rest of the year brings.
We are at the point in our breeding season where we are just starting to dry off the herd, and with this all cows are having their feet trimmed pre drying off.
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Fairly quickly we will be down to just 150 cows left milking, with two-thirds of the herd dried off by the last week of July - the calm before the storm.
Milk prices
It has been a welcome relief to have received several milk price increases through the spring from our milk buyers, Barber's.
Last month I carried out our sustainability audit of the farm in conjunction with Barber's, it raised some interesting points. We have seen a reduction in our electricity usage by increasing the water supply to the plate cooler. However, unfortunately, we haven't produced as much from the solar panels this year due to the poor start of the year. This is our second year doing this, and it is starting to give us some recommendations to consider.
As I write this I'm about to attend the Holstein UK Celebration and AGM in my neighbouring county of Wiltshire. We will be visiting four Holstein UK members' herds, and I'm sure we will see some great cows and different setups.
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The AGM will see Nick Helyer of the Clampitt Herd take on the role of Holstein UK's president for the next year. When Nick was serving as a Holstein UK trustee he was very involved in the establishment of the Cattle Information Service, so he has a great understanding of the businesses.
Holstein Young Breeders
It was a pleasure to sit on the committee to select the winner of this year's Sue Cope Bursary for Holstein Young Breeder's members. It was fantastic to have such a high standard of applicants from our young members, with the bursary only in its second year.
Congratulations to Camron McGreggor of the Scotland Club who was chosen as the winner and will put the grant towards purchasing a clipping crush, with which he'll be able to pass on his knowledge of clipping to younger members.
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May saw the boy's rugby season come to a close, finishing off with the end-of-season presentation. I was chuffed to see my eldest boy, Oscar, be awarded most improved player of the year in his under-14s team.
This coincided nicely to free up time for some showing at our local shows. We took a small team of our own Wowcow Holsteins to the North Somerset Show and the Royal Bath and West Show.
Showing
The lads did a lot of the preparation themselves with their Christmas present of the clipping crush being in full use and both clipping their own handling calves.
Saying that, showing has become very much a family affair for us, and I'm proud to see my love of showing dairy cattle has rubbed off on them both, and we enjoyed some success along the way.
Ben Yates manages Mells Park Estate in Somerset, where he oversees a 400-cow unit and manages the 405-hectare (1,000-acre) estate. Along with his wife and two sons, Ben has his own small herd of pedigree Holsteins under the Wowcow prefix. He joined the Holstein UK Board of Trustees in 2021.
