How cow and calf health is managed at Clackmae Farm

Sally has prioritised developing robust calf health and management protocols, alongside transitioning their 340-cow herd of Holstein Friesians to robotic milking.

Along with parents, Alex and Ruth Wilson and their six staff members, the business rears all its own beef progeny, including dairy-cross bulls.

This totals 1200 cattle including youngstock, plus 1350 sheep and an arable enterprise, growing crops for their own feed.

Sally has focused on developing detailed calf health protocols as the foundation of the herd’s health and productivity.

Calf rearing is led by a highly conscientious individual, currently achieving less than 0.5% mortality. Calves are housed in pairs in hutches up to six or seven weeks old, with the first priority to tube all newborn animals with four litres of pasteurised colostrum, before feeding a high-fat pasteurised milk for five days. Calves are then moved onto a mix of pasteurised milk and milk powder.

Natural feed additives are provided to help protect against bacterial infection and scours, plus a Rispoval intranasal vaccination at 10 days old.

Sally added: “Hutches are mucked out, thoroughly disinfected and exposed to UV light for at least three weeks before new calves come in.

“There is double the amount of ground available for hutches than is needed, so only half of it has calves on at time, while the other half is rested.”

The microbial bedding conditioner EazyBed PRO is spread on the ground and on top of the straw in the hutches before calves go in, she explains. It is then applied to the bedding three times a week, adding positive microbes to help maintain hygiene.

“We started to use the conditioner a couple of years ago as part of a wider health initiative to help keep on top of cryptosporidia and other bacteria in the calves’ environment.”

Colostrum intake, nutrition and routine hygiene are three of the key management factors that combine to make sure every calf is strong and healthy.

“A weigh-band is used for calves from birth and heifers are weighed in the crush from nine months onwards. Our target weight is 400-410kg at service and average calving age is between 23-24 months,” Sally added.

A huge amount of care and attention to detail is paid to newborn calves which are the future of the herd

Three robotic milkers were installed initially in 2009 and a further three in 2017 – with four of these purchased second hand – enabling them to finance the move to 100% robotic over time.

“On every robotic milker farm we visited, we absolutely loved how content the cows were. Wellbeing is the top priority for us,” she said adding that herd size remains around 350 cows, housed year-round.

“When we went to robotic milking, the focus was on yield per cow. I know all the cows individually and don’t want that to change.”

The herd is split by lactation number, she explains, dividing further once they went fully robotic: heifers, second calvers, third and fourth calvers, fifth calvers and fresh calvers.

“Adding a specific second calvers group has really boosted performance in that lactation. We started with one herdsman and me, and now have two herdsmen, and I do more of the overall management as well as working with the cows.”

With experienced labour a challenge to find, the robots help ensure the team is less tied to actual milking and has more time to focus on other management improvements.

Almost all maiden heifers are bred to sexed Holstein semen, with Hereford chasers used. The poorest performing cows are served via AI with Hereford semen.

Genomics are used in the selection of sires. They have also just started genomic testing to become more targeted in selection decisions, building on the current criteria which includes: good health post-calving, 12,000+ litres yield potential and a fast enough milk speed to keep the robotic system flowing.

“We want both the daughter proofs and proven sires, so match the bulls with our herd goals,” she says. “Historically, we thought our youngest heifers have the best genetics, but many of our older cows have shown they suit our system.”

Farming requires constant evolution and is very much a team effort says Mrs Williams.

“I have huge respect for my parents’ achievements, I’m getting the opportunity to farm because of what they’ve done,” she says.

“We all enjoy what we do, and Dad has no intention to retire so all of us have to find a meaningful role within the business.

“Being honest about longer term expectations is really important.”

She says communication is critical and recommends holding a weekly meeting where everyone can discuss upcoming plans, to help make sure one thing is not going to hinder another.

Communication with the public is also important to Sally who is a long-standing volunteer with The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET), getting children and teachers through farm gates. She recalls one visiting teacher who had a very negative perception of calf hutches when she arrived but left enthusing about how happy the calves were.

“That visit has been my driving motivation. It’s about showing that, as farmers, we’re humans with massive attention to detail and care for our animals,” she says.

“The only way to counter negative press and perceptions is by putting ourselves out there, even though it can be daunting.”

The family also started planting pick-your-own pumpkins during the Covid-19 lockdown periods.

Their main aim was to do something positive for the local community, beginning with just six rows of pumpkins.

The diversification continued to develop, and they now grow 72 different varieties, generating valuable extra income alongside the dairy enterprise.