THE BREWSTER family of Boclair, Bearsden, have remained to the forefront of the UK dairy industry for more than half a century.

Established by Jack Brewster back in 1952, the family business is now run by Jack and Marion’s sons, David and John. Although working together as a team, it is David who concentrates on the running of the dairy side of the enterprise, while John focuses mainly on the arable side of things.

The Brewster name has become synonymous with success and they are quite rightly proud of their record in the Scottish Club Herd competition – in 21 years of competing they have won the overall title 12 times and stood reserve a further eight – missing out on the top two placing just once!

The Boclair herd was also the area’s Holstein Premier Herd in 2010 and the Brewsters were also awarded Master Breeder status six years ago – which is quite an achievement. The herd is believed to be first in Scotland to receive that accolade.

The family run 850 acres – and although much of the land is at Boclair, there is also land on the nearby Bogton, Bardowie and Branziet farms. 482 acres of the total is prime arable land, while 360 acres are kept for silage and grazing during the summer months.

Winter cereals of wheat, barley and oats, are grown as well as a substantial acreage of spring barley. Growing straw as bedding is a huge advantage and much of the grain is used as feed for the cows and young stock, ensuring that the cost of buying in extra rations is kept to a minimum.

The family employ two full time staff in Eric Yuill, who has been with them for 35 years and John Gray, who joined the family 16 years ago. Extra labour is brought in at harvest time.

They do all their own combining and silaging which means it can be done at the optimum time and are not relying on contractors. Silage is taken in three cuts and is all pitted at Boclair.

There are 190 cows in the herd and a further 220 head is made up of young stock, calves and bulls. The recent completion of a new 165 x 35 ft shed now means that all cows and calves are based at Boclair, with just the youngstock being housed at Bogton. The herd is cubicle-housed with mattresses providing added comfort for the cows.

The Boclair herd has always been pedigree as David explained: “I enjoy working with good quality cattle; I have a real aptitude for data and I find the increasing quantity and complexity of figures is a challenge that keeps me enthusiastic. I like being able to follow particular families and milk records and people are willing to pay a premium for pedigree heifers.”

The current herd average is 10,205 litres at 3.84% BF and 3.07% P and, although the herd has averaged more than 10,000litres for more than 20 years, David insisted that high yields are not his ultimate goal. “I want long-lasting cows that provide us with good progeny,” he said.

As far as classification of the herd goes – there are currently 52 females classified Excellent, 80 VG and 36 Good Plus.

Calving goes on all year round and the cows are milked twice daily at 3am and 3pm – I believe in keeping those timings as even as possible,” explains David. “We did milk three times a day from 1985 until 2000 and that was fine if you had the labour and people willing to work night shifts but I’m happy with twice a day milking now.

We put in a new nine-aside Westfalia parlour two years ago. “The biggest benefit is the auto ID system which monitors the yield of each animal in the parlour – data which can be printed out in the office – and the pedometer on the cows’ legs detects when an animal is in heat.”

“Focussing on dry cow management is extremely important and we are looked after by animal nutrition experts, Almins, in that respect.

“All heifers are artificially inseminated using sexed high genomic semen – they are given just one shot at it before running with a bull. Solely, dairy bulls are used. Heifers are also used for implanting embryos.

“Sexed semen was previously only used on maiden heifers, as the conception rate isn’t great on cows, but at last year’s Dairy Event I sought further information about semen with an additive added to it to increase the conception rate and the percentage of heifer calves and thus bought straws of Smiddiehill Saratoga from GB bulls.

“The conception rate has improved by 25% but we will have to wait to see the percentage of heifers born once they start calving!” says David. “Sexed semen is working well for us – anything that increases the numbers of heifers is a great help because of the poor black and white bull trade. The greater the percentage of females we breed, the better.”

Last year, 53 heifers were sold and averaged more than £1900. These were sold privately off the farm, as well as through the ring at Ayr and Carlisle. David added: “We get a lot of repeat buyers, which is satisfying as their purchases have obviously done well with them.”

Heifers have sold to 6000gns and last year, Boclair Lou Elegance, was the highest priced female sold at the Border and Lakeland club sales in Carlisle where she stood champion in the pre-sale show before selling at 3000gns. She came from seven generations of VG or Excellent classified cows – she was sired by Jeeny-Lou Marshall and out of a VG85 Durham dam.

“We keep between five and 10 bulls per year for sale – chosen from the best cows in the herd. Some bulls are sold on privately, while others are sold through the ring at Carlisle, selling up to 6200gns.

“The one bull which stands out in Boclair history is Boclair Objective, which did exceptionally well for the herd. Considering he was first registered 17 years ago, he is still in the top 50 for Type and for PLI in UK proven bulls. He was a Prelude son and has a PLI of 104,” pointed out David.

When asked how today’s increased costs in feed, electricity, fuel and fertiliser are affecting his dairy enterprise, David replied: “There is no question that costs are rising quickly but I have no intention of changing our system here.”

Milk from the farm is sold to Wiseman Dairies. “They have recently given farmers an extra 1p per litre – which was a long time coming.” It has been reported recently that 28.5ppl would be a sustainable milk price, however David reckons 30ppl would be a more realistic figure.