Visitors from Scotland and northern England attended the launch of Glenapp Estates, Ballantrae, South Ayrshire, as a DairyCo Scottish Monitor Farm last week. The launch of Glenapp as the second of two new DairyCo Scottish Monitor Farm projects was a great success according to DairyCo extension officer Heather Wildman, from Cumnock.

She said: "Glenapp shows dairy farmers and their staff the numerous challenges of a large-scale dairy unit, and lets them monitor how the business develops over the three year programme. This project differs from previous monitor farms as Glenapp is only recently established as a dairy unit and is in the early stages of development." The Monitor Farm project is funded by the Scottish Government and DairyCo, and is the third in the series of Scottish Dairy Monitor Farms.

Charlie Russell, Glenapp Estates Manager, introduced the farm. He said "Glenapp is 5,024 hectare unit rising from sea-level to above 600 feet, with an annual average rainfall of 60inches. The opportunity to establish a purpose-built dairy unit is expected to generate sufficient and sustainable net revenues in order to maintain and enhance the Estate.

"We established the herd in 2008 by purchasing 200 heifers from the Isle of Jersey, 200 cross-bred heifers from Ireland and 100 British Friesian types from the Longtown area. We started milk production in February 2010 on a purpose built green field site, and today milk 628 cows through the parlour." Owing to the large number of attendees at the event, visitors were split into farm walk groups to enable a practical approach to SWOT analysis and the giving and recording of feedback. Visitors toured the dairy facilities, viewed the herd and young stock and were provided with practical demonstrations on grassland management and soil structure.

The dairy-unit is centrally located, being built on a green field site at a cost of �1.2 million. The herd is milked through a 70-point rotary milking parlour and the unit employs a team of four fulltime staff according to Assistant Herd Manager Jim Murray. He said: "We milk twice a day at 5am and 2.30pm and cow throughput is 400 cows per hour.

"The herd is block-calved in February, at a peak rate of 40 animals per day, and have a current calving-index of 373 days. We aim to have 85% of the herd calve in the first 25 day period, with first service conception-rate currently at 65%. The herd is averaging 4,200 litres per year on a predominantly grass-based system at 4.5% fat and 3.5% protein." The herd, which operates a cross-breeding programme, is utilising approximately 410ha as a grazing platform and support area, with additional land used for silage. The herd is now moving towards an on-off grazing system explained Dairy Herd Manager Arnon Langridge.

"During the past two winters we incorporated a mixture of housing and out-wintering on forage-crops and silage. Due to unsatisfactory crop utalisation levels as a result of the wet weather conditions, we reviewed the sustainability of the system. Grass is measured on a weekly-basis with growth rates peaking at 140 kilos of dry matter per hectare per day of growth, with an average growth-rate peak of 93 kilos per day.

"This year, we have not sown fodder crops and aim to maintain the herd in housed accommodation and winter paddocks; with on-off grazing and silage. The cows will utilise our existing accommodation as well as having access to a buffer-based silage ration. Cows are dried-off in December, resulting in a traditional 60 day rest period." Milk is collected on a daily-basis for cheese-making by The Fresh Milk Company at Stranraer, and milk price over the past 12 months averaged 32 pence per litre, with a July 2013 price of 34ppl. Mastitis is rare at 8% treatable cases; somatic cell count is 135 with bacto-scan levels of 25.

The visitor groups were able to take on-board the grassland policy and soil structure on the farm tour. Glenapp has a vast range of soil types varying from good soil to sand; peat bog and rock outcrops. Charlie emphasised the need to increase grazing output.

"We have used GPS systems and have soil mapped the dairy grazing platform and silage fields in order to achieve optimum savings in fertiliser costs as well as, to provide efficient utilisation of each tonne of fertiliser and lime spread on the farm.

"Previous reclaimed areas, mainly from the 1960s, that had deteriorated, have been replaced with modern drainage systems and reseeding projects. We operate a 5-7 year reseeding policy and this year, we focused more on diploid and clover mixes.

"The policy is aimed at providing more persistent and better seasonal grass growth and spread as well as, better ground cover, higher water soluble carbs and higher D value. For every D value increase in grazed grass and silage; we aim to increase production by an additional third of a litre per cow." DairyCo extension officer Heather Wildman concluded the launch by stating. "We look forward to establishing a Community Group of local dairy farmers in order to create debate and interaction through the exchange of ideas and farmer expertise.

"The Community Group is an open and inclusive forum and Glenapp welcomes any suggestions, comments, advice or opinions, over the course of the project." Anyone wishing to join the group should contact Heather at heather.wildman@dairyco.ahdb.org.uk or call 07876 706 391