Philip Metcalfe’s Five Benefits of Pure Breeding

For Philip Metcalfe, who runs the dairying arm of what is a very diverse family business in Yorkshire, the Gold Cup award is a testament to the detailed management and pure breeding of the herd that has evolved at Washfold Farm.  The 525ha dairy enterprise alone employs 35 people in both full and part-time positions. They milk 1,300 cows three times a day with 900 followers in facilities that have seen significant investment, including a 72 point Boumatic rotary parlour.

Welfare and animal health is an overriding consideration in the Washfold herd which has been registering stock for around 40 years. The many deep, home-bred cow families form the core of the Washfold herd with some strategic purchases over the years. Philip is focused and interested in breeding good cattle and everything that goes with it.

Just enough calves are reared to cover the herd’s replacement requirement and that equates to 30 heifer calves born per month.  PLI is a big factor for Philip and he looks for sires with a PLI that is greater than £700.  They genomic test all heifers, subsequently using sexed semen on the best.  Pure breeding of the herd delivers a number of benefits for Washfold:

1. Adds value to the animal, as has been proven in the recent sales.
2. Classifying ensures the type proofs match up with the genomic sires.
3. Adds interest to breeding.
4. Identifies any faults creeping into the herd at an early stage
5. The Classifiers are unbiased consultants, the eyes and ears of Holstein breeding - proofs don’t always show the ‘X-factor’.

Read more in The Journal June 2020 edition.