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South Eastern
07/06/2022 14:42:00
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South Eastern Club - May News

The Club’s AGM, held at the South of England Showground at the end of February, was attended by more than 40 members.
Officers elected were – President, Michael Carr; Chairman, Alan Smith; Vice-chairman, Richard Drake; Treasurer, Di Peters; Secretary, Charlotte Moody.

Michael Carr opened the meeting by thanking previous Club Chairman Peter Prior, current Chairman Alan Smith and Charlotte Moody (Secretary) for keeping the Club going through the pandemic. Following the business meeting, members settled down to listen to guest speaker Joe Ives of the Gladwake herd from Hampshire. The herd was started from humble beginnings in the 1950s by Joe’s father Bill and has risen to become a Gold Cup finalist. Bill was born in London, a first generation farmer who still comes to the farm on a daily basis well into his nineties. Bill took the tenancy on a run-down farm in the 50s with 30 cows and many trees! He developed the business into two dairy units, purchasing a further 80 acres and milking 400 cows over the two dairies. Many of the cows were purchased from Reading Market and graded up if they weren’t already pedigree. Joe and his brother Bob joined the business, Joe as dairyman with Bob more keen on the arable side of farming. It was decided to split the business, although Joe and Bob still work together with Bob doing a lot of the fieldwork for Joe. Joe recognised that the facilities his cows were performing in would need a complete revamping and modernisation to get the best out of his high-genetic cows. In 2010 he went with several other like-minded farmers to Holland to look at different dairy systems. Over the following few years, he visited France and Italy before deciding on the system which best suited his farm – robots. Building work to redevelop the old buildings into modern cubicle houses and yards for 240 milkers, 240 young stock on 515 acres began in 2019. It wasn’t a question of bulldozing the site, but of developing the buildings with add-ons. 


The cows are in four milking groups and serviced by four robots. Joe decided to go with Lely robots and is very pleased with their performance, with cows visiting the robots in excess of four times. The average milk per day is 43 litres, with some cows peaking up to 80 litres! Individual quarters milked is a great plus with reduced mastitis with only five cases per 100 cows. The herd now averages 13,000 litres and attention to detail is paramount; cows are so relaxed in their new surroundings with salt licks available 24/7. and plenty of mechanical brushes which they love.


Like most modern dairy units, Joe uses genomic sires and has a good trade for excess in-calf heifers. The herd is closed but new families were introduced in the past from such herds as Watergate, Whitby Royal and some North American families via Germany. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks from fellow Gold Cup finalist John Downing, who said it was the easiest vote of thanks he had ever had to give as this was a top presentation. Before dispersing we had some refreshments and it was a great chance to catch up with members after all the recent lockdowns.


Congratulations to Ben and Abbie Carr on the birth of daughter Isabella Alice, who arrived five days before Christmas.

Mike Carr