Organic Dairy Farming at Woodhorn Group



Today we toured The Woodhorn Group, which is an organic dairy farm with a composting site called Earth Cycle on the farm as well. They began farming in 1882 as a family run farm, and the current owner, John Pitts, is the fourth generation to run the farm. John diversified the farm in 1998 by adding a compost site that today recycles over 80,000 tons of garbage waste a year.

The Woodhorn Group milks on average 250 cows twice a day in a sixteen cow parlor. This makes them a large farm in comparison to most organic dairy farms in England. However, they are currently only milking around 150 head as they are in their drying off period. They are different than a lot of farms in the United States that calve year round, as they calve in the fall. Cameron, one of the workers at Woodhorn Group, explained that this is because in England, milk prices are highest in the winter, so they try and increase their production starting in the fall to maximize their yearly income. The dairy industry is struggling as much in the United Kingdom as it is in the United States. This is part of the reason why they added the compost site.


Because the Woodhorn Group is an organic farm, they try and keep their cows out on pasture as much as possible to minimize their feed costs. On average, the cows are outside about 1/3 of the year. With being organic, they have to make sure that any feed they buy and produce is pesticide free. This is a challenge that they face as pesticides are commonly used in many of the grains they use in their feed. However, they are able to find some barley left over from brewing. They also use maize and forages to make up their feed. 

The cows on the farm produce a lot of the manure that is used in their composting. This is combined with green waste from the surrounding community. A typical pile of compost will be regularly turned over and temperature tested for 14 weeks before it's able to be packaged and sold. They check the temperature regularly to ensure bacteria and weeds are killed. Earth Cycle offers multiple types of compost made up of a variety of different materials that can be used in a variety of different ways. One cool thing about their compost is that it doesn't contain peat. This is different than a lot of compost found in Minnesota as many them do contain peat.

English word of the day:
Butt rake- it's used to move silage

-Breannca and Taylor

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Shakes of a Lamb's Tail

Image
Farming is a hard business and there’s not much worse than low and unsteady prices.   To help supplement & stabilize their finances, some farms have diversified their operations into more than just one or two crops or species.   This is the case with Northfield Farm and Sondes Place.   Inside of the on-farm shop at Northfield Farm, you can find cuts of lamb right alongside their beef offerings that were raised on their farm.   At Sondes Place, the cattle are neighbored by around 300 Highlander ewes.   They have also developed an asparagus field, local school programs, a firewood enterprise, & environmentalism and stewardship schemes.          Whether in the pasture or the display case, beef and lamb at Northfield Farm can be found right alongside each other.   Their beef animals graze in the same paddock as their near 100 breeding ewes with lambs.   This flock contains genetics from a range of breeds including the local Border Leicester as well Scotch Halfbreds, Cheviot
Read more

Mooooore Dairy

Image
Over the past few days we have had the opportunity to visit two different conventional dairy farms. The first one was Southview Farm. Southview is owned by Charlie Hughes, it is family farm that has been in the Hughes family since 1919. Charlie took over the farm in 2008 from his father, and has made several upgrades to the farm to make it as efficient as possible. The farm currently milks 100 head of Holstein-Friesian cattle (the typical breed found in England), but is working towards increasing the herd to 120 head.   Since Charlie has three kids of his own, he wants his farm to run as efficiently as possible, which is why he has adapted several technologies on the farm that are not usually found on a farm of his size. Southview Farms uses robotic milkers, automatic lighting, automatic calf feeders, and automatic feed scrapers. The robotic milkers allow the cows to go in and milk themselves whenever they want to be milked, which Charlie says is a minimum of twice a day. Southview Fa
Read more

The Chaps of Chapman Equestrian

Image
This morning we explored Chapman Equestrian and their world of eventing. We toured the stables and watched a riding demonstration. The tour began in the tack room, where all the saddles hung neatly aligned on one wall with matching covers. The bridles were all cleaned and hanging on the opposite wall. The cleanliness of everything was the first indication that the farm was well managed and showed a professional environment. From the tack room we proceeded to the paddocks, where Jonathan explained that each horse is individually turned out. The 12-acre area was split into one half acre spaces for each horse. He also stated that he has eliminated the use of gates in the interest of safety so there was no longer a solid structure for the horses to injure themselves on. For most of the year, the horses are turned out as much as weather and scheduling allows. During the winter months, the horses are housed inside but let out for two hours each day for exercise. The stables
Read more