January 2021
Ann Hardy reports.
Like many producers, Jason and Becky Mills—who milk 140 Holsteins at Eastwood Farm, near Torrington in Devon—have had to address the requirement to increase the quality of their milk.
They had lots of warning that their buyer’s ‘standard litre’ for their cheese contract was increasing to 4.2% fat and 3.4% protein in spring 2020. So they started taking action in plenty of time.
With butterfats at the outset hovering around 4% and proteins sometimes dropping to 3.17% during the summer, they knew that they had a fair way to go— especially with their parallel goal of hitting 10,000 litres. But with most of their feed mill-and-mixed at home and all moved by auger, they had learned from experience that there were constraints on what could be included in their rations.
