Stargrazers - Getting together to benchmark dairy production
Getting together to benchmark da
The
Stargrazers group
Tim Downes and Gareth Hotchkiss are two members of the Stargrazers grassland
discussion group. Tim has a 145-head organic Freisian dairy herd on the
Blackdown Hills in Devon, and Gareth has a herd of 300 dairy cows near Church
Stretton in Shropshire, and he also has a small poultry layer unit on the farm.
Tim got into the habit of benchmarking from his father John. They have been
regular users of the Milkminder service, and were one of the finalists at
Promar’s 2004 Milkminder awards. Tim has recently completed a Nuffield
Scholarship that focussed on sustainable business improvement through discussion
groups and involved looking at the systems in place in New Zealand. As a result
of this work Tim set up Stargrazers with the help of the Milk Development
Council’s £1,000 for a 1,000 cows initiative, and now acts as chairman of the
group.
The group use a New Zealand facilitator, Tom Philips who helps them develop each
farm’s Comparative Farm Profit (CFP) which allows them to benchmark a number of
key production areas:
Animal health
Disease incidence
Pasture consumption
- Cost of pasture
- Cost of purchased feed
Nutrient audit – on & off farm case study
Milking throughput in litres per man hour
Calving patterns, reflecting cow fertility
Cow culling/death rates
How the group works
The group meets on a member’s farm. At the start of the meeting each farmer
goes through what has been happening on their farm since the previous month’s
meeting, and raises any current issues. The common themes then set the basis for
the group’s discussion on the farm walk, in addition to the specific issues of
the host farm.
Gareth gave a running commentary as the group walked round his farm,
initially focusing on his current building project, a new shed to provide an
increase in stall spaces, allowing him to expand his herd to take advantage of
his relatively new rotary parlour that is capable of milking 400 cows an hour.
As the group walked his fields Gareth commented on the state of his grazing, and
the issues he faced following some prolonged wet weather, both in terms of
damaged fields and those that had been inadequately grazed as he was forced to
take the cows out of the field because it was too wet.
All of the group contributed with personal insights about what they saw, and
also of systems and techniques that they had employed themselves to overcome
similar problems. When the group get back they have lunch together and then
receive their individual benchmarking reports from Tom, to stimulate the
afternoon discussions on improvement opportunities.
A facilitator makes all the difference
Tim and Gareth agree that a good facilitator can make all the difference in
ensuring that the members of a group get the most out of working together. Tom
Phillips MAg Sc Pasture to Profit Consultant has been running farmer groups
since 1975 in New Zealand, Australia and now the UK. He is now running 20 dairy
groups across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and also provides
training for other facilitators.
Tom says of the Stargrazer group: “There is 200 years’ combined experience here
in this group. I like to step back from discussions and let them help each
other”.
Tom encourages the groups to visit each other, and maintain links where they can
compare their data through his database at www.pasturetoprofit.co.uk
The groups also meet socially. A group in Cumbria recently went Laser-questing
which was great fun and they have now challenged a group in Yorkshire to a quad
biking contest.
The right objectives
Tim says the five main objectives of their group are:
1. To provide an informal forum for the discussion of matters of mutual interest
2. To encourage group members to think and act positively to achieve their
objectives
3. To encourage members to share their experiences with others within the group
for the benefit of all concerned
4. To provide a means whereby agricultural specialists can interact with the
group for either physical or financial gain of the individual members
5. To have fun
Gaining the market edge
The group is always looking for areas where they can improve their
businesses, and by working together they are constantly getting new ideas from
each other. Also as Tom runs another 19 groups they are able to make further
group-on-group comparisons.
Tom asked the group whether they would take part in a testing programme that he
intends to run across all 20 of the groups. He intends to test each of the
farm’s milk to determine the levels of CLAs and Omega3 in their milk. These
compounds are known to be anti carcinogenic. Tom wishes to ascertain which farms
have high levels in their milk and then try and determine what it is they are
doing differently in their system. Is it grass feeding, high clover content,
etc?
These types of initiatives help the group drive their businesses forward and
give them a market edge.
