As many of you will know from following our story the transition to a cow and calf contact system has often encountered a few hurdles along the way. And a huge part of the journey has been the amount of learning that we have all done, in terms of listening to the cows, and finding what works for them, and finding solutions to the issues of calf health, milk letdown, fertility and putting the right protocols in place at all stages.
I’m happy to say that over the last four years we seem to have got on top of all these issues and the herd has never been stronger. The calves look better with every group and this all leads to improved productivity.
We have also engaged with a good number of interested parties from farmers looking to adopt the cow and calf system, university study groups, vet students from Universities in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Liverpool.
Our approach to regenerative agriculture has also inspired two young people, Harry from South Africa and Gwen from Canada, to spend 6 months and two months respectively, working alongside us on a daily basis. In total around 20 young people have joined us over the last twelve months and we hope we have inspired them in our approach and the value of this system.
All this work has not only been great fun, but it has also helped spread the word on cow calf contact systems (CCC), which is another way of describing our cow with calf approach to dairy farming.
Recently we have joined a much wider project working alongside farmers and researchers across Europe, TransformDairyNet.
TranformDairyNet is a 3year 2024-2027 Horizon Europe thematic network to support farmers to upscale cow-calf contact systems. Upscaling might sound scary, but the average CCC farm is less than 30 cows.
Practice hubs have been created across Europe with countries involved including, the UK and Ireland, Germany, Romania, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and smaller satellite groups for farmers in North America.
Practice hubs are national groups of farmers organised around the theme of current and future CCC innovation. They are led by a facilitator, ours is based at the University of Dublin, and they are a way for the farmers to meet, network and to share knowledge and experience with other farmers. As a group we can also trial new ideas, solve challenges or explore business development ideas.
Each hub collects knowledge and practical information on current CCC systems from its farmers to allow knowledge transfer between hubs in other countries. New entrants to CCC are involved as well as established dairies such as ourselves and Mossgiel in Ayrshire.
As one of the largest farms, and one with a great deal of experience, we have plenty of information to share, but I also look forward to seeing what other ideas we may be able to incorporate into our system. Every day’s a school day in this challenging but exciting environment.
So far, we have had one meeting and have begun the process of sharing our experiences, which has been fascinating as everyone has developed their own strategies depending on what suits their farming system.
I hope that through this project we can drive the cow and calf contact system forward into a European if not worldwide network of farmers with the shared goals of ethical treatment of animals, land and people, producing quality and affordable food for all.
Who knows we may even get to create the standard model for certification!
I look forward to updating you on the group’s progress in 2025, meantime I hope you have a cheesy Christmas and a happy New Year.
Charles Ellett
Dairy Manager at The Ethical Dairy