We moved to Manor Farm in 1990 from Thurlstone, hence where the prefix for the Jersey herd came from.
We used to milk Holsteins until 2006, notably, with some degree of success:
- Supreme and Interbreed Champion, Cheshire Show 1989
- Honourable Mention and Best Udder in Show, National 1996
- Reserve Champion. Royal Show 1997
- Champion Exhibitor Bred and Best Udder, National 2004
In 2006 the decision was made to change breeds from Holsteins to Jerseys. We were looking for a different outlet for the milk to secure the future of the farm. Being situated close to Longley Farm and following discussions with them, we decided Longley would be a suitable future local outlet for our milk and subsequently acquired a contract with them.
John is the 4th generation in the family to farm, and Tom makes a 5th generation. Tom has recently completed a BSc Hons at the University of Writtle in June 2008 and has now returned home to the farm. We also have one full time Latvian employee who has been with us 5 years now.
Manor Farm consists of 155ha, managed this year as 40ha of maize, 15ha of roots with the remainder in grass and lucerne, and 15ha taken up by flood land, riverbanks and roads etc.
We run block calving in Autumn and Spring and are currently on a 380 day calving interval. Thurlstone Jerseys is a closed herd. We vaccinate for Lepto, BVD and Blue Tongue. We are also in a Johnes Testing scheme, and in a 4 year TB test area.
The milking parlour is a 20:40 Dairy Master with cows milked twice daily.
Feeding
Feeding in the Summer is grass based, grazing the cows from February through to November, the cows are on a TMR ration of crimped maize, molasses and straw with enough silage to carry the diet, plus minerals and buffers.
Feeding in the Winter consists of a TMR of grass and maize silage, with lucerne, fodder beet, crimp maize, molasses and proteins.
We feed a diet high in magnesium in order to control milk fever.
Service Sires
The service sires we have been using are either Canadian or Danish and include Q Zik, D J Lirsk, D J May, Champion and Comerica amongst others.
Selection Criteria
The main selection criteria we look for is that the cows are balanced and correct, with good components and high type, we are advocates of the Triple A mating programme. |
