The best money farmers can spend is on male genetics and overall, there is a high return on investment, a leading UK farmer told attendees at an AgriSearch conference held in Armagh on Tuesday.

Keith Gue manages a family dairy enterprise in the south of England which is part of the wider Huddlestone Farmers Ltd., a mixed farming business operating on nearly 2,300 acres across Britain.

The 450-cow home farm in West Sussex is ranked second in Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) for UK Holstein herds, in a list that continues to be headed by the Ballycairn herd of W McCollum in NI.

At present, 305-day yields at Huddlestone Farm average 12,224l at 4.59% butterfat and 3.48% protein. Cows have been milked through robots since 2022.

In February 2024, Keith was given the opportunity to take on a second dairy unit in west Sussex.

It is up and running, with 220 cows milked using four robots. This second herd is run as a flying herd and is stocked with “bottom end cows” from the home farm.

This second herd is currently ranked seventh in the UK PLI list.

Bull choice

When it comes to bull choice, Keith said his focus is very much on choosing animals with good fat and protein, as well as feed efficiency, rather than type and conformation.

His argument is that in recent years, the base cow has improved significantly for these type traits, so a bull that is at or slightly below the average, will still deliver a suitable cow.

“A lot of farmers are still breeding for type and conformation in the same way they were 15 years ago. Yet the base cow has changed a lot,” he said.

He also questioned the decision by some pedigree breeders to look at US indexes as well as UK PLI. “We need to use a UK index. It is a UK environment, UK people, UK forage. We live in a wet maritime climate. We need to make sure we are using the right base,” he said.

Youngstock

Once an investment has been made in genetics, Keith highlighted the importance of doing the basics well and making sure the environment is good to maximise performance.

“It is pointless spending money on genetics and having too much of your youngstock reared in a hole. You are better with less reared really well,” he said.

Robots

Prior to switching to robots, the Huddlestone herd was milked three times per day. However, a significant upgrade was required to the parlour and with labour also an issue, the decision was taken to invest in the technology.

“It was a massive decision for us. However, milk is up 10% and that decision is paying off. The benefit of not having the bottom end of your workforce is also really underrated,” said Keith.