Milk yields get a boost from Actisaf®

Adding live yeast to the diet at Hare Appletree Farm has helped farmer, Andrew Metcalfe, improve milk yields whilst achieving more milk from forage.

Milk yields get a boost from Actisaf®
Milk yields get a boost from Actisaf®

Andrew farms in partnership with his mother, Christina, and father, John, on a 250-acre traditional mixed hill farm in Quernmore, Lancaster.  The farm has a herd of 85 cows and flock of 450 sheep, both of which graze the farm’s traditional pastures. The herd is mostly made up of British Friesians, which suit the farm’s system and location – some 400 metres above sea level with stony, heavy, clay soils. The herd calves all-year-around and replacements are reared on the farm.  

Andrew started working with a consultant in September 2014, and in April the following year as the cows went out to grass, he suggested adding Actisaf® to the cows’ diet.  “When we started working with him our average yield was 7,500 litres per year,” explained Andrew. “I knew we could be doing better - I only had to look around at other farms in our area to see that. It was a case of getting some help to get to where we wanted to be.” 

One of the main limitations on the farm is having to use the same fields for the sheep and lambs, as well as for the cows and silage.  “It’s a balancing act,” explained Andrew. “We can only take two silage cuts as there isn’t enough time to do three by the time we’ve lambed and can move the sheep off the grazing land and on to the moorland, so we focus on getting the best quality from those two cuts,” said Andrew.

Quality of grass is also a limiting factor, and Andrew is in the process of reseeding some areas of the farm. 

The cows' diet was changed, and they were buffer fed a TMR of grass silage, chopped straw and blend, along with Actisaf® and minerals. 

Following the introduction of the new approach to feeding, milk yields have risen steadily and now stand at 9,000 litres/year with butterfat at 4.2% and protein at 3.2%. “Importantly for us 3,000 of our litres are from forage and, since introducing Actisaf® into the diet, litres from forage have increased by around 800,” said Andrew. While this improvement can’t all be attributed to the addition of yeast, Andrew feels it certainly played a role alongside better forages. 

“Last year we saved money on blend because the quality of forage was better and cows are performing so well on the diet,” said Andrew. “The results speak for themselves, we were at 7,500 litres/year and we’re now at 9,000. The cows are healthy and look well, we don’t see any rumen upsets and we have seen the improvements in yield – the new approach works well and I’m pleased with the response from Actisaf®,” he concluded.