Aberdeen-Angus genetics are delivering multiple benefits for Cornwall dairy farmer Chris Knowles – including ease of calving, and calves which are much sought after by finishers.

Chris Knowles, who runs Trink Dairy near St Ives in Cornwall, is enjoying multiple benefits since making the switch from Belgian Blue and Limousin genetics to Aberdeen-Angus.

Together with his wife Rachel, and their daughters Naomi and Maddy, Chris milks 300 cows at the 500-acre Trink Farm.

The herd is mainly Friesian, with a quarter of the cows Jersey, and 10% of the milk produced is processed and sold from a vending machine on the farm and to local coffee shops, with the rest sold to Arla.

The herd gives average annual yields of 5,250 litres at 4.9% butterfat and 3.9% protein, and a spring block calving system is in place.

“The herd is housed from mid-November until the middle of February when they start calving,” says Mr Knowles.

“We have a very unusual milking regime where we milk 10 times a week on a 24/48 swingover parlour – so twice on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and once every other day.”

He adds: “The idea is that a cow will generate milk in her udder constantly for about 18 hours, after which she won’t generate any more, so you ideally want to milk her every 18 hours.

“However, that’s obviously not very sociable or practical, so we’ve devised our own milking system to try and get as close to this as possible.”

Calving ease

Sexed dairy semen is used on 120 cows with the aim of producing 60 dairy replacements every year, and the remainder of the herd is put to Aberdeen-Angus – either through bulls sourced from Cornwall breeder Mark Pilcher’s Gear herd or served with conventional Aberdeen-Angus semen through AI.

“I used to use Limousin and Belgian Blue but they’re just too big,” says Mr Knowles.

“We’ve only got small cows – weighing around 525kg mature bodyweight – so the absolute number one priority for us is ease of calving. That’s why I went for Aberdeen-Angus because the main thing I was looking for was ease of calving.”

He says ease of calving not only makes life easier at calving time but ensures the best possible performance from a cow once she is milking.

“Ease of calving means the cow isn’t stressed and she cleanses more quickly,” explains Mr Knowles.

“This is huge in terms of that cow’s future because it means she’s on the road to being fit for breeding again.”

Since making the move to Aberdeen-Angus, Mr Knowles says he has only had to assist a handful of calvings – mainly with heifers.

“Some heifers can be a bit narrow in the pelvis and that would be the only time we would assist really, on a very rare occasion,” he explains.

Mr Knowles says the calves have noticeably more vigour than previous beef breeds he worked with.

“They’re very thrifty calves, and within five minutes of being born they’re up suckling,” he adds.

“This is really important for us when we’re calving a lot of cows together, because knowing they will suckle the teat straight away is handy when you go to feed them with milk the next day.”

Market demand

Beyond fertility benefits, Mr Knowles says the market premium paid for Aberdeen-Angus genetics has benefitted his farming system.

“All our dairy beef calves are sold at a month old to local finishers and the guys that buy calves from me have good outlets for Aberdeen-Angus whether that be selling them on as stores for finishing or keeping them as females that could go on to work in suckler herds,” adds Mr Knowles.

“They’ve also got a bit of hardiness for outwintering, and two of the finishers that buy them from me outwinter them when they’re 10-11 months old.”

He says Aberdeen-Angus semen, which has a success rate of around 80%, is used because buyers will pay up to 30% more for male Aberdeen-Angus crosses, than females.

“This is really important, especially if you’re breeding from a smaller cross-bred Jersey type cow, because if I can make sure that a male’s coming out of that cow, it adds value for me,” explains Mr Knowles.

“In the past, some of these calves have sold for as little as £1-3 at two-weeks-old, but at the moment every calf is achieving quite a good value, and my Aberdeen-Angus crosses are selling for an average of £200 at one-month-old.”

In the future, he plans to maintain Aberdeen-Angus as the beef breed of choice for his herd and may even finish some cross calves to produce meat to sell alongside milk from the farm.

Farm facts:

• Family farm run by Chris Knowles alongside his wife Rachel and their daughters Naomi and Maddy
• 300-cow herd of mainly Friesian and Jersey cows run across 500 acres
• Average annual yields of 5,250 litres at 4.9% butterfat and 3.9% protein
• 10% of milk processed and sold on the farm through a vending machine enterprise run by Maddy and her boyfriend Lawrence, with the rest sold to Arla
• Spring-block calving herd
• Aberdeen-Angus genetics introduced to bring ease of calving, with bulls and served with convention semen through AI on approximately 180 cows every year
• Aberdeen-Angus cross calves sold at a month old for an average of £200 to regular buyers