A FAMILY dairy farm has managed to increase its margins by £90 per cow through a carefully-balanced diet.

The Threlfell family from Plumpton Head, near Penrith, increased their rolling annual milk yield by more than 1,000 litres thanks to co-operation between J Bibby Agriculture, feed producer, and KW Alternative Feeds.

The farm was open to farmers in September when they were invited to see the forage maize trials, and a follow up visit was held last month for them to see the maize feeding at first hand.

The visitors were surprised to see just how dramatic the impact on cow performance had proved to be.

"The basic ingredients in the semi-complete diet are high quality home grown forages," said Mr John Threlfell. "We made grass silage dry, at 34.5pc DM to ensure high intake, and with an ME of 11.9MJ kg/DM it matched that of the forage maize."

Nancis was the star performer in the maize trials, having the ideal balance of earliness and starch production for the slightly marginal conditions. This variety formed the basis of the maize silage supply for the winter rations.

Home-grown cereals provide another opportunity for low cost energy, but, with such an abundance of carbohydrate, it was necessary to balance the diet carefully with fibre, protein and minerals.

"This is where the two organisations, working together, were able to make such a cost-effective contribution by supplying straights and dairy cake to balance the home grown forage and cereals," said Mr Threlfell.

KW supplies the maize seed Rapero and molasses and Bibby provides the dairy ration.

Cows have free access to fibre from straw, with protein in the pre-mix coming from Rapero (35pc crude protein). Molasses, also supplied by KW Alternative Feeds, completes the diet.

The final component of this essentially very straightforward system is the feeding of Bibby Performance 500 in the parlour. A 21pc protein dairy ration, it contains Crina, a concentrate of essential oils from herbs and spices, which increases the utilisation of feeds and gives added health benefits.

This unified approach has given the herd an impressive 15.3p per litre margin over purchased feeds for January, which goes a long way towards the increased margin of £90 per cow - well over £20,000 for the 230-cow herd