Written by Pat Wilson, Business Reporter, Scottish Farmer. Photography by Rob Haining.
Townhead farm which sits on outskirts of Dumfries, has rebuilt its dairy enterprise around youngstock – from the first feed of colostrum to calving at 24 months, which in turn has seen improved levels of growth and efficiency.
In little more than a decade, Colin and Lorraine Mair and son, Robbie McIlwraith, have gone from ageing sheds and a 100-cow herd to a 300-cow Holstein unit with purpose-built housing that puts calves and heifers at the centre of the business.
In 2011, the family effectively pressed the reset button and investing in a 240-cubicle shed, new parlour, straw calving yards, calf facilities and extra forage and slurry storage. Cow numbers have since risen to 300, milked three times a day through a 20/40 swing-over parlour, with solar and biomass helping to temper the power bill.
The original cubicles which dated back to the 1970s were flattened and the latest venture, a 277ft x 120ft triple-apex shed, with a separate calf unit along the back includes an automatic feeder serving four stations.
Dry cows enter cubicles around eight weeks before calving, then move onto straw three weeks pre-calving and on to a different diet. Once calved, the cow walks into the main dairy shed, while the calf goes into the dedicated calf shed.
From there, the system is linear. Calves progress through individual pens, then small-group pens on the automatic feeder, then straw yards, small training cubicles, and finally the young heifer shed where all AI is carried out.
At each step, the housing prepares them for the next – from learning cubicles to getting used to TMR. Ventilation has been a priority, with an open ridge, heat guard sheets on part of the span and Yorkshire boarding on the weather side so air moves without chilling draughts.
The triple-apex layout, rather than one big mono-pitch, keeps separate airspaces for different stock groups, so dry cows, freshly calved cows and calves are no longer sharing the same air as mature milkers.
Clear routine
Calves are left with the cow for routine checks and that first feed of colostrum, explains Robbie.
“If a cow calves at night, the calf will usually be off the cow at morning milking. If she calves in the morning, it will be milked by the afternoon. The aim is to get three or four litres of good-quality colostrum into the calf as quickly as possible, with colostrum tested on a Brix refractometer and anything under about 23% set aside rather than fed as first milk. High-Brix colostrum is frozen in bags for future use.”
Calves are housed in individual pens for the first 10 days, receiving colostrum for the initial two to three feeds before transitioning onto milk replacer. The farm uses a skim-based powder, mixed via a 180-litre hot water tank with a thermostatic mixer to ensure consistent temperature.
Milk powder of choice is Britmilk Defender, a product the family has relied on for nearly 40 years. At around 10 days old, calves move onto an automatic feeder in groups of 20, remaining within these social groups until seven/eight months of age.
Calves follow a curve, rising quickly to around 6.6 litres per day, typically in three feeds. Powder rates were increased in colder weather from around 600g to close to 1kg per calf per day, and the improvement in size and robustness has persuaded the family to stick with the higher rate. Calves remain on the machine until roughly 60 days, with peak intake by 45 days and then tapers down. When it comes to starter feed, Davidsons performance calf starter pellets are the families product of choice. Palatable 3mm pellet, with high levels of soya & maize, producing a high quality ration containing 40% NFC’s (Non-fibre carbohydrates), supporting faster growth, stronger immunity and smoother weaning. With a controlled copper inclusion, Levucell SC Titan live yeast and Zinpro performance trace minerals, this formulation supports animal health to reach growth target weights.
Pellet intakes of 4-5kg a day are used as a signal of when they are ready to come off milk.
Automation
The automatic feeder was chosen with practicality in mind. The family wanted a unit capable of running four stations from one mixing unit, with all powder in one place and feed lines underground. A key attraction was a pre-heated pot that holds mixed milk at temperature, so a calf at the teat receives warm milk immediately rather than waiting while powder mixes.
The machine runs self-clean cycles with chemical washes twice a day and, beyond topping up powder and checking for calves that have not taken their allowance, staff input is limited. As Colin puts it, automation does not remove the need for people, but it does turn up every day and lets limited labour focus on watching calves rather than lugging buckets.
Emphasis is on keeping calves in stable groups. From the calf shed, they move as a batch into a straw yard, then into small heifer cubicles until about a year of age, and finally into the main heifer shed, where AI takes place from 12-15 months.
Reduced mixing means less stress and lower disease challenge. Ever since calves were moved out of the main dairy shed and into the new youngstock unit, pneumonia cases have dropped to the point where they can be counted on one hand each year. The farm no longer routinely vaccinates for pneumonia, and instead focuses on environment, group stability and nutrition. Crypto is controlled through a seven-day oral preventive course for all calves, but otherwise, medicine use is modest.
Keeping that grouping intact, rather than constantly reshuffling, is seen as part of welfare and, ultimately, performance.
Health gains
One of the major drivers for the new build was to get calves out of the main dairy environment and give them their own airspace.
The new calf house is light, airy and purpose-built, with an open ridge and careful use of boarding and gale-breaker curtains to balance airflow and shelter. The family considered ventilation tubes but decided to try the shed as designed first. So far, calves are thriving and air quality is good. The triple-apex youngstock shed also uses vented tin and heat-guard sheeting, with one half of the roof left as conventional cement fibre to allow for extra solar panels if needed. The calf house also offers some shelter to older stock in the adjacent spans from the worst of the weather.
Previously, weaned calves went onto straw and would pick away until they were older and moved onto silage. Now, they go straight onto a TMR at three to four months old, mirroring the adult cows. The ration is built around silage, a specific heifer blend, and chopped straw, with around 2kg/day of blend, 2kg/day of straw, and 4-5kg/day of silage for weaned calves. As they progress through the system, silage increases and straw decreases.
Robbie says the move has given more consistent growth, with batches coming through the shed far more even in size and condition than before. The farm is formalising this by weighing calves at birth and then at quarterly or monthly intervals, aiming for 1kg/day liveweight gain.
Breeding replacements
All heifers are served twice to sexed semen before being put to an Aberdeen Angus bull, and cows are generally given two straws of sexed semen followed by British Blue. Bull and beef heifer calves are sold privately at two to three months of age to a neighbour, while all dairy heifers are reared on farm.
The family use milk recording and classification to benchmark cow families and guide bull choice. Type and feet and legs are priorities, but they do not chase extreme stature or milk – preferring a balanced cow that fits the system rather than something too big for cubicles and feed space. The common thread is simplicity – one main milking group, once-a-day TMR feeding, and repeatable youngstock routines from birth through to first calving.
While youngstock are the focus, the dry period and transition cow management are recognised as the foundation of both cow performance and calf viability. Cows move onto the dry cow track eight weeks pre-calving, with condition scoring at 30 days pre- and post-calving carried out as part of the feed service. The transition system has, in the family’s view, contributed to smoother calvings and cows that get up and milk quickly, leaving calves more vigorous and better able to take on that first colostrum feed.
Better future
Lorraine sums it up – better housing, a better start, better welfare and a better future. The new sheds have removed many of the old compromises – no more calves sharing air with cows, no more tired cubicles or crowded corners – and allowed the family to build a system around what works for calves and heifers rather than what fits the existing footprint.
The better future is now starting to show in the milking herd – more even heifers coming into the parlour, smoother transitions and a herd that has reached its target size and can begin to think about surplus heifers as well as replacements.
For Townhead, the investment has reshaped the day-to-day running of the farm and the health profile of its youngest animals.
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