Andrew and Debbie Lewis were the main buyers at last weeks Sunninghill Park sale and I visited the farm which is close to Barnstable in Devon yesterday.
The 39 Guernseys have settled well and the Lewis’s are actively looking for another 20 cows so as to fully occupy the cubicle house that has been set aside for the Guernseys.
There are 350 Holsteins on the farm which are fed a partial TMR throughout the year which is based on a mix of grass silage, lucerne, maize and wholecrop cereal silage. The cows are bedded on sand and use 4 tons a cow per year but the benefits are many.
It will be interesting to see how the Guernseys respond to the high level of management and quality inputs available and to see what impact the quality milk has on the payments from the milk buyer Cheese Maker Cricketers Farm. The new cows included 18 pedigree animals and I have managed to identify all but three of the cow families of the others. The Lewis’s have opted to use Tireford Pedro as the first bull to be used on the herd.
With more than 600 Guernseys in herds in North Devon this area is fast rivalling West Cornwall’s claim to be the stronghold of the Guernsey.