The Beechgroves herd in Buckinghamshire is one of the leading herds in the UK and also one of the least well known. It is owned by brothers Gideon and Daniel Lacey whose family have farmed the farm at Lane End High Wycombe for over 100 years, formerly as tenants but in the last 10 years as owner occupiers.
The Guernsey herd numbers around 120 cows and has been calved in the autumn to concentrate the bulk of milk production before the middle of summer when the farm which is mainly over a gravel soil burns up.
Three years ago investment was made into processing plant to add value to the Guernsey milk mainly as Milk and Cream and these products are delivered to local shops and hotels alongside eggs that have been produced on the farm for several years. The milk business is growing steadily and a major investment in a new bottling facility has been made this year to cope with the demand and to reduce the time taken for the processing.
At about the same time as the farm was purchased the old established herd was up graded to Pedigree status and it has regularly appeared in the top ten herds for Production despite the challenging soil conditions. Classification of the cows also commenced at that time and has now covered four generations of the cow families and one family has emerged as of consistent and impressive type.
The first female classified in the Elinor family was Beechgroves Elinor 11 VG 85 CME, this Jasper daughter bred 3 VG daughters including Beechgroves Elinor 12 VG 87 CME, who is still in the herd who has calved every year in October or November and has 3 records of over 9000 kgs, she has not been scored since Jan 06 and given her evident wearability should in my view upgrade to Excellent.
Her daughter Beechgroves Elinor 13 VG 87 by Glacier has a superb udder and like her dam has calved each year in the same month but has the bonus of a very high fat test she again is overdue for a rescoring as she is in her fourth lactation and is in calf to Yogibear.
The fourth generation of VG females is provided by Beechgroves Elinor 14 H86 and this daughter of Yogibear has improved tremendously as she has completed her first lactation, she again is calving back on the year and is in calf to Nomar.
Elinor 14 had a son by Spring Walk Icy Iceberg, Beechgroves Ezekiel and he has just completed semen collection for use this autumn in the Guernsey Global Bull Scheme, an opportunity that should be embraced.
Iceberg has 2 Ex and 3 VG full sisters in the US including Spring Walk Icy Sherbert whose Challenge son Spring Walk Sherbert Mint is also available now in the UK. Challenge has emerged as a top sire of sons in the USA because of enhanced fertility as measured by the DPR ( Daughter Pregnancy Rate).
The nearest equivalent measure in the UK is the new improved formula for £PLI which combines Production with Longevity and by implicaton Fertility, and these 3 Beechgrove cows have PLI’s of +£133 for Elinor 12, a PLI of +£145 for Elinor 13 and a £PLI of +£162 for Elinor 14 which places her in the top 12 cows in England.