After six weeks of snow and ice followed by the Christmas and New Year Holidays it was a great pleasure to be able to restart visiting Guernsey herds last week, and I was able to walk through three good herds each of which have several potential bull mothers for EGCS.
My first visit was to the Kenvin herd of Duncan Vincent, some of milk from the herd is processed on the farm into Ice Cream, Cream and Clotted Cream. The processing business has been run by Ian Vincent and his family, but he has recently sold the business to a new owner and she has offered Duncan an enhanced price for his milk. The Kenvin herd is within the Dartmoor National Park and the grazing ground is on the lower slopes of the moor and locomotion and legs and feet are a vital requirement for the herd.
Two cows caught my eye Kenvin Yogis Lynne 22, this young cow in in calf to Aaron and is a daughter of Kenvin Enticers Lynne 9 ,sadly Lynne 9 was lost to TB last year but was one of the best cows in the breed, the other cow that i liked was Kenvin Silver Molly 21, she has a tremendous frame and udder and more dariness than normally seen in the Silverados.
My second visit was to the Hartland View herd of Andrew and Debbie Lewis, this 80 cow herd has been created since August 2009 with cows and heifers from Sunninghill Park, Rosewood, Tredinney and Trevider, the cows are part of a 400 cow Holstein herd producing milk for a Cheesemaker and the Guernsey milk whilst still being a minor part of the whole have led to a rise in the protein% of between 0.2 -0.3 % and a rise in the milk price achieved.
The Guernseys are in a cubicle house with sand beds and a slatted floor that currently has 68 cubicles, but work is starting shortly to add an additional 32 cubicle spaces and will allow the Guernsey numbers to rise to around the 100 mark. Cows that I liked here included Trevider EH Harebell and she has just had a bull calf by Mint that has a GMI of +280 and may get selected for the bull scheme.
Tredinney Cornelius Tansy 5 who had been the top priced Lot at the Golden Opportunity sale and is potentially a third generation VG female also impressed.
My third visit was to the Rosewood herd of Rita and Mark Dunn at Cornworthy, a change of milk buyer has led to the addition of around 60 Holsteins in the last two years with the Guernsey numbers reduced to around 40, but having kept the best it is a very impressive group of cows with Rosewood Precious being outstanding , but Rosewood Garetts Grandee is also a faboulous cow as is Rosewood Sunny Rosa, this cow is 7/8 English bred and may be the cow to breed a son for an American breeder, whom I met in Canada and who is very keen to import English genetics to the USA.
Rita and Mark have just taken on a second farm of 150 acres and have always finished beef cross cattle on the farm, these have now been moved to the new farm and the extra land will allow Maise to be grown for silage. The Guernseys are now being challenged to produce more and the Society challenged to produce young bulls that will meet the needs of the herd.