Shropshire farm open day showcases herd’s longevity

Local dairy farmers have attended an event at a Shropshire Farm to see how a mating programme run by leading AI company, World Wide Sires UK (WWS) has helped a local farmer to boost herd longevity.

A select group of ten farmers were invited to the one-day event, hosted by Friend Farms, Market Drayton to understand how the Worldwide Mating Service (WMS) can help farmers to correct genetic problems in their herds.

The impartial mating programme run by WWS UK correctively mates each cow individually, by identifying their strengths and weaknesses across all 17 linear traits to increase and improve the uniformity of the herd.

The 350 strong milking herd at Friends Farm, which is run on a purely commercial basis, was introduced to the mating programme seven years ago and since then the business has never looked back.

Andy Offland, Herds Manager at Friend Farms has definitely seen the herd move forward. He said:

“Before WMS we had a major problem with longevity, the cows were milking but just not lasting. The programme has helped us to build cows with more strength and better frames to provide the longevity that we sought, it has really built power back into the herd,” says Andy.

The youngstock on the farm are now very uniform and a clear improvement was seen by the group in the younger generations coming through to the milking herd. Large farms are often prone to making rushed breeding decisions as time is very limited.

“WMS provides a straightforward management tool that saves time and makes the best use of semen, keeping the herd moving forward. I can’t understand why every farmer isn’t using the service,” concluded Andy.

The day began with a presentation from UK WMS Manager, Rob Braithwaite, who discussed the mating programme and how it works – noting the individual animal analysis and health trait breakdowns, before the group inspected the herd.

 “The mating programme provides farmers with a semen manual, making their lives easier and saving time. WMS can have an enormous, positive impact on the productivity, profitability and quality of your herd, just as Friend Farms demonstrates,” says Rob.

To book on the next open day or for more information call FREEPHONE 0800 161 3371.