Rob Goodwin’s time with AHV

My name is Rob Goodwin, farm at Longlands Farm, Linton, South Derbyshire. I farm here with my family, third generation farmer, and a farm alongside our herdsman Dane. We’ve always had a keen interest of cows and milking cows. Something that’s always interest me. I started it from a young age, gone into it through that really. We milk 240 cows three times a day with an average yield of 12,000 liters. We’re all year around carving herd, supplying milk to Arla through a 360 Starbucks contract. So herd health is a big thing for us here at Longlands. We’ve invested a fair bit in cow comfort and animal welfare, made the most of existing sheds to gain better cow comfort and become more sustainable going into the future.

Transition products

In the summer of 2022 following on from discussions with Rob Kirk we started looking at some of the transitional products that AHV do. We looked at the Booster Tablet and the StartLac Paste and from that we had some good results, cows are carving down well so from on that it gives us confidence to look at other products and then we moved on to some of the udder health products to overcome some udder health challenges.

To start with, Rob Kirk suggested using the Booster Tablet two weeks prior to calving to aid the transition of the cow into the milking herd to help improve the too negative energy balance. After using the Booster Tablets, we then moved on to StartLac Paste and Metri Tablets post calving to help reduce a few signs of milk fever and aid uterine health which both products did. After reviewing the results from those first products we used from AHV, we then looked at the longevity health plan and from that cows seem to transition well into the milking herd and generally cows seem healthier from it. After the cows are transitioning well, looking at results few months on, days to the first service seems to be dropping nicely. Cow’s just seem to be getting going nicely.

Support from AHV

We’ve had some good support from Rob Kirk at AHV, giving us advice and he’s always been on the end of the phone for help if we needed it. We’ve got on well with products we’ve used and the cows seem healthier using it and meaning we’re getting more saleable milk in the tank. By autumn 2022 were we using AHV products reactively then we moved on to more proactive approach. After using AHV solution we’ve seen a reduction in health challenges in the herd and also since using AHV products we’ve seen a big reduction in the use of traditional methods used for treating cows.

Sustainability

For the next five to ten years we want to keep improving the comfort and animal welfare to make the farm more sustainable to help reduce the carbon footprint going forward and future proof it for the next generation. Going forward I think AHV solutions will help with the longevity of the herd to create a sustainable future for the generation to come here at Longlands Farm.