For Jeff Evans and his son Iago Evans, getting back into regular pasture measurement has changed the way they manage grazing at Broadmoor Farm.
The family runs 200 cows across 40ha in Wales, supplying First Milk through a spring-calving, grass-focused system carrying a stocking rate of up to 6.8 cows/ha. “Our high stocking rate means it can be quite hard to manage the grass and make sure we’ve always got enough in front of the cows,” explains Jeff. “That makes it really important to know how much supplementary feed we need at any one time.”
Jeff had previously done plenty of plate metering over the years, but admits that as cow numbers and workload increased, the routine gradually slipped away.
“We started off doing a lot of plate metering, but as cow numbers increased and workload increased, we probably eased off and went more by eye,” he says.
That eventually led to a fixed grazing routine across the farm. “We sort of went down the fields one, two, three, four, five,” says Jeff. “The paddock grazed first was basically the next one to graze again.”
A fresh approach to grass measuring
The opportunity to trial AIMER came just as Iago joined the business full-time. For him, grass measurement was completely new. “It was my first go really,” says Iago. “I’d never done grass measurement before, so I had no preconceptions about plate metering or anything like that.”
Since using AIMER, Jeff says the farm has become much more flexible in the way grazing decisions are made. “We’ve certainly moved around the farm a lot more these past couple of weeks,” he says. “I’ve been quite impressed by that.”
Hitting residuals without losing milk
One of the biggest improvements has been the farm’s ability to hit grazing residuals more consistently while still maintaining milk output. “We’ve been able to get to our residuals a lot better this year,” says Jeff. “We’ve certainly challenged the cows more, but we haven’t lost any milk from it.”
The speed of scanning paddocks has also made pasture measurement easier to fit into everyday jobs around the farm. “It’s quite nice because you can just whip around when you’re fetching the cows,” says Iago. “It doesn’t take that long at all. It makes it easier to do, so you end up doing it more often.”
Key results from Broadmoor Farm
· Improved consistency hitting grazing residuals
· Greater flexibility moving cows around the grazing platform
· More confidence balancing grass and supplementation
· Faster pasture measurement built into day-to-day routines
