Feed Efficiency and Cream awards

Hello everyone, it's Thursday the 10th of September and welcome to episode 309 of the Kite Podcast with me, Will Evans and me Ben Eagle and as Will said just before we started recording it's nice to have the full kite podcast team back together again today and today we are talking about feed efficiency and looking back on this year's cream awards from British Dairy magazine, which took place in Warwickshire on the 3rd of September. The winner of the high feed efficiency award sponsored by KW feeds was Steve Cope of Cope Farming which is based near market rate in in Shropshire and we're thrilled that Steve has come on the show this morning to talk about his business but also about feed efficiency. We're also joined by Kate Matthews who is a senior consultant with Kite and Steve's nutritionist, podcast producer Becky Ray is also with us as is everybody's favorite dairy market analyst Chris Walkland, Chris over to you for the milk market report, where are you this week? Well obviously I'm bringing you my report from the cream awards but just to let you know I got very important announcement today which I will enlighten you with at the end of my report it's huge perhaps the biggest of my life. Before then yes congratulations to all of the winners at the cream awards it was a brilliant it was brilliant event and can I say how wonderfully gorgeous all our fantastic lady and gentlemen dairy farmers and allied industry scrubbed up. I had a wonderful time I haven't had as many hugs and cuddles in one evening since my wedding day in fact from both boys and girls so I was very modern. So yeah congratulations to all the winners especially to first milk for bagging the biggest gong of the night the John Beckett trophy for being an all round good egg. But is there anything to shout about on the markets this week where we had a gdt pulse event and I think the most notable thing there is all the skim milk powder increased by more than 200 euros to 3200 euros so it has now seen a 470 euro rise in just three weeks it's the highest price it's all about skim on the pulse in May 2025. And as far as the main auction is concerned it's the highest price for four years so some positive news therefore skirmensdale suppliers. In Europe land I'm not seeing prices increased by anywhere near the extent they need to in order to pay for the milk prices that have been announced here. Forward cheese prices from stone ex haven't increased this week yet and are at 3150 sterling for the short term and in fact forward prices have actually fallen this morning compared to yesterday for longer term contracts not by much but nevertheless they're down. I've no idea why other traders have increased their prices to 3 to 60 sterling there or there about so that is that is a significant increase on a couple of weeks ago. I've no idea why the futures are behind the curve but to compare those prices I put the ptf mild cheddar price up to 3,400 sterling last week in the mature price to 4,000 so the take out here is is a danger that lower prices in Europe will or could pull our prices down. And there's still that terrible cheddar price on the gdt that's lost 750 pounds in a quarter of its value since June so cheddar on the auction is 2,600 sterling fortunately I don't think anybody buys cheddar from the auction for the UK. On butter the Dutch butter price increased again this week that's for the fifth consecutive week by 80 euros to 4,100 euros and that's its highest price since April so some good news there. The Dutch food grade scheme powered are also increased by 90 euros in it is at 3 to 70 euros so we haven't had a price drop for 11 weeks now and the amp values equate to about 30 p so the amp values from butter and scheme are climbing but not fast enough for those who need it. And cream prices are here about 175 on the futures well but as half decent run recently has come to an end this week with 110 euro correction but we're still 200 euro up on the month. And skin powder well that's down again by 70 euros and I think both of drop because they were a fair bit higher than the physical market the real market. So over the next six months we've got butter now at 4,4,30 euros, scheme at 3 to 60 and an amp price of between 30 and 31 pence and spot milk is over 50 pence. So that's the end of my report for this week a reasonable week I think with some potential bumps in the road on cheese. So now comes my mega announcement I'm taking a deep breath here because it's major epic in fact are you ready guys ready as you know the caliber of my jokes on this podcast or nothing short of sensational as I'm sure you will agree will. And there is a good reason for these exceptional jokes because it turns out that following some painstaking genealogy research by my brother we that is him and I are distantly related to Charlie Chaplin. Okay this this was not the news that I was expecting. That's amazing yes absolutely true and explains a lot so the good news is there'll be more hilarious jokes from now on bad news is there'll be silent ones. Anyway I haven't impressed you with that news but I'm sure our guests certainly will so I'll leave you now and see you all that darey day next week just look for a bow legged man in a bowler hat and a black cane and that'll be me. Is that you you look goodbye. So many questions so many questions I thought you were going to wear that shoe retirement Chris I would miss you too much well and better. Third on the list Chris noted thanks. Can I can I can I rewrite you can I know there's sometimes you have to live with what you said Christopher. Okay thank you Chris Steve welcome to the show can you introduce yourself and your business please. Well yeah Steve Cope farm at Boyhill Farm Adley market rating built our unit for Boyhill Farm approximately be 21 years in January since we moved cows onto this unit. I'm third generation on this site fourth generation the daughter is just coming into the business now. Built a unit here 650 cows back in the day and we're currently milking around 1100 cows three times a day and yeah our system. I think that's back some so up pretty well so yeah. What's going on yeah okay Kate welcome to you as well can you introduce yourself please and tell us how you work with Steve. Yeah I will it's great to be on the kite podcast I don't actually usually say yes to the podcast when Becky asked but I did. Want to come on with Steve and celebrate his success so I didn't know anybody could say no to Becky. Oh yeah you can yeah you kids must have it pretty well. Yeah so I'm a vet I've worked in farm and small animal practice before I joined kite seven years ago as a technical consultant so I'm Steve's nutritionist and but so we work more more than just on the rations so we look at all the technical areas of the business and performance. Yeah. Okay. Steve, huge congratulations for winning the high-feed efficiency category at the cream awards? What did winning the award mean to you? It's nice to feel that we're making some progress against the recognition for years of hard work. So yeah, just really nice to feel we're making a lot of progress. I think Kate's been with with us now. It's been three, four years but we've been working together, Kate now. We had a bit of a plan and a bit of a goal where we wanted to get to and yeah, it's nice to feel that we're we're really most probably ahead of that man with I think with with other big plans in the pipeline as well. So yeah, it's good to feel we're moving forwards. Yeah, it's way in times and tell us about the night as a whole. I guess it's it must have been lovely for the whole family. Yeah, very much so. Yeah, very pleasant evening and yeah, nice to go to one of the awards and actually be yeah, picking an award up for once. Yeah, it was it was super nice wasn't it because Caroline obviously wife was there and then LA and you know and you all went up together to collect the award. It was it was real recognition because you've already said Steve about, you know, got the fourth generation coming back into the business and she's she's such a key part of what you do in, you know, proper grafter and so it was really lovely. I outside of looking in sort of to see you all up there together as the family team that you are and recognising what you've got going on at her. Really lovely. Well, very important. I felt it was very important that for Ellie as well to be involved with that journey as well because I think as an industry, we've got to sort of promote the positives of the next generation of where we're going forwards that yeah, they see the positives, the exciting things that can come from it, not just the on the palm bits. Okay. Chris, you enjoyed the night as well? I did. Yeah, I think it's great, you know, to recognise people that don't normally get much recognition, you know, it's been most of their life up in up to the next in Calpool, don't they? And it's not exactly the most glamorous of jobs, but that was, you know, a nice glamorous evening and anything we can do to pull, you know, to recognise the youngsters is a real positive. Kate, for you, what makes these business stand out? Yeah, I mean, working with Steve is really enjoyable. We challenge each other, we communicate really well and we're just constantly striving to improve. So Steve said earlier, we set targets when we first started working together. I think we sort of hit those targets. Before the years, we said we were going to, so then, you know, we set new targets. So it's really exciting. Steve and his family, they're really driven. They just want to make sure the farms are fish and performing well and making money, which I think is really, really important. And Steve's not afraid to try new things, which is really exciting. Any acts on the advice you're giving really quickly. So the rate of change is really fast, which is just a really exciting business to be passed. Yeah, well, clearly, what you're doing together is, is clearly working. So give it up. Turning towards feed efficiency. Kate, what does it mean in general to you and why is it an important metric to measure and manage in general? Well, feed efficiency is linked to animal health, profitability, sustainability, sort of all areas of technical performance on the farm. So if cows aren't healthy, feed quality or consistency isn't there, or the environment is not right, they won't be feed efficient. And because so many factors affect feed efficiency on the farm, it's a really meaningful KPI for overall efficiency. And it's a really good benchmark in tool as well to use against other farms and to look at your performance over time, because it takes out some of the variables, so it's a really useful tool that we can use. Anything to add from you, Steve, on that? Yeah, it's just the whole picture, isn't it? It's looking at the whole picture, making sure that things are right. Steve, have you actually got any feed this year to be efficient with, or how are you doing with the drought? Well, the maze is still, but most of the maze is still all come in, and the maze is looking pretty reasonable for the year compared. Brass, we were lucky, we got three very good cuts of silence early on. And luckily, grass is growing again now, so we should get a fourth. If we'd continued on the plane that we would have been on, we could have had six, so yeah, we've missed two cuts out in the middle, so yeah. It's easy farming up there in two worlds. Oh yeah. I think part of what we do as well is we do a lot of planning, so Steve and I constantly are planning and checking forage stocks, and I'm always more on the risk of us cautious side, so constantly making sure that we have enough and balancing it out, so it's always just re-measure, re-measure, re-check, and keep on top of it, really. But when it comes to calculating it, Kate, what do you actually, how do you work that out? So in terms of forage, if you look at the, you can measure the height, the width, and the depth of your silage clamp, so you can get your volume, and then you can times it by your density, which will be based on your dry matter, so you know, depends on your dry matter and how tall the clamps are and how much you compact it, and so you get an idea of how many tons are in the pit. So it's really good as well, we especially use it with feed links, so I can say, well, in the last month we used so many tons of grass salage, and then when I look at that past last month, as to what I measured, I can see if my calculations were right, so it gives you a good sense check. And the old, you know, a great simple way, put a line on the silage clamp, you know, wait a month, see how far that went back, and then that'll give you an idea that you've got, you know, how many months you've got to go back, so that's a really simple way of doing it as well. Steve, you mentioned that you also missed two cuts of silage. It has been a challenging year in terms of forage. What kind of effect has that had on you planning the rations for this year? At this point, I think we will be okay. We will be okay, as long as the mate's comes in right. Yeah, we put a bit of whole crop in the pit, which possibly we wouldn't have done, and we've balanced things out the last two years by crops that maybe would have gone for for combining, have ended up in the pit, so yeah, but to say it connects another way, so. You made some good decisions early on that probably really helped you as well, didn't you, in terms of time in a plant in a maze? I remember speaking to you in the sort of let spring. I think the main thing was, I think, was said to me earlier on, was by somebody else making sure that we're getting our first cuts off in good enough time. The seasons are changing, and most probably learning a bit more from down south, that if we miss the window for the first cut, that's the sort of real crooks to the job now, so making sure that those early cuts are in, that if it does go dry, we get the maximized 30 grass growth, and I think that certainly paid up with sort of forest quality as well this year, hasn't it, Kate? Yeah, definitely. I think we went as early as we've probably ever been for first cut this year, so it was good to get that in, get back in, get the second cut, so we're in a much, we're in a comfortable position as much as you sort of can ever say, but we just need, you know, constantly need to push on. Yeah, I guess it's, say it's just, as you said, Steve, the seasons are changing aren't they, so we just need to be flexible. It sounds like you've been that with a whole crop, and it sounds like, yeah, it's just been agile on your feet, isn't it? And these are very much seasons. Don't I sell any forage? I'll get you a good buyer, reasonable commission. When, when did this happen that years of the growing forage? Oh, sorry. But I'm going to go. See you in the future. You have to go through me, Chris. I'm not selling anything. Okay, just going back to that feed efficiency. How do we, how do we actually calculate it, and then what constitutes a good feed efficiency score? So, um, so the core calculation is at kilos of energy corrected milk over kilos of dry matter intake. So we monitor feed efficiency through feed link. So feed links have been excellent for our, um, for Steve and I on farm. Um, it's given so much more accuracy and clarity on what's being fed, um, and it's helped us reduce wastage, um, and it gives us an accurate monitoring of, of a feed efficiency, um, and Steve's part of the Miller Fast Track program. So we measure feed efficiency as part of that. Um, and I think, um, it's really important to the Miller Fast Track program is really, really important and it's sort of 40 Miller supplying dairy farms and the program's aim is to accelerate emissions through, um, emissions reductions through accessing more live data. So it's, and technical advancement. So feed links are big part of that. Um, it's a really exciting group of farmers and I have the pleasure of, uh, running the program for kite. Um, in terms of a good feed efficiency score, uh, a lot of the good scores we use for sort of started on work based from Mike Hutchins in the States. Um, so a general rule of thumb was a group for one for all cows is 1.4 to 1.6. But feed efficiency will vary. So it will vary depending on the stage of lactation, if they're heathers versus cows. Um, but as we've been doing fast track and more people. have been measuring feed efficiency, we're now starting to see what is, you know, what is available on our system. So the average feed efficiency of the fast track group is 1.6 three, which is excellent. And that's a really accurate measure as well because their use of feed link is excellent and they're demonstrating better feeding accuracy compared to the other users. So that's beneficial in terms of counter-trition, finances, reduction of wastage, and emissions. Absolutely. Steve, are you using feed efficiency as a metric to measure business success? Most probably not enough at this point. There's plenty of metrics we are following and yes, feed efficiency is one of the ones which I think is getting more into fast track, we're starting to look more at. But yeah, it's still most probably one that we need to look more at, we'll look more at the health sort of metrics on the farm, which obviously all linked into it, and we'll be looking at their intake factors on the farm. But yeah, not as enough at the moment on feed link, I will say that. Okay. Why is it a good indicator of overall business success? Why are we looking at that in particular? Well, it's really so many factors feed into feed efficiency. So it's the cow itself, you know, genetics of the cow, the stage of lactation, as I said earlier. It's also the environment, so stocking density, you know, access to the feed bunk, heat stress, all of that can impact feed efficiency, and as well as the feed presentation. So it's not just the feed quality, which will be plant management. It's also how you're pushing up the feed, how the feed's well mixed. So there's so many technical aspects that can influence feed efficiency. So I think it's a really important, it's a good indicator of how things are going, because optimum feed efficiency is a result of room and energy and protein balance and room and health and the cow environment and that feed quality. So so many factors feed into it. It's just a good indicator. That's one to use. Steve, can you take us back in time a bit? You've mentioned you've been working with Kate for a few years, but when it comes to this sort of journey being on with improving feed efficiency, can you just tell us about a bit about the journey I suppose? Well, I think yeah, big things been improving feed quality, mixing consistency. We've always been very focused on reproduction management and animal welfare and health. We have a separate dedicated transition unit, which we built back in 2020. So actually dry cows, carbon cows aren't on the dairy units, so we're very much invested in that sort of transition stage of animals. But over the last few years, I think we made the decision to come up blends and go on to pre-mix, maximizing the feed usage that way. We've lost up to file feed wagon for quite a number of years, but we made a major swap a few years ago. We invested into a tree-lead feeder with compact feeding augers in. And I think that's really helped accelerate things. I think the sort of consistency of the mix that we've been getting through, that feed, especially with compact feeding augers, took all the sort in a way from the ration very much so. So I think that's played a very, very big path on sort of today's progress. Would you agree, Kate? Yeah, definitely. It's made a massive difference, I think. And in the combination of being able to have the feed going out and knowing what's going in. So one thing, when we started working together, we always struggled to work out the dry matter intake of pens, because there's lots of pens, big site, and when it's going out on the wagon, feed link as allowing us to do that. So we can ration, you know, based on the, you know, we can target the groups we're going to ration for. So that's really helped. And then the quality of the mix is really important. And it's interesting because we now we end up picking up such small changes, because we're so used to a consistent ration. And, you know, we're probably, I probably get a bit picky. It's not like you, Kate. I think the light date that we've been able to achieve though, through feed links, so as much more useful being there on the go, feed up on the phone or whichever, we sort of came from a situation before that we were trying to do dry matter scanning our old feed wagon. But I think we found that going back to a system which was most probably more open for data and easier to actually get the data as much more important to us than having a dry matter scanner. We've decided to do the dry matter scanning on farm instead of, instead of relying on a machine to do it, if that makes sense. So yeah, I think feed link has also played a major part in making things run easier. And especially with the link ups to the, or the farm software like dairy comp that the accuracy of pen numbers to the feeder all the time, it keeps everything just so much more live and reactive. Yeah, it works really well. I think from, especially from the pen numbers and the portions and, and we can tell if in takes have dropped and then the, you know, the first thing we do is check the dry matter of the silage. So has that changed? Because that's the likely thing to have changed first. If not, once you roll that out, we sort of have a bit of a process of what we can go through. And it's, it's really important because it just gives us that access to that data. You've picked up on a few things there, Steve, in your last couple of answers, whether it's data or kits in terms of things that have really driven this forward. But what would you say has been your key learning over time when it comes to efficiency? If you were, if you having this discussion with another farmer, what's the absolute key thing you would pick up on? Consistency. Oh, John, it's a bad consistency. More you can, more you can be consistent with all the bits and pieces. Yeah, the batter you are. So, yeah, Becky, Becky will be smiling at that. Well, and I think that actually slightly underplays, doesn't it? Because consistency is really hard to achieve. And it probably underplays the what goes on and what you do, Steve. And what is your normal on a day-to-day basis on the farm? You know, you are data hungry. You enjoy looking at performance and you are exceptional on the team around you, exceptional at what they do. I've had the privilege of visiting a couple of months ago. And you know, you walk around that unit and everything and speaking to Stephen and Carolyn at the time, you know, you walk around that unit and there's such detail and attention to that detail in every part of the process. You know, and you were talking about the next iteration and evolution of the business and you know, what you're doing, what you're, I mean, there's a monster building that's going up at the moment. But that's basically about, you know, so that you've got more control and can, you know, bring some stuff in-house that's currently set elsewhere. I don't know if you want to talk about a bit about that, Steve. Yeah, so the next development is we're going to contract read half as out for the last 20 plus years. So we're in the process of bringing, bringing the half as back within house. So yeah, we're investing in a state-of-the-art half-a-brearing facility. So yeah, it should be very exciting and should only help. So making the most of the genetics going forwards. And I think Becky's right is consistency is, and it's with, as I said earlier with Steve, it's, you know, if we notice something's not quite right, Steve would just be straight on the phone to get that sorted. So I think it's about not walking past anything that you think isn't quite right. You get it sorted. And I think it's just that attention to detail is really important. And we've pushed on, I mean, Steve says about the new building that's coming, which is, you know, it's really exciting. But we've had lots of new developments as well. We've had another young stock building over time. And it's just being, always being very cynical and working out what is right for the next step for the business and working together as a team. I think it's been really important. And as I said earlier, Steve's drive is just, yeah, very impressive. Okay. Okay. I guess, I guess listeners would have picked up that the feed efficiency just, it's just not about, it's not just about cows. It's about something broader in terms of the business, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. I think it's about, you know, pushing on trying to be efficient in all areas. And as with every KPI, you don't just focus on one. It's one of the KPI's in your talk here. And it's interrogate the data. I think the feeding accuracy is really important because you're going to have an amazing feed efficiency if your data going into it is wrong. So it's making sure that everything's right and accurate and you can trust in that metric and use it as one of many that we look at. Yeah. Okay. Steve, then what's next for your business? We've heard about the building projects that are on the go. Sounds like an exciting time. Yeah, so it's just, it's just focusing on that, that, um, effort-earing process next, um, and yeah, evolution of bringing next generation into the business, um, and yeah, trying to continuously try to address S as a sustainable future for the year industry really. Same. Okay. Well, many, many, many congratulations on your award. I can, I can see. why you want it after listening to this episode. That's all we have time for though, today. A very big thank you to our guests Steve Cope and Kate Matthews as well as Chris Walkland and podcast producer Becky Ray. Thank you also for listening. As always, please see the show notes for more information including our podcast disclaimer. We will be back with you next week, but for now it's goodbye from all of us here.