February 12, 2010
Largest UK dairy farm proposed
Designed to a level which the applicants say are beyond the highest environmental and animal welfare standards ever seen in the UK, the largest dairy farm in the UK has been proposed.
Plans have been submitted by the Reading Agricultural Consultants Ltd on behalf of Peter Willes, of Parkham Farms in North Devon and Lancashire, David Barnes who manages the herd in Lancashire and Robert Howard, a Lincolnshire arable farmer.
Nocton Dairies Ltd plans to milk over 8,000 cows on arable land at Nocton, south of Lincoln. The cows will produce up to 250,000 litres of milk a day which will be sold to the East Midlands milk market.
Cows will be housed indoors, in groups of 500 and milked on two 80-point rotary parlours. Sick, mastitic or lame animals will be split from the herd and kept in seperate housing until they can return to their group.
Dry cows would be kept seperate and put out to grass, moving into the calving area only 2-3 days before they are due. Also, cows would be bedded on deep sand, made largely from recycled materials.
With an area of some 21,000 acres available for crop production, the animals will be fed corn, lucerne and whole crop cereals supplied by a cooperative of local farmers.
Bull calves would be reared for 2-3 weeks then sold at local markets for beef production. Heifer calves would also be sold at local markets, however, the company said that there is scope for cooperation with local livestock farmers in heifer-rearing operations.
The application also includes an anaerobic digester which will produce 2 megawatts of power from farm waste.
It is hoped that planning permission will be received in the first week of April and that the first cows will be milked by late September.
Despite the detailed plans in place, there are concerns among the industry with regard to how such a large herd will affect milk and stock prices, animal health and disease control as well as the public's perception of agriculture.
