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Mackie's
Farm
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The farming activity covers 1600 acres of land. Our herd of 500
Jersey and Holstein milking cows are the main focus of the farm,
and they utilise most of the land. We grow 600 acres of grass and
900 acres of cereals, the bulk of which are processed into feed
for the cattle.
The Jersey cows
are producing about 20 litres of milk each day, which is equivalent
to about 2.5 litres of double cream. To produce this amount of cream,
the cows eat 35kg of food each day and deposit 50 litres of muck!
Farm waste (muck
and slurry) is always a potential risk to the environment - quite
apart from the smell! We therefore analyse all our waste and apply
to each crop only the amount that can be utilised by that crop at
that time of year in order to minimise leakage of any nitrates into
waterways. We also carry out a Nutrient Budget each year to ensure
we are balancing everything correctly.
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| David
Hay with Feed Cart |
Managing the environment
is an important objective
for the Farm. We have planted 120 acres of deciduous trees around
the farm. These areas have been designed to provide habitats for wildlife,
to encourage native species to breed in this area. We have sown grass
strips around some of our fields to create wildlife corridors to link
the areas of woodland together. These grass strips also protect any
waterways from any chemicals and fertiliser, which we may apply to
the land. We have created wetland areas and a pond to encourage as
diverse a wildlife population as possible.
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Maitland
Mackie
tries a bed!
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Cow welfare is very
important as an unhappy cow does not produce any milk. Each cow has
it's own lying space complete with mattress. They have feed available
at all times with fresh food added twice per day. Our vet comes on
a routine visit once a week and any sick animals are moved to a hospital
area.
We have the real plough to plate cycle on the farm. Maitland was
with a young primary group on top of the hill discussing how the
crops are planted and grow. They enjoyed following the chain through
harvest, production of cow feed, milking and the dairy process to
make a tub of ice cream. Maitland returned to the grassy field they
were sitting in and asked what step they had missed from the beginning
of the chain - aiming to include the elemental ingredients of rain
and the Suns energy. He asked what step they had missed out in their
description - and a little boy replied "God"! Whatever
the ingredients our milk and cream can be made into luxury ice cream
within 24 hours - more detail in the Production area.
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