Two brothers from Cornwall have gone against the flow of the farming migration by switching their beef, sheep and arable system to a specialised dairy system at Trelowthas, Probus near Truro.

The self-build project has seen the 360-acre farm converted back to dairy and includes new cubicle housing, two new silage pits, a 20/40 swing over Westfalia parlour and a slurry system capable of handling the waste from up to 200 cows.

Jim and Chris Colloby, along with Jim’s son Chris and his cousin Paul, developed the four-way family partnership after Jim decided to scale back his own farming.

“I didn’t have the funds to rent the whole farm myself, so the idea of making a specialist dairy unit with my Cousin Paul and Uncle Chris, was formed,” said Chris.

With the grassland at Trelowthas Farm mainly used as an arable break and grazed by sheep it wasn’t just the buildings which needed converting to dairy. Chris has set about a similar programme of grass conversion as employed on his earlier Council smallholding, but on a more wholesale scale.

Having started using Nickerson’s Circle Leys on his first dairy farm, Chris hopes to reproduce earlier successes with the company’s varieties and believes the choice of Red Circle is a shrewd one.

“It’s a long term ley so it will save me money over the normal 4 to 5 year re-seed, as I hope to have it down for 8-10 years. I have a milk contract with cheese makers at Davidstow so I’m aiming for quality feed.

“I want production geared to high yielding grass for grazing and silage and straight away put 150 acres of the 250 acres of grassland down to Red Circle in August 2006. Sixty acres of arable are for feed as rolled wheat, but I aim to cut that back to 40 acres and increase the maize to 60 acres. Reseeding will be completed with Circle Leys grass mixtures this year,” said Chris.

While nearly 18 years of an arable regime has not left a weed legacy, Chris acknowledges that soil analysis is important as the farm hasn’t received much in the way of slurry and potash levels could be low. The farm is also the middle of a Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone, so N application has to be carefully driven.

The feed regime practiced at the council unit has been followed at Trelowthas since milking began there this March and is based on a 60/40 grass/maize ratio, with 72 per cent of home-grown feed in the feeder wagon. Milk yield at that farm, up to the move, from the 100 plus cows was 8,500 litres at 4.2 % BF and 3.4% protein with milk price hovering around 19.5ppl.

After two years of building costs and the recent reseeding, Chris knew there wouldn’t be much money left to buy cows so he is investing in home breeding. His Holstein Friesians, although not pedigree registered, have all been selected for high generic merit.

His immediate aim to get to 200 cows will be realised soon and the target of breeding all his own replacements will quickly follow, but he has bigger targets such as improved herd genetics and reduced calving index.

“I enjoy farming, but that is not enough, you have got to be really switched on to do this job properly now. So cost saving targets like reducing the calving index is one example. I want to get mine down from 402 to 380 days. There are real cost savings to be made here. I could save up to £11,000 on just 100 cows,”

“I’m immensely grateful to my father and uncle who have invested in Paul and myself and it’s not without risk. The only rule they have laid down is that Paul and I don’t do any more contracting work,” added Chris.

Certainly, to meet the Collobys is to see a family inspired with a vision for the future. “My brother and I could easily have sold up and be made for retirement. Instead we have invested in Paul and Chris and starting what is a completely new system for the family. It’s certainly going to be interesting,” said Jim Colloby.