A decision by brothers Richard and Patrick Fisk to rationalise their dairy business and cease milk production at The Bold Farm, Burwarton, Bridgnorth has resulted in a herd of 231 Holstein Friesian cattle being put up for auction.
The herd, comprising 154 cows in milk or in calf and 77 in calf heifers, will be sold by auctioneers Halls at Shrewsbury Auction Centre on December 15 at 11am.
The Fisk family, which has milked at The Bold Farm for 70 years, plans to continue dairy farming at Moorbrook Farm, Stottesdon with their existing herd.
“This is a seriously good, high performing herd of very well bred, principally young cows that inspect extremely well,” said Peter Willcock, Halls’ chairman. “They are of a substantial frame with very good legs and feet.”
Cow sires include Shottle, Azure, Bossman, Buckeye, Spooky Metallic, Bluesky, Oscar, Twist and Speed Goldmine. The herd has been milked through a herringbone parlour and are cubicle housed.
Foot trimming is carried out monthly as and when required and scanning of the herd is carried out monthly for pregnancy detection. The herd is recorded monthly and the latest recording showed the average to be 8,000 litres, butter fat 4%, protein 3.3% and cell count 200.
The herd was tested clear of TB on November 9 and it has been vaccinated for BVD and Lepto-spirosis.
Also going under the hammer in the same auction is an additional entry of 17 first class hybrid Jersey cross Friesian cows and heifers from Angus and Andrew Snodgrass and Mark Gethin at Arley Farming Company.
The entry comprises nine cows completing their second lactation, which are due to calve between January and April, two heifers which have calved more than 40 days ago and six heifers which are due to calve between January and May.
Halls is also inviting tenders for a range of dairy equipment and sundries, including a 10-year-old Roka 9,500l bulk tank, a DeLaval ATP500L heat exchange unit, a DeLaval air wash, an SSF 3000 automatic footbath, Heatime with 150 collars, 100 Wilson cubicles, 16 Kraiburg cubicle mattress and 100 cubicle mattress.
