Dairy expert take over Shropshire college farm
A new manager has taken over a Shropshire college farm and brought along with him years of experience in the farming industry.
The farm at North Shropshire College's Walford campus has welcomed Stephen Eldon as the new farm manager, ready to learn from his expertise in high performance dairy farming.
Joseph Edwards, marketing and business administration apprentice, said: "Stephen has a vast amount of experience working with robotic milking machines and using them as part of the overall management of increasing milk yields while at the same time keeping an eye on the costs.
"In this very challenging time the dairy industry is in, it is all about cost of production and producing a litre of milk as cheaply as possible while at the same time maintaining quality.
"We are very fortunate here at NSC to be able to demonstrate two very different dairy farming systems.
"On the farm we have two dairy herds – firstly we have the UK grassland system where the cows are milked through a more conventional herringbone parlour, housed on cubicles and complete diet fed in the winter and using a paddock grazing system in the summer.
"The second system we have is the cows are milked multiple times through a robotic milking machine, kept inside all year round on straw yards and demonstrate a high input and high output system.
"We are not saying which system is better than the other, but our students can make their own minds up which will influence their decisions in the future"
Mr Eldon is a Yorkshire born farmer and was brought up on the family farm.
After college, he worked with his father and brother in establishing and managing a high performing dairy herd and farm business.
For more information on or to apply for agricultural, equine, animal care, engineering, sport courses at NSC's Walford campus, telephone (01691) 688080 or visit www.nsc.ac.uk
