Managing 300 milkers and their followers on a 180 acre milking platform is no mean feat, but for the farming enterprise of DT Evans & Son, Troedyraur Blongest Farm, just outside Newcastle Emlyn, it’s all taken in their stride. The family business is run and managed by Thomas and Christine Evans and their son Rhys. Not only do they operate an efficient dairy enterprise but they are half way through successfully diversifying into holiday lets, having eight units currently with capacity for 30 visitors. More units are under construction.
Around 350 acres of land is rented to provide the Evans’ with grass crop, ensiling the equivalent of around 600 acres per year. In addition they use this bloc for young stock and growing around 70 acres of Oats.
Currently, the calving profile is a mix of Spring (60%) and Autumn (40%), but all that is about to change. Said Rhys Evans, “Typically this is very much a dry farm that tends to suffer during the summer months when we get burn-off. This of course puts pressure on feed and yields that has a negative effect, moreso on Spring calvers. Calving is a high stress time for the cows in any case, with extra pressure reflected when we are looking for top yields at the beginning of the lactation. There’s just too much going on with Spring calvers, so we are going to move to an autumn profile, which means we feed a TMR throughout the winter, the yields will then boost with the flush of spring grass. The herd’s drying-off period will coincide with fall-off in grass growth - which makes total sense.”
Two JCB tele-handlers, a TM320 and TM220 are used for much of the work around the dairy unit. The 320 model is employed with a shear-grab and for strawing down, while the smaller model is primarily used for scraping and mucking-out.
The dairy herd’s winter accommodation is very much based on cubicles with sand and sawdust, while the followers and young-stock over-winter in yards on straw. Strawing down throughout the winter can be a labour-intensive job so the Evans’ researched the market for a straw shredder to help them become more efficient and minimise labour requirements. “We saw a Teagle Tomahawk on the Tallis Amos Group stand at the Royal Welsh Show and Dylan, our salesman offered to bring it out to try it on the farm. It didn’t take too long to recognise that this was absolutely perfect for the job.”
Mounting the Teagle Tomahawk to the front boom of the JCB, meant that the straw shredder could ‘scoop the bale’ enabling it be loaded directly from the straw stack without the need for another handling device, therefore reducing labour and the need for tying up another loader. As the JCB is articulated, manoeuvrability with the Teagle Tomahawk means it can get into even the tightest of spaces and it can handle large square as well as round bales. A low hydraulic flow requirement and a big returns capability means that the oil stays cool even when shredding lots of straw.
“The Tomahawk has been perfect for our needs, commented Rhys "We’ve always used TAG at Narberth because they give us so much choice on quality machinery. We’ve known them since the days of LAS, they always do a good job, they are always keen to help us farmers and we can rely on them if we ever get an issue with any of our machines. With an efficient dairy operation like ours, you need to be able to rely on prompt back-up in the event of any break down - we can’t afford to have anything but first-class service, and TAG are the best in the area.” he added.
