Welcome to Bisterne Farms
Our dairy…
Our dairy manager is George, who has been managing the Bisterne herd since 2019 as part of a contract farming agreement. The 2023 NMR/RABDF Gold Cup was won by George and his team, one of the first farms in the competition's recent history to receive the award with a crossbred, low-input, grass-based herd. Previously he managed a dairy herd in Northamptonshire, having completed a degree in Land Economy from Cambridge. In one sense, George’s mantra is very technical: intelligent herd management to increase milk solid percentage against modest mature cow live-weight. In another sense, it’s remarkably simple: very happy cows equals high quality milk. George oversees his young and very capable team on the ground, their day starting at 4.45am to bring the herd in for their first of two milks.
Our arable…
Our arable unit is led by Martin, who has farmed at Bisterne for nearly 40 years, and leads all decisions on cropping, input costs and marketing, and CSS/ELMS. A primary challenge at Bisterne are our very sandy soils, which retain very low moisture. The cultivation of fields is on a no-till regime, in order to avoid upsetting the soil structure every year with deep-ploughing. We direct-drill with rare tactical use of a plough if absolutely necessary to correct a severe problem.
The technicals…
We are milking just over 600 cows at Bisterne, producing milk from grazed grass, averaging 3,730 litres of milk from forage with a target to reach 4,000 litres with cows yielding 550kg of milk solids per cow, per lactation.
Current average yield (2024) is 6,282kg of milk at 5.06 % butterfat and 3.84% protein from this spring and autumn block calving herd. Our dairy platform is circa 600 acres in size, alongside remoter fields and the Avon water meadows. We use a combination of sexed semen and running Hereford stock bulls over the herd, calving in February and August.
Approach…
Overall, Bisterne Farms include a 600-cow dairy herd and separate arable unit, farming over a total of 2500 acres across the estate. Our herd are predominantly Freisian-Jersey cross breeds, producing 3.7 million litres a year. We sell our milk to Arla Foods.
Our separate arable unit produces crops for the open market and as supply to the dairy, as well as managing our countryside stewardship schemes. We are also increasingly looking into supplying the biodiversity net gain market.