On Tuesday 12th March a few of us had the pleasure of being welcomed to Cowley Dairy Farm by the owner, Andrew Le Gallais. Andrew is in the forefront of environmentalism when it comes to dairy farming, growing his own silage, feeding each cow to its current needs (whether it is in calf, lactating, etc) and monitoring methane outputs. Devices attached to each cow mean that its dietary requirements and general health are constantly monitored. Andrew wears an alarm on his wrist which notifies him if a cow is in trouble. Every calf born is subject to genomic testing which identifies the potential for characteristics such as reproductive rates, productivity and feeding efficiency. At Cowley 200 cows are milked twice a day, each cow producing 30 litres a day of 6% fat milk. 60% of the milk produced goes to the local market as liquid milk and a range of dairy products. 40% is processed into value-added products and goes to the UK for amongst other things soft-mixed ice cream and packed butter. All 12 dairy farms which comprise Cooperative Members of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board are signed up to LEAF (Linked Environment and Farming) so that a programme of hedgerow regeneration, amongst other projects, has been implemented, and if all dairy farm hedgerows were linked together they would stretch from here to Gibraltar.
The Environment Section’s next outing will be to the Maison St Louis Observatory at the end of April, and more about that nearer the time so that all Société Jersiaise members have the opportunity to participate.
