Darren just misses the mark (From Western Telegraph)

Darren just misses the mark

A mere quarter of a mark separated a Pembrokeshire dairy farmer from the winner in a national silage competition.

Darren Callan, who manages Corston Farm, at Castlemartin, was a finalist in the annual silage competition run by the Federation of Welsh Grassland Societies.

A sample of his first cut silage won the local and regional rounds of the competition. Marks were also awarded for silage clamp management and utilisation, effluent control and the general farm appearance. Annoyingly for Darren, the winner gained a quarter of a mark more for his silage analysis.

"It was really disappointing,'' he admitted. "It was as good an analysis as I will ever have. The judges said it was the toughest competition they had ever judged.''

Darren's silage had an analysis of 18% protein, an ME of 12, 31 % dry matter and a D value of 75%.

He lost out to a north Wales farmer, who he had selected as a winner in a previous competition.

It is the third time that Darren has narrowly missed out in the final. He was a runner-up in 1999 and 2001.

He manages a high yielding 300-cow dairy herd on the Castlemartin peninsula. Last year the farm produced 2,500 tonnes of grass silage and 800 tonnes of maize and whole crop silage.

It is essential that that silage is good quality. "We are at 80% milk production in the winter, so it is important that we produce good forage for the cows,'' he explained.

He produces 4,750 litres of milk from grass and silage. "If you have good quality silage it is so easy to balance. In the winter we feed 60% silage to 40% concentrates.

The better the energy level in the silage the less concentrates we have to feed.'' The herd consistently produces 16 litres of milk off grass silage.

Darren may have lost out in the competition final, but his herd excelled itself in the 2004 National Milk Records production and inspection competitions.

He was the overall winner of the Pembrokeshire Herds Competition and had first prize for the highest daily lifetime yield.

The cow, which clinched this prize was an Aerostar who had a lifetime average yield of 22.6 litres during 3,280 days in milk. His cows were also placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the nominated cow competition and picked up second place in for the best group of three.