A focus on strong cow families, consistent type and profitable longevity have helped shape the genetic make-up of the 240-cow Clarby herd of pedigree Holsteins.

The Llewellin family didn’t start farming with registered Holsteins; that came three decades after they set up the dairy operation at Lower House Farm, Clarbeston, where milk was produced from a commercial herd of Holstein Friesians.

“We were always pushing for yield and the way to achieve that was to introduce more Holstein blood,’’ says George, who farms with his son and daughter-in-law, Ben and Nia.

George and his late wife Anne visited Canada in the 1990s and liked what they saw.

“We bought some pedigree cows in the mid-1990s including Snowdrift from the Marlais herd,’’ George recalls.

Meurig James from Holstein UK classified the herd and so the Clarby herd was established.

Proven sires have since been used to produce the right type of cow for the system and to meet the needs of the end market.

The Llewellins started farming at Lower House Farm in 1965 as tenants of the Moat Estate and bought the 278-acre holding in 1976.

The layout of the farm and the heavy soils don’t lend themselves to early turnout, so milk production is structured around a June-November calving profile with a high level of good quality home-produced silage in the diet.

Ben says the ideal cow for the system is one that calves on September 1, is housed on a high nutrition diet after calving to support fertility and can be turned out to grass in-calf in April to produce milk as economically as possible until drying off.

The herd is classified up to three times a year and this informs decision making on which cows to breed replacements from.

“Classifying is an essential tool that we use to determine the top cows and cow families that we will breed from,” says Ben. “It is one of our favourite days of the year, and is an excellent gauge in determining how the herd is improving.”

The bulls used this season are Mogul, King Doc, Rager-Red, Secretariat and Dalliance. Mogul has been the main influence on the herd in recent years, and over the last decade it has been Picston Shottle.

Bulls are selected predominately on type – the aim is to produce a balanced cow with good feet and legs and strength throughout.

It was Ben and Nia’s marriage in 2008 that elevated interest in breeding top cows at Lower House Farm to another level.

Nia’s grandparents founded the Maesyrafon herd in 1948 and this was continued by her parents, John and Margaret. She inherited their bug for pedigree breeding by establishing Riverside Jerseys.

Most of the Jerseys came to Lower House Farm when Nia and Ben married and there are now 15 in the milking herd.

“I was brainwashed into pedigree breeding when I married!’’ laughs Ben. “I learned a lot from John about the type of cow that I wanted to breed.’’

They enjoy showing and have achieved notable successes, including twice winning the National Jersey Show, and an All-Britain Award with Riverside Tequila Hazelnut, who is classified Ex96.

Additional revenue is generated from the sale of surplus stock, and this side of the business has been given a boost with the Clarby herd named among 10 winners of Holstein UK’s prestigious 2021 Master Breeder Award.

The award is recognition of Holstein member herds which have achieved a high standard in both classification and production from homebred cows.

“It was a dream of ours to one day achieve master breeder status but we didn’t expect that to happen for many years,’’ says Nia.

The Llewellins hope to continue improving their herd, but have achieved a level of genetics that has enabled them to have surplus heifers to sell.

Ben and Nia’s young sons, Jac, Tom and Ted, are all budding farmers and spent much of the lockdown periods out on the farm so the future of the Clarby herd looks assured.