BUITELAAR’S HIGH HEALTH UNITS IMPROVE REARING SYSTEMS ON FARM

Working in partnership with his brother, Huwie Jones has been farming over 800 acres of their family farm in Abenbury, Wrexham for over 50 years.

The business currently milks over 350 Holstein Friesian cows supplying milk to Tesco and rears over 300 youngstock on farm at any one time.

Prior to installing the High Health Units on farm, Huwie reared over 300 youngstock in a conventional nursery.

Huwie said:

“I was originally having problems with the old calving units. When rearing our calves in the nursery, we found we had older cattle all the way around the unit, so there was contamination of fresh air.”

He added:

“What attracted me to the High Health Unit was the insulated roof with plenty of natural airflow. It’s a really easy unit to clean and wash saving us on a lot of time too.”

The farm previously experienced huge issues with pneumonia before installing the units eighteen months ago.

Huwie said:

“Pneumonia was a big issue on farm for us and we were really desperate for additional space for our youngstock.”

Since installation Huwie has found that there are fewer mortalities, the use of antibiotics has reduced significantly and the calves are generally rearing a lot better in the units than in conventional sheds or igloo style calf housing, meaning improved efficiency and greater profitability on farm.

“We built the units further away from the older cattle now, so that there’s no contamination of fresh air. It’s great that we can also easily see the calves lying down in the units so it’s much better for keeping an eye on them too.”

The ‘ease of installation and erection’ has featured heavily in customer feedback following purchase.

Huwie said:

“I was really happy with the cost of the units and how easily and quickly they were installed on farm. Having them on farm has really ticked the boxes with our milk buyers too – they were impressed with the design, the ventilation and how healthy the calves look now.”

He added:

“Buitelaar have helped us a lot on farm and are always happy to help make suggestions in how to improve my calf rearing systems so we can continue to move forward as a business.”

Located right across the UK, the Buitelaar Tech Team advise and support various supply chain producers with a strong focus on early-stage calf rearing. To find your nearest Tech Team agent, click here.

Find out more about our High Health Units here.