To those who live on mainland UK, the nuances of farming on the islands which surround us can be easily forgotten.
On Jersey, the standing of its native dairy breed is still strong with many acknowledging the role it and those who keep them play in maintaining the image of the island. Decreed the only dairy breed to be kept on the island, the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society has long kept the island’s herd book and handled its registrations.
Without any permitted import of raw milk, The Jersey Milk Marketing Board controls the milk on the island alongside its processing arm, the Jersey Dairy, and 60 per cent of production consumed locally. A strong brand has been developed along with a robust export trade.
The island is completely disease free. There is no IBR, BVD or TB. Even the foot trimmer who travels over from England keeps his own equipment on the island to limit any risk of disease transmission.
Woodlands Farm is nestled in the heart of Jersey less than a mile south of the centre stone. Here, Charlie Le Boutillier milks 300 Jersey cows, operating under the Woodlands prefix. With an enthusiasm for the breed both in terms of its heritage and its production ability, Charlie is now carrying on what his family has built up over time, having celebrated the herd’s centenary year in 2023.
One of the largest herds on the island, cows yield 7,800 litres at 5.8 per cent butterfat and 4 per cent protein, milked through a 14:28 herringbone swing-over parlour twice-daily.
Charlie says: “Butterfat is clearly very important to us but we do also get paid on protein.”
Cows are run in a high and low group and are buffer fed according to grass growth throughout the year.
ForFarmers are one of the biggest feed suppliers on the island and ForFarmers’ Ben Trott visits three times a year and is on hand to offer support remotely. The herd is fed a PMR of 60 per cent maize and 40 per cent grass with fats, minerals, yeast, maize meal and ForFarmers’ Pellemix included, a pelletised blend.
A flat rate of 0.5kg compound feed is fed in the parlour, while out of parlour feeders feed to yield, making use of Optima Match Levucell 18 with the herd’s feed rate at 0.28kg concentrate per litre.
In recent times there has been a big drive on the farm to make good quality forage, producing as much milk from forage as possible. According to Charlie, grass grows well on the island and cows graze from March through to as late as December if conditions allow.
Following a rotational paddock system, cows graze for 12 hours and are then moved to the next paddock while paddocks are walked weekly with growth assessed.
Field sizes are smaller on the island and measured in vergées, consisting of 19,360 square feet (1,798.6 m2) and containing 40 (square) Jersey perches. At Woodlands, Charlie is running 1,000 vergées, which equates to 450 acres which he describes as reasonably spread out with a 170 acre grazing platform.
The island also hosts favourable maize growing conditions, with a reasonably dry and warm summer, and Charlie drills 170 acres of the forage crop for silage.
Fertility is the biggest strength of the herd. Heifers calve at 23 months, and the herd achieves a pregnancy rate of 35 per cent with a 60 day voluntary wating period. Longevity is another thing the team at Woodlands pride themselves on with cows regularly giving at least 10 lactations.
Running a closed herd, sexed semen is made use of for genetic gain and to help rebuild the herd following a catastrophic botulism outbreak at Woodlands in 2022. Sexed semen is purchased via the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society which only allowed semen from either the UK or further afield to come on to island’s shores in 2008.
When choosing semen and making breeding decisions, the A2/A2 status is considered with the herd on its way to be fully A2/A2. Further to this, the breeding programme is based on health, mobility, production, with particular emphasis on fertility.
Aberdeen Angus semen is also made use of with beef-cross calves taken to finish and processed through the farm’s butchery, processing 150 finished Jersey-bred beef cattle and 250 cull cows annually. Woodlands Farm Butchers has a growing retail trade and also supplies some of the area’s restaurants.
Feeding 2kg of ForFarmers Eco Super Beef Grader, Jersey-crosses typically kill out at 240kg, at 20-22 months.
Charlie says: “The quality of Jersey cross beef is just fantastic. It carries nice yellow fat. What it might lack in quantity, it certainly makes up for in quality. The Jersey government runs an abattoir near St Hellier, the island’s capital, which sees the cattle killed.”
A multi-generational family farm, the farm business also employs a team of four full time staff alongside a part time tractor driver and mechanic. In the butchery and farm shop, nine members of staff are employed.
Charlie says: “We do all our own tractor work, whether slurry spreading, silaging or baling. It means we are in control.”
With a part owned share in a forager, Charlie is able to be in control of his own silage production with his own machine bringing a huge amount of flexibility.
First cut is taken in April, and every five weeks which follow, hoping to take four or five cuts by the end of the season. Most grass is clamped, though a small number of bales, both hay and silage, will be made.
Charlie says: “I am passionate about dairy production. I strive towards having a healthy herd and driving production from forage.
“There are 12 dairy farms on the island and we are an extremely tight community with some enthusiastic youngsters coming through.
“The government appreciate the part we and our iconic breed play in the management of the island’s countryside and overall image. We get good support from them with permanent pasture receiving better payments than cropped ground.”
When it comes to calving Charlie has a strict protocol, with every cow’s colostrum tested for quality. Calves receive five litres at birth before being moved on to calf milk replacer.
Calves are fed an ad-lib compound feed and once weaned at 10 weeks, 3kg Vita Super Heifer 18 per day with chopped straw.
Following a devastating case of botulism within the herd which resulted in the unexpected death of 132 cows, the herd is relatively young.
Charlie says: “The vast majority of the animals we lost were heifers and second calvers. It was a truly horrific time, with the first animal dying on 14 December 2022, and the last on Christmas Day.
“We were left devastated by a problem you cannot insure against. If it wasn’t for the support of the rest of the dairy industry on Jersey, I am not sure I would have coped. We all have a very unique bond.”
Charlie also benefited from this community’s generosity by receiving some cows which were destined to join the Windsor herd for the Queen’s Jubilee. With the shipment delayed due to the Queen’s death and while the news of Charlie’s situation reaching the new King, the cattle were gifted to Charlie, before they ever left the island.
Once the herd is rebuilt, Charlie is then set to expand his herd and is carrying out building work to accommodate this growth. He is currently putting up a new cubicle shed with a 22 degree pitched roof, designed with cow space in mind. He is planning on giving each animal 9m2 .
Charlie says: “The Jersey cow is a fantastically unique animal. It brings joy to me every day and I would never consider keeping any other breed. You can achieve fantastic yields with Jerseys and they give our island the green fields and brown cow image it is so well loved for.”
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