Lactaid Milk Cheque Booster for Ian
27/11/08

Dairy farmer, Ian Blamire is optimistic he’ll be able to boost his milk cheque in the next few weeks, thanks to winning a pallet of Lactaid, a new generation yeast, worth more than £1,400.

Agri-Lloyd's Andrew Clark, left, hands over the Lactaid prize to Ian Blamire, right, with Wigton area sales agent Ian Eland.

Ian and his wife, Gillian who milk 150 mainly pedigree Holsteins averaging 10,000 litres at Mid Whinnow, Thursby, Carlisle, won 48 boxes of the stabilised yeast, Lactaid, in a  prize draw run by feed specialists Agri-Lloyd in the North West and Wales. Through adding Lactaid to their ration they are hoping to improve both yield and constituent values of their milk sold to Dairy Farmers of Britain.

An official trial which introduced Lactaid to Askham Bryan College’s all year round calving Holstein herd near York resulted in yield increasing by 1.5 litres per day, along with butterfat up 0.5% and protein 0.1%, bringing an additional net profit of £82.35 per cow per lactation on yield only, or £14,000 for the 170 cow herd.

“With stabilised yeasts such as Lactaid, the fermentation process has already been carried out during the manufacturing process under carefully controlled conditions, rather than in the cow’s rumen, and so the highest levels of beneficial metabolites are produced and available in her diet,” said Agri-Lloyd’s regional sales manager, Andrew Clark.

The prize draw initiative was run in September at The Dairy Event and Livestock Show and throughout Agri-Lloyd’s Lactaid roadshows, during which Ian entered the draw.

“I had been considering introducing Lactaid to my TMR when I entered the draw and it was when I phoned Andrew Clark to find out more about it, he told me I had come first - the first time I have won something of this value,” said Ian Blamire.

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