From Time Saved to Better Results: Caulston Farms Success Story

                                                                                    

Caulston Farm, nestled in South Devon’s coastal region, is a pasture-based organic dairy farm. Covering over 900 acres, the farm is managed by Adam Atkinson, who has been involved in dairy farming all his life, following in his father’s footsteps. He shares the farm with his wife, Holly, a qualified vet, and their two sons.

Caultson Farm is home to 600 Kiwi Cross cows, all calving within a condensed 9-week spring block. Its coastal location presents challenges, particularly due to thin, sandy soils that struggle to retain moisture, making the farm prone to drought.

The farm layout is linear, with a centrally positioned milking parlour requiring cows to walk up to 3 km in either direction. While pasture is the primary feed source, supplemental feed is provided during periods of increased demand. Given the challenging environmental conditions and tight calving schedule, maintaining optimal cow condition is crucial for a successful breeding season.

Challenges

Coastal farming presents unique challenges, which are further intensified in a pasture-based, seasonal calving system. Under these conditions, precision farming is essential for success. In seasonal systems, the pressure to get cows in calf within a tight window is immense. Missing a single heat costs £44 due to delayed calving, while failure to conceive within the 12-week breeding season can result in losses of £81 per cow.

Given these stakes, achieving a high level of heat detection is crucial for success. Identifying heats is just part of the challenge – getting cows back in calf is another. From calving to regaining optimal rumination and body condition, everyday counts. Cows in poor condition struggle to conceive, yet daily monitoring of each individual animal is impractical.

Body condition scoring, often performed just once before mating, leaving little opportunity for timely intervention to improve reproductive outcomes. Precision monitoring solutions are essential to bridging this gap, enabling timely and effective management decisions that enhance reproductive performance.

Solutions

For Adam Atkinson of Caulston Farms, the solution was clear; utilize modern technology to tackle these challenges head-on.

By implementing the powerful combination of Tru-Test Autonomous Weighing (Dairy WOW 4000) and Tru-Test Active Tags, the Caulston Farms team has gained the tools to improve performance and navigate industry challenges more effectively.

Adam uses the WOW data to identify cows with negative ADG, then moving them to a ‘thin cow’ group where they receive ad-lib silage and shorter walking distances. This targeted feeding improves cow condition without increasing rations for the entire herd, ensuring cost savings and better breeding outcomes. Cows that recover with positive ADG are then returned to the main herd.”

1. Monitors DML WOW Data – for performance insights

2. Targeted Grouping – based on individual cow needs

3. Optimised Management – for improved cow health and reproduction

4. Reintegration – of recovered cows into the main herd

This integration has equipped Adam and his team with precise, data-driven insights, enabling improved herd health management, enhanced reproductive success, and improved overall productivity.

Adam has reduced a daily 3-hour heat detection task to just 10 minutes with Tru-Test Active Tags. With guesswork gone-precise heat detection and insemination timing have freed up a labour unit, allowing more time away from the dairy parlour, to focus on other areas of the farm like animal nutrition.

Health detection with Tru-Test Active Tags has delivered significant benefits for Adam. Early alerts enable prompt intervention, reducing antibiotic use and improving overall herd health. The behavioural insights and health index in DML further enhance decision-making by tracking treatment effectiveness and recovery progress in real time.

Results

Adam is already seeing the benefits of Tru-Test Active Tags and Autonomous Weighing, including improved reproduction rates and significant savings on supplement feed.

With precise heat detection and optimized insemination timing, Caulston reduced AI straw usage while maintaining pregnancy rates, resulting in a 8% increase in conception.

The 6-week in-calf rate improved from an already impressive 82% to 86%. Previously, achieving optimal average daily gain (ADG) required increasing supplemental feed for the entire herd. Now, by utilizing WOW data, Adam can identify and draft individual cows with suboptimal body condition, providing additional supplementation only to those in need.

This targeted feeding approach has reduced supplement usage by 100 kg per cow, resulting in total savings of 60,000 kg (60 tons) across 600 cows. Despite this reduction in overall feed usage, reproductive performance has improved, demonstrating the effectiveness of precision nutrition. These efficiency gains have allowed the WOW system to achieve a rapid return on investment.

Solution Benefits

1. Reproductive Efficiency & Heat Detection

• Automated Heat Detection: Reduce time spent on heat detection tasks
• Optimized AI Timing: Improved conception rate by 8% while reducing AI straw usage
• Higher 6-Week In-Calf Rate: Increased from 82% to 86%, resulting in a more even calving spread

2. Precision Nutrition & Feed Efficiency

• Targeted Supplementation: Utilizes WOW data to identify and support thin cows.
• Reduced Feed Costs: Saves 100kg of supplement per cow.
• Boosts Body Condition Management: Enhances reproductive success while reducing costs.

3. Health Monitoring & Disease Prevention

• Early Health Alerts: Identify issues early to reduce antibiotic use and impact on production.
• Behavioural Insights & Health Index: Monitors treatment effectiveness and tracks recovery progress.

4. Labour & Operational Efficiency

• Reduced Workload: Enables staff to focus on other key aspects of farming.
• Optimized Cow Management: Uses real-time data to make informed decisions.

5. Return on Investment & Profitability

• Improved Reproductive Performance: Drives enhanced herd productivity
• Lower Operational Costs: Precision feeding and animal monitoring reduced overall expenses.
• Rapid ROI on Technology: Potential efficiency gains enable for a quick return on investment.

Over-all Conclusion

Through improved herd health, fertility, and targeted management, Caulston Farm has achieved measurable benefits. Heat observation time has been cut from three hours to just 10–15 minutes, with 86% of cows in calf within the first six weeks, leading to a condensed calving pattern and more days in milk. The farm has also reduced straw usage for insemination, saved £30,000 on feed costs by targeting “thin cows” using weight data, and improved overall cow condition, resulting in fewer health issues. These advances have enabled more informed animal management decisions a month earlier, delivering both economic savings and healthier livestock.