First Milk Home

Gloucestershire members Liz and Chris Best were told by their peers before switching to organic that they’d never keep their cell counts as low as they had been.

But for five years, the Bests from Poole House Farm, Leighterton in Tetbury, have continually defied the sceptics and for the third year running, the couple and their 65 pedigree Holstein Friesians cows, scooped First Milk’s Gloucestershire quality milk award.

So what is the secret of their success in keeping their 8,000 litre yielding animals producing milk with an average cell count of under 80 and bactoscans around 8?

“Attention to detail and a consistent regime at milking,” says Mrs Best, who looks after the farm during the day and does virtually all of the milkings while her husband Chris works at an exclusive local restaurant and hotel.

“There’s only me who milks really, so we don’t have a change of personnel which I think helps enormously,” she adds.

Her simple regime consists of stripping the teats, washing and drying them with a paper towel, followed by a thorough once-over with an udder wipe. After milking, a standard iodine teat dip is used and at drying off, Orbeseal is allowed.

Liz believes that breeding helps reduce problems, as does the farm’s low stress system. There’s nothing extra-special about the housing or bedding system, she says, with cows lying on mattresses with additional straw covering.

“We’ve a very simple system, which works well. The cows were always very clean before and we’ve kept it up,” she says.

“We’re delighted that we have won the quality awards for three years in a row. It shows that organic farmers can do just as well – if not better – than conventional ones.”