{"id":8597,"date":"2024-03-28T05:54:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T10:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/?p=8597"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T15:30:13","slug":"kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent farm double production with GENEadvance\u00ae"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A farm in Kent has more than doubled their heifers\u2019 production and has achieved a 197% improvement in \u00a3PLI progress since joining herd improvement programme, GENEadvance\u00ae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain McGeoch, the Herd Manager at Watchingwell Farms Ltd, joined the business in 2019 and has been focused on making long-term changes ever since. With a drive to increase the efficiency and production of the herd, Iain knew he needed to reduce the cows\u2019 stature and focus more on increasing genetic  progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchingwell Farms Ltd, owned by the Billings family, was originally breeding to fit the show-cow aesthetic, resulting in tall, narrow animals with little focus on production traits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a GENEadvance\u00ae<\/strong> herd improvement programme<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Incorporating GENEadvance\u00ae into the herd\u2019s breeding strategy meant that all animals born would now be genomic tested, gaining Iain access to crucial information regarding the genetic merit of his heifers in the herd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The genomic data gives his Genetic Services Specialist, Chloe Watkins, powerful insights into the genetic merit of the females in the herd. Chloe then supports Iain in interpreting the results and transforming them into a customised breeding plan, one which aligns his goals for the farm. This is done so that Iain can make more informed breeding decisions to help reach the herd\u2019s goals faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon their first genetic review, it was found that their \u00a3PLI was sitting at a low \u00a3117 on average, with their heifers at a slightly higher \u00a3185. As of 2023, this figure has jumped to \u00a3422 with their best heifer at \u00a3760.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cows in their fourth lactation currently have a PLI of just \u00a320, which means the new herd coming through will show incredible improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since using GENEadvance\u00ae, the herd has seen a growth of \u00a380 PLI per year on average, demonstrating the success of selective breeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To save on costs and improve the efficiency of the herd, Iain has been selecting genetics that will reduce the size of the animals they breed. Doing this has brought the overall maintenance score of the herd down to -3, a huge improvement compared to their original +2 score prior to using GENEadvance\u00ae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animals born in 2020 were 22kg heavier than the new members of the herd, contributing to a difference of 46kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By reducing the size of a cow by just 5kg, they will require 1500kg less feed for maintenance, saving a total average cost of \u00a32400.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Iain<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using a sexed and beef strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Using a herd improvement programme has allowed Iain to identify his best performing animals, which will be bred to sexed genetics and the rest to beef to encourage genetic progress. In attempts to increase cow numbers to over 800, the current sexed to beef split is 50\/50. The herd currently holds 360 cows in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exclusively using Sexcel\u00ae, sexed genetics, on his best animals, Iain has seen outstanding results. This year alone, they saw 200 heifers due to the performance of the sexed product, helping to increase their total population by 100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the best genetics, Watchingwell Farms Ltd is generating more pregnancies than ever. Herd monitoring collars are used on their heifer rearing unit to better detect natural heats, rather than using a sync system with a running Angus bull, which saw them missing pregnancies from their high \u00a3PLI animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain explained: \u201cWe\u2019re improving because we\u2019re using the best bulls for the cows and we\u2019re using the best cows. If you\u2019re going to rear a heifer, a bad one costs as much as a good one to rear, so you might as well rear a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As cow numbers are increased on the farm, they plan to increase the proportion of animals that go to beef so that they are breeding from an even more superior pool of genetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GENEadvance\u00ae<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Examining results from GENEadvance\u00ae<\/strong> genomic data<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since genomic testing animals and receiving the support from Genus ABS\u2019 Genetic Services Specialists and his Breeding Advisor, Nick Tong, Iain has been surprised by some of the results, saying some of the cows they expected to be poor performers, actually turn out to be great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain explained: \u201cI look at a skinny heifer and think \u2018I will put that to beef, but it turns out it has 600 \u00a3PLI. Then I\u2019ll look at a stumpy one and think, that\u2019ll last a bit longer, but it\u2019s got a \u00a3PLI of about 3! \u00a3PLI takes everything into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a cow man, I\u2019ll think \u2018a heifer like that isn\u2019t going to last too well\u2019 but it\u2019s not about what it looks like, it\u2019s the genetics in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain said that using GENEadvance\u00ae definitely accelerates genetic progress and emphasises the need to follow the customised breeding plan and support provided by Genetic Services Specialists as part of the package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start accelerating your herd\u2019s genetic progress today. Contact your local representative to learn more.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A farm in Kent has more than doubled their heifers\u2019 production and has achieved a 197% improvement in \u00a3PLI progress since joining herd improvement programme, GENEadvance\u00ae. Iain McGeoch, the Herd Manager at Watchingwell Farms Ltd, joined the business in 2019 and has been focused on making long-term changes ever since. With a drive to increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9549,"featured_media":8598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[672,19,26],"abs_type":[7],"abs_industry":[57],"class_list":["post-8597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genetic-strategy","tag-geneadvance","tag-genetic-plan","tag-genetic-strategy","abs_type-article","abs_industry-dairy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKent farm double production with GENEadvance\u00ae - ABS Global UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A farm in Kent has more than doubled their heifers\u2019 production and has achieved a 197% improvement in \u00a3PLI progress using GENEadvance\u00ae.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kent farm double production with GENEadvance\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A farm in Kent has more than doubled their heifers\u2019 production and has achieved a 197% improvement in \u00a3PLI progress using GENEadvance\u00ae.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ABS Global UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GenusABSUK\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-28T10:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-28T15:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/03\/IMG_6615.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"6960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"4640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bethfarrell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bethfarrell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.absglobal.com\/uk\/kent-farm-double-production-with-geneadvance\/\",\"name\":\"Kent farm double production with GENEadvance\u00ae - 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