Casado Morante C.B.

The Farm:

• Located in Spain
• Owner:  Juan Jose Casado Morante
• 300 ewes
• Breed: Mostly Assaf
• Milking system: MidiLine™ SG300 2x16
• 2 milkings per day

Farm Management:

Today Casado Morante C.B utilises a MidiLine™ SG300 2x16 parlour from DeLaval with an electronic take off system, swing over arms and electronic milk meters. The herd includes 520 head, with 400 adult sheep. 100 animals are in first lactation, 120 animals are in second lactation and all the rest are third or fourth lactation,” says Juan Jose. The average lactation length is 180 days.

Juan Jose says that in his previous milking system the milking time was “double” what it is today. “In today’s system, milking never stops. We milk one side while the animals on the other side are entering and then when we’ve finished milking this side, the other side is ready to milk. This is much faster than the system I had before and very flexible because it adjusts to the needs of each animal.”

The system is “relatively small” but still allows the farm to milk a high number of animals per hour. Juan Jose says this parlour has “allowed us to increase herd size and made milking very quick”. Midiline automation is becoming increasingly popular in the area, as local farmers seek to increase their flock sizes and reduce milking times, without needing more labour. The clusters are designed for easy use plus cleaning and are generally combined with a flow or time based take-off system. “The cluster is much easier to handle than before because it’s easy to grab and you just have to push the button,” he says.

The farm also prioritises good parlour access and exit for the animals. “The stalling makes the parlour much faster because of the sequenced entrance and when everything is finished the system lifts up and the animals leave the parlour.”

“Feeding is the highest cost – representing around 40 Euro cents per litre. When we sell the milk we receive 75 Euro cents per litre. We don’t really have any machinery buying costs apart from the initial capital investment.”

Milking:

The operation produces around 700 litres of milk per day. The average somatic cell count is around 500,000 and the owners describe the farm’s farms bacteria count as “low”. “We average 400 litres per lactation and have 6% fat at the start of lactation. Average protein is not counted because with sheep, it’s the fat content that counts – particularly the ingredients in the milk used for cheese.”

Milk is delivered to a local dairy every second day.

Herd management:

The farm rears its own replacement females, buys its own replacement males and does not use AI. Mr Casado Morante makes all the herd management decisions and is aided by a local organisation. “Through my affiliation with this organisation I get veterinary service and advice. This has helped us to reach our production goals this year.”

The farm also receives income from selling lambs at 40 Euro per lamb. The farm produces around 1.5 lambs per sheep per year. “80% of the animals have one lambing per year and the other 20% are lambing every second or third year.” The operation has a 25% replacement rate and the age of first lambing is one year

Manure is removed from the barn once a month and given free of charge to local crop growers, to spread on their fields.

Feeding:

Outdoor grazing is common through spring to winter and the sheep are fed 100 grams of concentrate each, inside the milking parlour. The farm feeds seeds, corn, grain, and alfalfa including 1.5 kilos of concentrate and 1.5 kilos of roughage per day. “Alfalfa is the main protein source and concentrate is the energy source,” says Mr Casado Morante. The farm buys most of the roughage used.

Housing

The farm’s housing includes 1120 sq meters out of which 120 sq meters incorporates the collecting yard, milking parlour and milk room. Within the remaining 1000 sq meters, 600 sq meters houses the herd and 400 sq meters is used for storage.