New dairy parlour heralds major expansion at top college

He quashed earlier fears that its merger with East Durham College would lead to its demise.

And at the official opening of the £140,000 new dairy parlour he said it was just one part of the plan which will see almost £1m worth of money being pumped into Houghall.

"While other colleges have been paring down we are committed to Houghall becoming the national centre for land-based and agricultural forms of training," he said.

He claimed Houghall was the only one of the 45 agricultural colleges nationwide which has increased farmer students this year.

"The college is back to stay and will very shortly be a national leader in farming and other developments," he said.

A small animal centre is due to open shortly and an equine unit is designed to become a centre of excellence.

His commitment to Houghall was echoed by Mr Ian Williams, chairman of the governors, who described the official opening of the new dairy parlour as a watershed for Houghall.

"It is the first example of new investment, the first of many which we believe will transform the campus," he said.

Both men paid tribute to Mr Gerry Steinberg, MP for Durham, who unveiled the plaque which marked the opening of the parlour.

He had supported the merger and had fought hard to achieve it. Mr Steinberg successfully won the approval of the Further Funding College which had originally rejected the idea.

In turn he praised East Durham for giving Houghall a future.

"Two years ago the college could have closed," said Mr Steinberg," We realised there was only one solution and that was a merger with East Durham."

No subsidies had been given for the merger. "East Durham took them, has put huge investment on board and saved the college," he said.

That investment has already included a new library and the complete refurbishment of every bedroom.

Apart from the small animal centre and equestrian unit an assault course for management training is planned and 2.5 miles of the river Wear has been rented out to a syndicate.

The new dairy parlour cost £140,000 to install and was seen as the key to the whole investment programme.

Mr Edward Richardson, farm manager, explained that at one stage the college had considered getting rid of the farm altogether or renting it out.

"But I argued that the dairy was the centre of the entire farm and college itself," he said, and that was accepted by the board.

"How could we have rented it out and kept control? By investing in the dairy we can maintain it and everything else in the college fits around it.

The dairy was the way to secure the farm."

Mr Richardson believes that milk as a product is more stable than a lot of other commodities.

"I am optimistic about the dairy, some people have got out or are getting out of milk but I still feel it is a product that will be wanted, even if it is cheap," he said.

The new parlour is a Fullwood 12/24 swingover 50 degree herringbone with in-parlour feeding and automatic cluster withdrawal.

It has allowed the herd to be increased from 100 to 140 cows with the extra bought in sales, including from Ampleforth College.

An extra 100,000 litres of milk quota was bought to give a total of 730,000 litres with another 50,000 litres leased in.

And if Mr Richardson's belief in milk proves right the parlour can be increased to a 14/28. The tank has an extra 5,500 litre capacity in the tank to allow for expansion.

The old parlour was a Fullwood 10/10 which took three hours to milk the herd twice a day.

"It was six hours a day with fewer cows," said Mr Richard Brown, herdsman for 11 years, "Now we do about 80 an hour. The cows are much more relaxed because they are not under any pressure and it is better for the staff."

The heifer calves are reared at Houghall for three months and are then contract reared by John and Jane Lovegreen at High Etherley, Bishop Auckland.

They return to Houghall six weeks before calving at two to two and a half years of age.

"We have done this for about 18 months now and it seems to be working well," said Mr Richardson, "There are approximately 60 young heifers there at any time."

The parlour has been in use since the end of July and it led to an immediate drop in the bactoscan levels.

Several leading Genus bulls were used last year and the average milk yield has risen from 6,800 litres to 7,300 litres.

The bulls are picked with a view to improving yield, legs, udder attachments and longevity.

Contractors are used for silage operations and Mr Richardson believes in detailed costing for all operations based on how much it costs to produce each litre