Harper Adams University Farm Animal Facilities

The Dairy Units herd of predominantly Pedigree Holstein-Friesians was started in 1955 by grading up the existing Ayrshire herd. It expanded gradually from 80 cows to the current ~350 cows.  The parlour uses an internal rotary equipped with auto I.D., activity meters and yield meters, all of which are integrated by a computer system.

In addition, the dairy unit contains dedicated facilities for research, which include individual Roughage Intake Control (RIC) bins.  This facility has capacity for 50 cows that permits individual intakes to be recorded. The cows can be supplemented using out-of-parlour feeders that allow up to four different concentrate feeds to be fed. Cows can be housed in groups of 40 for larger-scale studies, and research on grazing is undertaken on the surrounding grassland area. Further research linked to methane emissions specifically take place utilising the Greenfeeder facilities within the unit. A metabolism unit is also available to complement the nutritional studies.

The Harper Adams Future Farm flock currently stands at ~500 breeding Pedigree Lleyn ewes, with approximately 1,000 lambs reared every year. The far also run a small flock of up to 30 teaching sheep to use for practical lessons and demonstration activities. All sheep are Maedi Visna (MV) and Enzootic Abortion of Ewes (EAE) accredited and fully vaccinated against clostridial and Pasteurellosis diseases.

The farm otherwise currently operates as two main flocks. The flocks lamb from mid-February through to April indoors, with a small lambing outdoors in May. Flock one is serviced in family groups up to 50 ewes per tup to a pedigree Lleyn ram, then flock two is serviced in the same way but to an Aberblack ram. The introduction of Aberblack rams has been recent for the Future Farm flock, their use was evaluated for the purpose of hybrid vigour and financial gain by improving the health and muscle conformation of lambs born.

Historically, the Harper Adams University beef unit has been stocked with cattle that have been purchased for trial studies and then finished on the unit to produce beef for the Harper Adams University kitchens. As of July 2022, under the formation of Future Farm, the beef unit has been fully stocked with cattle bred from the dairy unit.

The indoor unit is an intensive finishing system with the capacity to house up to 80 cattle at one time. The cattle supplied to the beef unit are all home-produced from our dairy unit, as the cattle are a dairy x beef breed (predominantly a British Blue sire). The beef calves join the unit once they have been weaned from the youngstock unit, usually in batches of five. They go on a transition diet of grass, maize, straw and a protein blend alongside weaner pellets until they have fully transitioned onto the beef Total Mixed Ration (TMR) diet.

The farm also has an outdoor herd, which we use to compare the two systems. The outdoor herd is smaller at ~25 at present; however, we are looking to grow this herd. The outdoor herd is less intensive but still has a finishing time of approximately 16 – 18 months

The pig unit comprises of 230 sows managed on a batch farrowing system, producing groups of over 530 weaners every three weeks. It is a closed herd breeding all replacements on site from purebred Landrace sows producing a Large White Landrace cross as the F1 dam. All piglets are EID tagged at birth to allow individual monitoring of lifetime performance. The unit is designed to allow a wide variety of research trials with flexible facilities including individual feeding for sows, farrowing pens and crates, with all buildings having full environmental control.  Buildings for weaner and grower pigs can be used for behaviour, welfare and nutritional studies.  Pigs that are not allocated to a study will be reared under commercial conditions adhering to the Welfare Codes of Recommendations and the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme.

The farm currently houses only research poultry; however, preparations are well underway for the reintroduction of commercial poultry production to the university. This is expected to commence in late 2026 or early 2027, creating opportunities for more applied teaching, practical handling sessions, and hands-on learning experiences.

Research within the unit is primarily undertaken by PhD students, although several commercial research projects are also conducted in partnership with industry.