Meet Ottis Haines, our Herd Manager at Woodhorn Farm
As you’d expect for anyone working on a farm, and as a Herd Manager, I’m up and about early. My alarm goes off at 4am, and after a quiet coffee with my dogs I’m in the dairy yard by 4:30am. Throughout the year I love being able to enjoy those early morning Sussex sunrises, which are just spectacular on a good day.
My first task is to check the daily milk to make sure there are no issues, and then see how much the cows have eaten to determine if their feed needs changing. Woodhorn Farm is organic, our cows are free range, and the family who owns this land have been farming here since 1882. There’s a real sense of pride in that for all of us who work here.
I started this role as Herd Manager in the summer of 2023, and love being part of a progressive dairy farm with sustainability at its heart. As Herd Manager it’s my responsibility to care for our dairy cattle – we have around 250 cows on the farm – and I’m here to make sure they’re all happy and healthy. They’re at the heart of everything we do, and their welfare is our top priority. The fact is that the cows are the best bit of the job!
There are several regular jobs which have to be done each day – we milk twice a day at 6:30am and 2:30pm and of course keep a close eye on the cows and calves and make sure they’re well fed. There are also daily health checks, and we regularly check milk volumes and qualities too.
In the warmer months the cows are out grazing on fresh green grass and clover pastures but when it gets cold we bring them into the sheds, and they feed on the silage we’ve grown and stored from earlier in the season.
It’s lovely to be part of a small and friendly team; I have a couple of members of staff to support me – who help with milking and keeping our milk supply to The Oving Cow Shed – where we sell organic milk direct to customers – stocked up. Our milk is pasteurised within a few hours to keep its natural flavour and creaminess and we don’t homogenise it so you get the lovely cream rising to the top! We also supply to Organic Herd, who work with major food brands and national supermarkets.
Although I live on the Farm, and it’s only a few steps between my front door and the dairy I pretty much never sit down – except for an hour or so at lunch. On an average day I manage about 15,500 steps although there have been some where I’ve clocked up over 30,000!
I usually work until around 6pm, but typically do a night check around 9pm too, just to make sure all is well, and the feed is ready for the cows. There are certainly no two days the same – there’s always slightly different challenges – and I love it.