The first AHDB Strategic Dairy Farm in Scotland has been revealed.
Hillhead of Covington in Lanarkshire is one of five farms across the UK taking part in the levy body’s strategic farm project.
It will open its gates to other farmers and act as a base for demonstrating best practice including efforts to improve efficiency through benchmarking.
Host farmer William Baillie said his ultimate aim was to improve business performance through nutrition and genetics.
“I’ve been benchmarking for over five years and I’ve always found it incredibly useful,” Mr Baillie said.
“Now as a strategic dairy farmer we’ll be benchmarking our performance against AHDB’s key performance indicators for all year round herds.
“Using that data we will be able to set targets and measure our progress to ensure we are among the best performing dairy farms.”
Mr Baillie has a herd of 310 pedigree Holsteins, which are housed all year round and milked three times a day.
AHDB strategy director for dairy and Scotland Paul Flanagan said the strategic dairy farm offered others an ideal opportunity to review their own practices.
He said: “We hope that William’s openness with his figures will get other Scottish farmers thinking about their own.
“For example, we want them to question their feed costs per litre of milk produced and age at first calving.”
The first meeting at Hillhead of Covington takes place on Wednesday August 29 from 10.45am to 2.30pm.