UK dairy farm builds on soya-free success with new nutrition focus
In the UK, University of Nottingham’s dairy farm is continuing to refine its feeding strategy after successfully transitioning to a soya-free ration, with a renewed focus on improving efficiency, productivity and sustainability.
The 1,200-acre unit, home to 400 Holstein Friesian cows, removed soya from the diet in 2024, replacing it with a combination of rapeseed meal and rumen bypass protein sources. The move was driven by both environmental considerations and the need to meet increasingly demanding milk contract requirements linked to efficiency and sustainability.
Farm manager Nigel Armstrong says the decision reflected the farm’s role as both a commercial enterprise and a research-led operation.
“As a university farm, we have a responsibility to do the right thing for the sector. That means being environmentally sustainable while remaining commercially viable,” he explains.
Carbon footprint
The soya-free approach forms part of a broader strategy to reduce the farm’s carbon footprint while maintaining strong production performance. Under its Tesco/Arla dairy contract, efficiency and milk quality are closely tied to financial returns, reinforcing the importance of optimising feed use.
After an initial period on the revised ration, the farm entered a new phase: reviewing and challenging the diet to push performance further.
“A year or two in, we wanted to challenge the balance of the diet to see if we could push the cows more. We’re always looking at ways to increase efficiencies,” says Armstrong.
Working with sales and technical manager David Howard, from farm feed, machinery and fuel business Carr’s Billington, the team reformulated the compound feed to include a more advanced rumen bypass protein, AminoMax, designed to improve the supply of digestible amino acids while reducing overall crude protein levels.
The results have been notable. Milk yield increased from 40.55 to 43.65 litres per cow per day, while butterfat (4.12% to 4.33%) and protein (3.21% to 3.42%) levels also rose. Feed efficiency improved from 1.42 to 1.51, reflecting better conversion of feed into milk output. At the same time, concentrate usage per 100kg of milk fell, highlighting gains in both economic and environmental efficiency.
Howard says the changes demonstrate the benefits of focusing on protein utilisation rather than simply protein input.
“With dairy cows, a significant proportion of what they eat is not fully utilised. The goal is to make the most of the protein being fed, both nutritionally and economically,” he explains.
By supplying a more targeted amino acid profile, the revised ration has enabled the farm to reduce concentrate feeding while achieving stronger performance from forage, an important step in improving overall system efficiency.
The next challenge for the University of Nottingham team is to continue building on these gains while maintaining robustness across varying conditions.
Precision nutrition
With multiple research projects running concurrently at the site, the farm is well placed to test further refinements in diet formulation, forage utilisation and nutrient efficiency. The aim is to identify strategies that can be applied more widely across the dairy sector without exposing commercial farms to unnecessary risk.
“We have to try things out with the understanding that some will work and some won’t,” says Armstrong. “That’s how we help move the sector forward.”
As pressure on milk margins continues, the farm’s experience highlights the growing importance of precision nutrition in delivering both sustainability and profitability on modern dairy units.
