Re: Agricultural Building at Ballakissack Farm, Santon
16th February 2022.
In assessing the planning application for an agricultural building at Ballakissack farm, Santon, please take the following points into consideration:
• The farming business extends to 396acres, of which 40acres are placed in cereals annually. The remainder is grass for the support of the grazing livestock.
• The business is centred around 155 high yielding pedigree dairy cows, 20 suckler beef cows (mostly pedigree) and their 210 young stock. There are also 33 breeding ewes and 2 breeding sows’
• The farm business has a labour requirement of 4.91 standard labour units.
• The proposed building is 36.57m x 9.14m, the building will be 4.57m high to the eves.
• The proposed building is to be utilised for the installation of a new milking parlour and cattle handling area.
• The current milking parlour is nearing the end of its functional life and due to its location, in an old stone building, there is insufficient room to accommodate the larger parlour that is proposed. The current milking parlour milks 7 a side whereas the proposed parlour will milk 14 each side.
• The installation of a new parlour will reduce the current milking time of 6 hours (daily) to approximately 3 hours (daily).
• The new building will replace two lean-too type buildings and allow for improved cow flow, both for cows entering the parlour and cows exiting.
• The existing buildings are currently used for livestock housing. Including some cow cubicles and also loose housing for bulls etc.
• The previous planning application for a storage barn, has allowed existing buildings to be utilised for cow accommodation rather than storage.
• The improved stock handling area will allow for the stock to be handled in good facilities, improving the management and performance of the stock that are safe and secure for the people involved.
• The bulk tank and associated dairy will remain in its current location to allow for good access by the milk collection tanker and also to maximise the use of the proposed building.
The proposed building will improve the milking efficiency of the herd, reduce the time spent milking the cows which is critical for cow and human welfare along with the safe. This investment is a considerable investment into the future of the business and essential for the future of this family farming dairy unit to progress.
Yours sincerely
Chris Kneale
Rural Business Consultancy.
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Source & Provenance
Official reference
22/00201/B
Source authority
Isle of Man Government Planning & Building Control
