Chris Brown
Sustainable Business Director, ASDA
Kite is a long-established supplier of services to ASDA. We have always found them excellent and professional to deal with.
Robin Skailes
Director at Cropwell Bishop Creamery
Kite Consulting has helped us manage the milk supply for our creamery since 2009. They look after everything; milk quality, pricing schedules, milk statements, as well as keeping us at the creamery up to date on the national industry picture. They are on hand to sort out any issues on farm and run best practice meetings with our producers to continually improve our milk pool.
Working with Kite works incredibly well for us. Chris Flint and his colleagues not only provide a professional service, they have a knowledge of the industry that is second to none and are a really important part of our team.
Jason Bayley
Lady Leys Farm
We have been working with Kite now since 2006 and I like their dairy focus and the positive approach that the company and its consultants have to coming up with solutions to real business problems.
Whilst I do a lot of independent research into all aspects of dairy farming, Kite consultants are a fantastic source of extra technical, up to date information. They often have new ideas about how to overcome specific problems on farm, or suggestions about how we could improve things – be it better balancing feed or calf rearing.
It has been invaluable to have the support of Kite during these more pressurised times. They help to keep us looking forward, keep positive and keep planning for the future; an approach we are sure is the right one to take for the long term success of our business.
Richard Walker
Lakehead Farming Company
We work primarily with Kite consultant, Tim Davies, who is in constant touch with global commodity markets and keeps us informed as to how the markets are performing throughout the year. We can then use this information to make better-informed buying decisions, which helps us minimise our purchased feed costs.
Kite pool information from so many different resources and have a truly global perspective. They bring the best of this information on farm and suggest how it could benefit our specific system, with a real focus on working with us to help improve cow performance.
I have had a number of opportunities to go on farm visits and take part in group meetings which I would never have had the chance to go on if I wasn’t involved with Kite.
Bryn Jones
Nant Goch Farm
We have worked with Kite right from the start, and they have provided support and advice on a whole range of issues; from feed and nutrition, to business management. Any decision we make on farm we run past Neil Blackburn, our main Kite consultant, as we really value his opinion.
The good thing about Kite is the depth of knowledge that there is amongst all of the consultants. If we need advice on a specific issue, we know that one of the consultants will have the most up to date information and be happy to come and share that knowledge with us, wherever they are in the country.
The Kite consultants work with so many different producers that they get the chance to see the very best of farming practices. We directly benefit from this, as the best ideas are passed on to us and help us to improve the efficiency of our business and cow performance.
Jos Lancaster
J & SA Lancaster
Kite has been working with us for nearly 10 years now, after I attended a farmer meeting and was impressed by what consultant, Tim Davies, had to say. Over the years we have worked closely with Tim, and then Joss Fawcett, to help manage and improve key areas on farm, such as dry cow transition, feed efficiency and costs.
We recently changed milk buyer and Kite provided us with excellent support during this process; checking contracts and giving us good business advice.
Kite also keep an eye on any grants which come up and might be applicable to our business. This is very useful as often grants have a short shelf life and, with so much going on running the farm, if it wasn’t for Kite highlighting them, it would be all too easy to miss application deadlines.
John Jenkins
Lower House Farm
Since starting with Kite last year, we have made significant changes to our dry cow management and seen dramatic improvements in herd performance and calving rates.
Getting a consultant to help us has proven to be a good investment on farm. I calculated that we needed to be producing a couple of extra calves a month to justify the expense of employing a consultant, but since implementing the changes that Kite have suggested, calving rates have improved to such an extent that we are far surpassing this break-even point.
It is very useful to have a consultant on hand to keep an eye on things, especially when it comes to feed. We run a grazing based system, so there is a lot of variability in terms of forage quality throughout the year. Our consultant keeps track of these changes and, when required, we can quickly react to variability in forage quality and alter cow diets to maintain optimum levels of performance.
Richard Ward
West View Farm
Kite has provided us with support on farm for the last two decades – mainly on dairy cow rationing, but occasionally providing business support and helping us to work out costings for specific projects.
The support they provide is particularly useful when it comes to ration formulation. With their advice and knowledge of the feed markets, we are able to consistently formulate cost effective feeds that maintain good cow health, whilst also enabling us to hit our key output objectives; be it milk yield, protein content or butterfat.
Whilst employing the services of a consultant does represent a significant cost, I feel that we get a good return on investment. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been working with Kite for more than 20 years!
