The Redsky Partnership

Redsky Holsteins is a partnership between Will Christie, Stuart Mullan and Richard Baynes born in a pub in 2007.

Richard (Will's son-in-law) has been involved with Red and Whites all his life through the renowned Marleycote Herd of Dairy Shorthorns and Ayrshires. The Marleycote Herd has always excelled in the showring, winning championships at The Dairy Event, The Great Yorkshire Show and The Highland Show among others.

One of the reasons that the Baynes family is so successful is because of their skill at blending the best of Holstein, Ayrshire and Shorthorn genetics to create a modern, low maintenance dairy cow. The Baynes Family also process their own milk and market it as Northumbrian Pedigree Milk and Cream, so all in all it is no surprise that Richard looks for high type, longevity, high components and strong health traits in his ideal cow of any breed.

If Richard brings his breeders flair to Redsky then Will and Stuart bring something totally different. Both are ET specialists and have worked with top pedigree cattle for most of their professional lives. Redsky gives them both an opportunity to work with quality cattle of their own and, of course, reduced ET overheads means you can be sure of getting good value with Redsky embryos.

Will, Stuart & Richard, Northumberland Show 2009 
Will, Stuart and Richard with the
Marleycote herd Dairy Champion at
Northumberland Show 2009
Morwick Fawn 3 EX94 (3) 
Morwick Fawn 3 EX94 (3) - this 6th lactation
Ayrshire cow was Dairy Interbreed Champion
at Northumberland Show 2009

Some key facts:

  • The Redsky herd can be found near Hexham in the beautiful county of Northumberland in NE England.
  • Redsky is a small nucleus herd running with the Marleycote herd.
  • The Marleycote Herd itself comprises 105 milking shorthorns and 20 ayrshires at grass in the summer and cubicle housed in the winter.
  • The diet is silage based - mostly grass but with some maize - supplemented with a GM free home mix.
  • The cows are milked through 2 Lely robotic milkers installed in October 2009.
  • An increasing percentage of the milk produced (currently 60%) is processed on farm and marketed as 'Northumbrian Pedigree Milk & Cream'