The Seigneur of the manor, Pam Bell, and her husband Paul, want to build a new and modern diary unit to the north-west of the property to accommodate a merger with Le Chalet herd from St John.
They hope to create a herd of 350 milking cows, which would exceed the size of the current largest herd at La Ferme in St Martin by more than 50 animals.
‘For centuries Trinity Manor has had a dairy farm on this site,’ Mr Bell said. ‘We have submitted a planning application to relocate one farm building, construct a new cattle shed, build a new milking parlour and convert an existing building for staff accommodation.’
The proposal, which has the backing of Jersey Dairy, would secure up to nine jobs on both farms, and there are plans to employ up to seven additional staff.
The manor’s grounds comprise 400 vergées of farmland for grazing and space to grow cattle feed, with access to a further 200 vergées under ‘land swap’ arrangements with neighbouring farms including Woodside.
Mr and Mrs Bell also own Chalet Farm, which is currently run by Ricky Leith. As part of the merger, both farms would be run by Trinity Manor Farm manager Martin Shipley.
A business proposal for the merger is outlined in the application’s design statement.
‘This merger will result in the increase of the milking herds, with huge benefits of lowering operation costs, efficiency of labour and better control of improving welfare of the cattle,’ it says.
The proposal is to accommodate the milking herd at the new dairy unit and improve facilities at Chalet Farm to house the non-milking part of the new super-herd.
There are currently 20 dairy herds in the Island with 19 belonging to the farmers co-operative, the Jersey Milk Marketing Board, which owns Jersey Dairy. In addition, the Island has one independent dairy farm which makes its own products – Classic Farm in St Peter.
