‘Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. The mixed farming business includes a 100 cow continental cross suckler herd, and a small herd of pedigree Herefords as well as sheep and arable. Diversification includes the conversion of a 17th Century tithe barn into a wedding and corporate events venue, and horse liveries. Minette co-founded the campaigning initiatives “Ladies in Beef” and the...

Synopsis Recognised breeds have played valuable roles in the development of beef industries world-wide, based on combinations maintaining valuable characteristics and making genetic change. This history has depended on combining skills of animal observation and understanding market needs, with use of technology and marketing and communications. As pressures on land use and from competing food sou...

Abstract An insight to a project in New Zealand, progeny testing 5 breeds of bulls across 2200 commercial cows a year head to head in country ranging from steep hills and low stocking rates to high input lowland country. How is this project using objective information to shape breeding decisions and breeders’ thinking? And how could information of this kind change an industry and the prominence o...

Summary 100-cow suckler herd bringing all progeny to slaughter. Cows are all first-cross Angus and Hereford bred from the dairy herd. Targeting terminal traits in sires, as milk yield is not a problem and no replacements retained. 91% in-calf rate in 2018 from 11 week breeding season. 100% AI used in 2018. Introduction Newford Farm is a 100-cow suckler-to-beef herd established by DawnMeats an...

Summary Undoubtedly the greatest challenge facing UK agriculture at present is the potential impact Brexit may have on the sector. Suckler producers must improve the efficiency of their herds’ performance to make their businesses more profitable and resilient in order to survive these challenging times. Introduction The current economic and political climate has generated tremendous uncertainty...

BCMS The Cattle Tracing System (CTS) maintained by the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) contains information on births, deaths and movements of all cattle in the UK. It is also a source of cattle pedigree information as it is compulsory to include dam information on the passport. It also has space for sire information, but unlike dam information, it is not a compulsory field. Levels of sire...

Why should farmers, the primary producers, contemplate branding beef? Surely that is the job of the retailer or the Levy Boards? Introduction Are we promoting beef to our customers the way other products advertise to them? Branding and marketing are areas of business farmers rarely, if ever, take part in. In the past 20 years our customers have changed – as the public have become, at least in th...

Who we are With my wife Sarah, daughter Laura and son Ben, I own and manage Tomschoice Limousins, perched on the side of the beautiful and picturesque Nidderdale Valley between Harrogate and Skipton in North Yorkshire. I felt very proud to be asked to talk today; we are not big farmers, we have not had huge prices for bulls or cows and we are not regularly winning at big shows. We don’t breed sh...

Synopsis - Pork exports into China and other world markets have grown significantly in recent years. We will look at how those opportunities were identified for British producers, what impact this has had on the industry and what lessons have been learnt. The success story of British Pork may help us find potential opportunities for UK beef and dairy products. The agri-food industry is a major co...

Introduction The American Angus Association (AAA) was established in the USA in 1883 and has grown to be the world’s largest beef breed association. In 2018 registrations totalled 327,067, a level that has remained relatively constant in recent years. Annual registrations of Angus in the USA total more than the next 10 largest breeds combined. The exact net influence of the breed on the nations b...

Fraser Jones from Calcourt Farm, milks 1,000 Holstein Friesians across multiple sites in Welshpool, Powys. He farms in partnership with his father Maurice and is currently installing a new unit to increase herd size to 2,000 in early 2019. Oliver Hodgkinson joined Trefaldwyn Vets in 2009. He works with 200 beef, sheep and dairy farms in the Powys and Shropshire area. Oliver drives his client base...

Jersey has a rich history of the development of our Jersey cow in her Island home for over 250 years and I would be the first to admit that we are fortunate that this has occurred within a highly defined geographical space. This development has allowed us today to create value from a very special brand, Jersey Dairy, which is fundamentally underpinned by our unique pedigree cow. The foundation of...

Everywhere we look, there are brands competing for our attention. As consumers, we shop smartly and carefully – on the whole. We look at different brands, we weigh up the options, and we tend to stick with those we trust. We appreciate branding and advertising as a way for us to be better informed about the products we are buying. From medicines to meat, electronics to eggs, there is a huge rang...

Summary Modern farming methods claim to offer an affordable, safe and diverse food supply to all. However, systems that confine animals or manage them in environments perceived as ‘unnatural’ can provoke negative responses from media, welfare groups and the public. This study set out to understand whether preferences within the UK vary for a number of attributes relating to milk and the way dairy...

The theme of the BCBC’s 2019 conference – Building the Brand to Promote our Uniqueness – is an explicit acknowledgement that commodity farming on a small-tomedium scale is a dead end for primary producers. Increasing numbers of farmers under financial pressure have turned to processing their milk on the farm, producing value-added products such as cheese in order to insulate themselves from the va...

Conference delegates received an update on the topic of inbreeding in the UK dairy herd, covering national trends, tools available to manage inbreeding and latest research. The workshop began with a review of the current inbreeding trends of the major UK dairy breeds. All but two breeds have been steadily increasing in inbreeding over the years, with Holstein pedigree females the highest on avera...