Whilst hundreds of farmers gather in London on Wednesday March 23rd, to protest at further milk price cuts, the dairy cows belonging to the Hobbs family at Barhouse Farm in a small village, near Gloucester, will be turned out to grass for the summer months ahead, quite possibly for the last time. We want…
World Animal Protection are asking people to sign their Full Fact Milk pledge and join them in calling for clear milk labelling and ask supermarkets and shops to put Free Range Milk on shelves. If you click here you can find out more about their campaign and watch their video, which features some of our Free…
There have been stories in both The Sunday Times and The Telegraph recently, about the anticipated exodus of up to 2,000 farmers from the UK dairy industry in the coming year, as the milk crisis continues unabated. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a crisis as “a decisive moment” or “a time of danger or great…
I have just returned from a conference organised by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), at which I was asked to present my ideas for driving change towards more sustainable livestock farming. The EEB is the environmental voice of European citizens and Europe’s largest federation of green NGO’s. Its recent conference was all about the European…
We are delighted to hear that one of our pioneering partners, Stephenson’s Food & Dairy are finalists in this year’s Red Rose Awards. The Red Rose Awards is the event where Lancashire business, commerce and industry are celebrated. It provides the best possible platforms to promote success, and to encourage inter-trading in the county.…
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Foodspeed leads the way in sustainable dairy for caterers Free Range milk will, for the first time, be served in some of London’s top hotels, restaurants and caterers from today. Consumers, cows and farmers will all benefit from a new initiative that is the result of a partnership between dairy wholesaler Foodspeed, Free Range Dairy CIC…
This week sees Free Range Dairy CIC take another big step towards offering consumers a more informed choice when they buy milk, as the first Free Range Milk is launched in London. Once again, collaboration with partners in the supply chain, who share our values, is key to helping us keep cows in fields and…
Last week I attended the first Global Farm Platform Conference ‘Steps to Sustainable Livestock’, held in Bristol. The event was promoted as a ‘go to’ event for academics, researchers, NGO’s, policymakers and livestock producers working toward sustainability of ruminant systems. Presentations by researchers from all over the world covered themes including Consumption of Human Food…
Most people understand that it is the process of giving birth that stimulates milk production, or lactation, in mammals. In dairy farming the regular birth of calves is essential for keeping cows in a productive state, since the milk naturally begins to dry up around 10 to 12 months after giving birth. This is…
I was so pleased to read about Deputy NFU President, Minette Batters, promoting beef from suckler herds at the South West Beef event this week. It is music to my ears to hear someone else talking about defining the value in a traditional British farming system. Especially when that someone is a representative of…
Last weekend I drove up to Manchester to attend Cup North at the Victoria Warehouse. It was a fascinating event bringing together coffee roasters, baristas, coffee machine suppliers and coffee connoisseurs from all over the country. There were films about the origins of coffee, ‘cupping’ competitions and barista demonstrations, all engulfed in a heady aroma of fresh…
The clocks went back last weekend and British summertime has officially come to an end. The arrival of autumn in all of its resplendent colours marks another change in the seasons and nowhere is this more evident than on our farms and in our countryside. Yet industrial food and farming increasingly finds new ways to…
It was great to have the chance to explain more about the work Free Range Dairy is doing on BBC Farming Today (it starts about 10:34 into the programme) this morning. We are a Community Interest Company and we believe that keeping cows in fields is in the interests of a broad community – farmers,…
Everything we have achieved to date at Free Range Dairy has been delivered through communication and collaboration with others who share similar values. That’s not just about the farmers we work with, it’s also about the people who buy and consume our milk too. Recently we have enjoyed the privilege of sharing our ideas…
I have talked to so many people about the concept of Free Range Milk over the years and those conversations began with the farmers that produce the milk. But, explaining that not all milk is the same and what free range means for cows has required much wider engagement. So, today, our work is largely…
Free Range Dairy already has members who represent a diverse range of milk producers of different size and scale. Some are on enviable contracts with major retailers, some are co-op members and some really don’t know where their milk ends up. But, they all have one thing in common – they all want consumers to…
The dairy crisis is still very much in the news. However, I can’t help but feel that the British public are likely to soon turn their attention to more pressing matters than the price of milk, as even those involved in the industry struggle to understand what’s really going on. Last week we suddenly saw…
Disruptive protests by French farmers, who have blocked roads, dumped manure in front of public buildings and let pigs loose in supermarkets in response to low prices for milk and meat, have been well documented in the British press. Whilst, perhaps due to a lack of disruption on the highways and not a whiff of…
Free Range Dairy is celebrating Cow Appreciation Day, to say thank you to all the cows that provide us with fresh, nutritious milk that is used by almost every household in Britain. Today there are around 1.8 million dairy cows on British farms and we hope you will join us in showing your appreciation for…