The discovery of equine DNA in beef burgers by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) this week has understandably caused widespread concern amongst shoppers. Reports say that from 27 beef burger products analysed, 37% were found to contain horse DNA and 85% tested positive for pig DNA. The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor…
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Whenever I go through our National Milk Records (NMR) reports, following monthly milk recording, I’m always grateful that we don’t seem to have any major problems with infertility in the herd – especially when I hear of the impact it is having on profitability on some farms. Our latest NMR fertility summary shows rolling 12…
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BBC regional news programme, Inside Out (East), re-examined the future of the UK dairy industry. Speaking to the programme, economist Sean Rickard says “Bigger units are the future. They can compete. All smaller units can look forward to is greater pressure until they are forced to give up.” However, Mr Rickard’s claims are rejected…
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We may still have a lot of winter to come but having got our cows milking well now and with no TB tests for a week or two and I have found a bit of time to look ahead the spring and the forthcoming grazing season. With silage winter stocks tight and a yearning for…
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I was astounded to hear that as much as half of the food produced in the world does not reach people’s stomachs. According to a new report from the UK’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) between 1.2 and 2.0 billion tonnes of food produced around the world never makes it onto a plate. The IME’s…
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At the start of what is a really important year for Free Range Dairy, I want to take a few minutes to remind people of why I set up the initiative and what I hope it will achieve. It seems to me that most of the things that are essential for our very existence we…
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After one of the most difficult years in living memory, many dairy farmers will be wondering whether or not they will still be milking cows at the end of 2013 and who can blame them? The squeeze put on milk prices back in the early summer, dreadful weather and the continuing increase in input costs,…
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Best wishes for a long and happy grazing season in 2013. From Free Range Dairy
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Here we are in the depths of winter at a time when days are short and nights are long. The grass is hardly growing right now and much of what there is lies under water. So it’s hard to think about the time when spring will come and we will be turning our cows out…
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Several years ago I read about Ben & Jerry’s Caring Dairy Programme, which was launched in the Netherlands in 2003. This is a collaborative project involving Ben & Jerry’s, dairy farmers, cheese makers, research centres and the World Wide Fund for Nature. The programme set out 11 key indicators of sustainability for dairy farming. Now…
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I now have Free Range Dairy farm signs available for anyone who wants to declare their commitment to grazing their cows. The signs incorporate the Free Range Dairy logo, our Pasture Promise logo and a simple line saying “Cows graze on our farm”. The cost of the signs is £15.00 each. However, for those that…
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Have you heard about the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Dairy Fund? In July 2012, the Prime Minister announced that £5m would be made available to the dairy sector under the RDPE to help dairy producers increase their competitiveness and achieve added value to boost their market returns. The aims of the fund…
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I am just putting some information together for farmers who have signed up to Free Range Dairy and made the Pasture Promise. With a broad cross section of milk producers from around the UK we are now able to start pulling the movement together and win recognition for the way we farm. I shall be…
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When I was up in Scotland last week I popped into see a dairy farmer called Kenny Groat, who contacted me earlier in the year about Free Range Dairy. Having spoken to Kenny on the phone, I knew he was very keen to graze his cows as much as possible and was making some yoghurt…
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Not to be outdone by the Danes (Arla), Dutch dairy company Friesland Campina have released a video about milk. It has a very modern feel and shows cows quietly grazing under the stars as urban society rushes to and fro. The film again demonstrates the power of images of cows grazing grass. I know Friesland…
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Tomorrow I am heading north to Scotland to talk to farmers about Free Range Dairy. Despite the perceived challenges to grazing cows in the northern reaches of the UK, there has been quite a lot of interest in my initiative from ‘north of the border’. I have always maintained that a farmer who grazes his…
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I have just had the unenviable task of putting down (shooting) a six month old calf on the farm. The animal in question has been suffering from a respiratory infection for a number of weeks and was obviously in great discomfort, despite our attempts to nurse it back to health. This is a task which…
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Resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest threats to modern health experts say. The Health Protection Agency warns that some bugs such as E Coli and Gonorrhoea have developed resistant strains, following the unnecessary use of antibiotics to tackle mild infections. This Sunday (November 18th) is European Antibiotics Awareness Day, which hopes to raise…
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I have just been reading about a great campaign put together by dairy farmers on the Isle of Wight, which has established a brand for milk produced on the Island– The Wight Stuff. Back in the 1960’s there were over 300 dairy farms on the Isle of Wight but there are now only 16 left.…
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NFU Cymru will tell The House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee that dairy farmers must not suffer a repeat of the year of “turmoil” they have endured in 2012, when they meet to discuss the future of dairy farming in Wales tomorrow. Absolutely right – like all UK milk producers they should not, must not…
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