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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Andrew Opie (British Retail Consortium) I’m really pleased that the BBC1 programme Rip Off Food managed to highlight the imbalance of power that still exists in the milk supply chain. You can find a link to episode 2 of this programme here (opens in a new window). But, how could Andrew Opie of The British Retail Consortium sit…
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You can now make the Pasture Promise online. Just follow the link on the home page or click here. All you need to do is provide your name, address and contact details. We are getting more farmers signing up every day and we are well on the way to establishing a network of like minded…
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The first of a new series on BBC 1, called Rip Off Food, was shown at 9.15 this morning. You can find a link to this programme here (opens in a new window). The programme, presented by Gloria Hunniford, revealed how food companies and supermarkets mislead consumers with the labelling they use on food. This…
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I am really grateful for all the feedback I get on the Free Range Dairy initiative and welcome anyone to submit stories about their own experiences of farming and related matters. Below is a really interesting post from John Lawson who, although no longer farming, finds that his current business faces similar challenges to dairy…
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Sainsbury’s have announced that they are dropping the Red Tractor logo on packaging in their stores. This decision follows a review of the information they put on packaging, partly they say, in response to confusion amongst consumers over too many labels on food. Sainsbury’s also say forthcoming changes to EU laws on food labelling…
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I hear that Mary Berry, writer of cookery books and Great British Bake Off judge, has a new series on BBC2 called The Great British Food Revival and one episode is all about ice cream. Mary has labeled many ice creams as being almost 99 percent “synthetic junk”. Apparently it only has to contain…
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