What a great time we had at Countryfile Live last weekend. It might have rained a bit and the high winds at one point sent the gazebo flying across the field but nothing could dampen our enthusiasm. We were just really excited to be there and have the chance to find out what people really…
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Recently, Compassion in World Farming released a map of the UK showing a proliferation of factory farms in the UK. From their research, they’ve found that ‘factory farming has taken over UK food production’ with around 70% of farm animals in the UK kept in factory farms, ‘where they spend their lives in overcrowded barns…
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By Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive Officer of Compassion in World Farming Philip Lymbery is chief executive of leading international farm animal welfare organisation, Compassion in World Farming, and Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester. He played leading roles in many major animal welfare reforms, including Europe-wide bans on veal crates for calves and barren…
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Just recently I came across a new milk label in a supermarket. Well, not a new label exactly, more like an existing label which had two words added to it – ‘free range’. I have since learned that this is the result of dairy giant Arla rebranding its organic milk offer, to help people fully…
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I was at Birmingham’s first coffee festival this weekend, to support Cotteswold Dairy who were the official milk sponsor for the event. This meant that they provided Pasture Promise free range milk for all of the coffee roasters and baristas to use over the two day festival. The UK has become a nation of coffee…
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I’m delighted to report that Free Range Milk pioneers, Stephenson’s Dairy, have been offered the chance to supply milk to 24 Booths stores in the north west of England, from July 1st. Chris & Steph Stephenson took up the Pasture Promise logo back in May 2015 and switched all of their customers to free range milk.…
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I’m delighted to tell you that our mission to offer British consumers the choice of free range milk, has recently been given another significant boost, thanks to Mid Counties Co-op. They are now stocking Cotteswold Dairy’s free range milk in over 40 stores, which you can find here. The Mid Counties Co-operative is the largest…
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Throughout the month of June, the Sustainable Restaurant Association is running it’s Celebrate Local Producers Campaign, encouraging members to source more fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy from British suppliers. There’s lots of reasons why buying the cheapest produce can make financial sense when running a restaurant but your business doesn’t operate in isolation. Add the…
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As World Milk Day celebrations get under way, I thought you might be interested in a few milk stats, to impress anyone you are having round for a few pints of the white stuff. There’s an awful lot of milk produced and consumed around the globe. Between 2013 and 2015 world milk production stood at…
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We are delighted to announce that from today, Asda are extending the offer of Free Range Dairy Farmers milk to more stores, following a positive reaction from customers who have been campaigning for the milk to be available in their area. Asda launched Free Range Dairy Farmer’s Milk in to 109 stores in March this…
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I went to the first Balance Festival held in London on Friday. A three day festival dedicated to health and fitness shows how big the industry has grown over the years and is still a growing in the UK. I attended the Health and Wellness Summit Friday morning, which included a series of talks about…
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I was delighted to receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to Farming at the 2017 Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awards, which were held on Tuesday evening (9th May). It was a great pleasure to get to shake the hand of Gloucester and England rugby legend Phil Vickery upon receiving my award too. I…
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In the run up to the EU Referendum one topic that should have taken centre stage but seemed to be relegated to the understudy role was food and farming. A fact noticed by others including Professor Kevin Morgan of Cardiff University who said it had Cinderella status in a recent blog As an ecological as…
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There hasn’t been much in the news lately about cuts in milk prices or the blockading of supermarket distribution centres by angry farmers. That’s because over the last six months there has been a steady rise in farm gate prices, following a significant drop in production on farms. Total UK milk production was 770 million…
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By Helen Lambert, an animal welfare scientist who is globally renowned for her expertise on animal sentience and her research into measuring cattle emotions. Helen works as a free-lance consultant to support charities, industry and universities with insight and research into animal welfare and sentience. For more information please visit her website Asking cows what they…
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I came away from our first Free Range Dairy Network conference this year feeling very positive. Not only did we have about 70 can-do people attend the conference but we also had some fantastic news from Yeshna Mistry from Sustainability Restaurant Association. Their new sustainability rating includes points for members taking Pasture Promise free range…
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Well. It seems that the milk revolution that we have ignited is rapidly spreading, with more and more people beginning to understand that not all milk is the same. Every week there is news and debate about free range milk that seems to be driving a retailers and dairy companies to hurriedly piece together some…
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We want to say a big thank you to Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty as Friday Night Feast has been a gift that keeps on giving. They took our story of Free Range Dairy Network to a much larger audience and it really caught a spark with viewers who for years have seen our dairy…
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This month is Sustainable Restaurant Association’s #coffeemadegood campaign which encourages coffee roasters, baristas and consumers to think about where the coffee has come from? They are also encouraging people to think about the milk too. A 6oz cappuccino will consist of 1oz of espresso and 5 oz of milk plus some froth. Milk plays an…
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By Robert Newton, a Free Range Dairy Farmer. We were very excited in January 2016 when Cotteswold Dairy, our milk buyer for nearly 20 years, confirmed that they were to start selling Pasture Promise Free Range milk. It was a big commitment to make as the milk has to be totally segregated which involves a…
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