The sight of 1,700 cows on one farm, as part of a feature on milk and dairy farming systems that I took part in, on last week’s BBC Countryfile caused an unprecedented reaction. Social media was alive with comment and debate, much of it expressing shock and horror at the scale of a farming operation producing…
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In the UK we’ve got used to having what seems like a limitless choice when it comes to our food purchases. In the supermarkets chiller section, we see row upon row of milk that’s standard, organic, semi, skimmed and whole fat. We buy 80% of our milk in one of the main major supermarkets and…
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By Prof John Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural & Applied Economics University of Missouri, Columbia College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and well respected and published author on ‘factory farming’ in the USA. Please support the crowd fund project to keep cows in fields and our traditional dairy farmers in business. When I read Jenni Hobbs’…
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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…
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By Jenni Hobbs, The Hobbs family at Barhouse Farm. Today was one of those days that you just think ‘why do we bother’. After a great day with Free Range Dairy discussing plans to celebrate Spring Turnout (where the cows leave their winter shed and move out into the fields for the Spring/Summer/Autumn to graze),…
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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…
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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…
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I went to a really interesting seminar this week organised by Food Thinkers Collaboration about Ecofeminism with Professor Mary Mellor of Northumbria University and renowned food investigative journalist Shelia Dillon. Ecofeminism is a word if I’m honest I’ve never come across before but I found a lot of what was discussed made sense in relation…
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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…
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Read more at: Free Range Dairy Hospitality & Catering News
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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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Duncan Cruickshanks is one of the leading chefs bringing Free Range Dairy Pasture Promise to his clientele in London. He’s been Exec/Head Chef at The Hospital Club, which has a three-star rating from the Sustainability Restaurant Association, since June 2010. He has also been Head Chef at The Rivington Grill Dubai, Head Chef at Hotel Carasol…
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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…
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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…
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A new report released by ‘The Food Foundation’ this month called ‘FORCE-FED: Does the food system constrict healthy choices for typical British families?’ takes a closer look at what a typical British family eats and what influences their food choices. The report looked at national data sets, primary data collection, secondary sources alongside interviews to…
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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…
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Have you noticed our updated website header? It’s just a small change where we have incorporated the Pasture Promise logo with the Free Range Dairy logo. We felt that we wanted to enhance the close association between Free Range Dairy and Pasture Promise. From this: .. to this: If you haven’t already, you can…
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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…
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In an article in the Independent (Nov 23rd 2015), about the rise of mega dairies advocates of industrial scale dairy farming suggested that the development of such facilities is essential to make milk production economically viable. However, this is something Free Range Dairy would challenge, as would Prof John E Ikerd quoted in the same article. Prof…
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“We need to update our worldview: we are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet.” I thought that sentence by Johan Rockström a professor in environmental science at Stockholm University and executive director of Stockholm Resilience Centre really captures the problems we are…
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