Milking Grass for Profit - Technical Farm Walk and Discussions
College Lecturers Day
GoldCup
Dairy Event
RABDF AGM
Farm Open Days
Princess Royal Award
RABDF/DEFRA Farm Health Planning Award
Prince Philip Award
National Dairy Farming Conference
APPG for Dairy Farmers
Pathomilk
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MILKING GRASS FOR PROFIT - TECHNICAL FARM WALK AND DISCUSSIONS
Following the success of the farm walks in 2007; RABDF, BGS and MDC have once again teamed up to create an exciting line up of farm walks for 2008. This year's venues are Pembrokeshire, Yorkshire, North Devon and Scotland.
Click Here for further details of venues and topics up for discussion
The events are free to attend and include tea and coffee and lunch. If you are interested in attending please register by phoning RABDF on 0845 4582711 or email lauradickinson@rabdf.co.uk we will then send you directions and further information.
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COLLEGE LECTURERS DAY
The RABDF College Lecturers Day is specifically designed to bring college lecturers up to speed with current topical issues in the dairy sector. It is hoped that not only the lecturers will benefit from attending, but also the future generation of dairy farmers they teach.
The 2008 RABDF College Lecturers Day was held at Warwickshire College , Moreton Morrell Centre, on Wednesday 16th January. The event was kindly sponsored by the Defra Farm Health Planning Partnership and Warwickshire College.
The event featured a series of presentations examining the latest challenges facing the dairy industry including those influencing its future genetics, nutrition and management. Training and skills requirements for the next generation of farmers also came under the microscope along with advice on how to engage young people in positive farm health planning. Speakers included RABDF/Defra Farm Health Planning's Coordinator John Sumner, Richard Keenan's International Nutrition Director, Prof. David Beever, the MDC 's Director of MDC Breeding+ Marco Winters, Hampden Vets veterinary surgeon Ian Baker, BPEX Training Coordinator, Tess How and NFU's Chief Dairy Advisor Tom Hind.
“The dairy sector has led the way in providing college lecturers with up to date information to pass on directly to students,” said Mr Jonathan Clarke who heads Warwickshire College’s agriculture and countryside management team. “Working in a busy college environment we frequently don’t have the opportunity to hear about the latest issues, along with pipeline R&D and other cutting edge developments which we should be communicating to students. RABDF has filled this gap and I am calling on both beef and sheep sectors to follow suit.”
RABDF chief executive, Nick Everington explained: “We carefully designed the programme to bring college lecturers up to speed with our very complex and ever changing sector. Judging from the feedback it not only helped to improve their knowledge, but also encouraged them to instill some enthusiasm for dairying into their college students, who are our future life blood.”
Please click on the links below to access the presentations:
Developments in UK Breeding - Marco Winters
Ian Baker's Presentation
Farm Health Planning - John Sumner
Improving Feed Efficiency - David Beever
Tom Hind's Presentation
Training & Skills Development - Tim Bridgstocke
Training & Skills Development - Tess Howe
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| GOLD CUP
The Gold Cup is the premiere national dairy herds competition,
recognising efficiency in commercial milk production.
The prestigious NMR/RABDF Gold Cup annual award is open to all dairy herds with official milk records and meeting the criteria of at least 50 cows in the herd, an annual average cell count of 175,000/ml or less and a PIN of at least £20.
Entrants complete a detailed questionnaire giving herd performance data, including production, feed, health and fertility information.
Finalists are selected and visited by the team of judges, and each finalist is judged on factors such as physical and management performance, environmental schemes and their future plans for the dairy business.
The winner is announced and presented with the Gold Cup at the Dairy Event in September.
For further information on this year’s competition click here and/or contact Frank Armitage: frank.armitage@btinternet.com or ring mob: 07971 600332
2007 Winner |
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| DAIRY
EVENT
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DAIRY EVENT 2008 - 17th & 18th SEPTEMBER
DAIRY EVENT 2009 - 23rd & 24th SEPTEMBER
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The Dairy Event is Europe's leading dairy show. It attracts many thousands of visitors and presents a unique opportunity for visitors and exhibitors to view the cream of Europe's dairy industry on show.
For Trade Stand details please forward your postal address via e-mail.
To find out the most up-to-date information on the Dairy Event, please click here to visit the Dairy Event website. |
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RABDF AGM
The 132nd Annual General Meeting of the members of the RABDF will be held on Tuesday 17th June 2007 at The Shireburn Arms Hotel, Hurst Green, Nr Clitheroe, Lancashire.
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FARM OPEN DAYS
The RABDF Farm Open Days have proven to be a popular diary date for our members. Host farms are selected to highlight specific management techniques which have proven successful and may be of benefit to other producers.
Held throughout the country, these open days give visitors the opportunity to view the farm as well as speak to suppliers.
The 2008 Farm Open Day will be held at Laneside Farm, Clitheroe, Lancashire on Wednesday 18th June, courtesy of Ian and Sally Macalpine. The Macalpine’s Ribblesdale Jersey herd won the prestigious RABDF/ NMR Gold Cup in 2007. |
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| RABDF PRINCESS ROYAL AWARD
This annual award was first introduced in 1991. It is open to people working in any sector of the dairy industry and in any capacity, including farming, research, education, consultancy, manufacture, marketing and sales.
2006 Winner
David Handley has been presented with the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers' Princess Royal Award by Her Royal Highness at Buckingham Palace today, Thursday 10 May. The honour was made for his outstanding services to the industry. More... |
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RABDF/DEFRA Farm Health Planning Award
Sponsored by 
In a bid to raise awareness of farm health planning among younger members of the industry, RABDF and DEFRA are this year staging the Farm Health Planning Award
Open to students studying at an agriculture college in England , the entrants were required to prepare a 1500 word essay demonstrating their understanding of proactive farm health planning on dairy and or beef units. They were asked to identify the barriers to adopting such a strategy and how to overcome those issues to improve herd health and profitability.
The award was introduced this year as part of the industry/DEFRA partnership's Farm Health Planning initiative. It was judged by a panel featuring three representatives on the FHP working group: Farmer David Sansome; vet in practice Andrew Praill; and John Sumner, FHP project manager at the Dairy Event.
2007 Winner
Richard Pye, an FdSc Agriculture student studying at Myerscough College has received the RABDF/Defra Farm Health Planning Award, a new awareness raising initiative for younger members of the industry. Richard was awarded a £500 cash prize by Defra, and the college he represented received £500 towards a farm health planning project. More...
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PRINCE PHILIP AWARD
To commemorate his Presidency of the RABDF from 1973-1975, The Prince Philip Award was created and is presented annually at the Dairy Event. The Award, for the most practical, relevant an d best presented technical exhibit/demonstration at The Dairy Event, takes the form of a framed certificate and is signed personally by His Royal Highness. The winner and runners-up will receive their awards at a special presentation by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.
2006 Winner
Kingshay's Duncan Forbes and Richard Simpson receive the
RABDF Prince Philip Award 2006 from His Royal Highness
Independent dairy specialists, Kingshay have been presented with the RABDF Prince Philip Award 2006 by His Royal Highness at Buckingham Palace. The honour was made to the company for the most practical, relevant and best presented technical exhibit at this year's Dairy Event. More...
For an application form to enter the RABDF Prince Philip Award, please click here
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| ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP FOR DAIRY FARMERS
The RABDF provides the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dairy Farmers. The APPG was established in June 2006 to generate Government action on the continued milk price cuts and subsequent dwindling returns to producers.
To find out more on the latest news from the APPG for Dairy Farmers, please click here.
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PATHOMILK
RABDF are participating in a European Commission funded project entitled Pathomilk.
The aim of the Pathomilk project is to develop a rapid-response, easy-to-use tool, which can be used on farm to diagnose a variety of diseases, using milk samples. It is hoped the use of such a tool will help to improve the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises, by allowing the identification of pathogens before the disease has time to spread or have drastic consequences on farm productivity. It should also help to safeguard the health and safety of European consumers.
It is hoped the multi-pathogen analyser will be able to detect the most common pathogens in milk by means of an innovative biosensor based on a DNA -hybridisation method and using Surface Plasmon Resonance. The system will be designed in a way which will enable the easy expansion of the number of detectable pathogens.
To read more about the Pathomilk project, please visit the website http://pathomilk.cric-projects.com |