Thousands attend dairy industry’s first post-Covid event

© UK Dairy Day/Ruth Rees.

The bustling show will have come as a welcome change for visitors after working and socialising via mostly virtual platforms since the Covid-19 pandemic derailed live events last year. The show saw 170 cattle travelling from as far as Inverness and Cornwall for the National Shows, and attracted 230 exhibitors – with stands selling out in advance – as well as the return of practical demonstrations such as foot trimming, blocking and knife sharpening.

Holstein UK CEO and UK Dairy Day event director Sue Cope, commented: “I am delighted that we were able to host UK Dairy Day after 18 months of uncertainty. I have been overwhelmed with the positive support and reaction from the industry to make the event happen. The pandemic has highlighted the important role dairy farmers have in food production and this event provided the opportunity to network, learn and socialise.”

The seminar programme saw a change this year, introducing industry panels which attracted a record number of attendees and required additional seating for the ‘Future Farming with Climate Change’ discussion. The panels showed a clear focus on the challenges and tensions facing the dairy sector as a result of Covid-19, Brexit and climate change pressures – with sessions on farming without subsidies, and future markets and exports. Speakers highlighted the need for greater collaboration across the sector and playing more on our high standards in the UK in going out to markets – as well as having consistent tools for carbon auditing.

Scarsdale Vets returned to present its ‘Beneath the black and white’ demonstration, using paint to visualise and understand calf anatomy. © UK Dairy Day/Ruth Rees

Cattle show results

• Ayrshire Heifer Champion: Morwick Gwen 35 (Willhome Pams Horizon), M A Howie

• Holstein Heifer Champion: Evening Sidekick Jennifer (Walnut Sidekick), Evening Hill Farms Ltd
• Ayrshire Grand Champion: Troutbeck Skyfall Peony Rose, P & J Mattinson

• Brown Swiss Grand Champion: Kedar Shut Up And Dance With Me (T Lochhead & Sons)

• Dairy Shorthorn Grand Champion: Churchroyd Bronte Wildeyes 51 (IRG Collins & Partners)
• Guernsey Grand Champion: Tredinney Echo Alicia (RJ & JR Warren)
• Jersey Grand Champion: Bluegrass Sams Dreaming (A H Wilson & Son)
• Holstein Grand Champion: Riverdane Absolute Springsteen (Apples Absolute Red), Riverdane Holsteins.

The cattle show was live-streamed with the recording now available to watch online, on www.ukdairyday.co.uk.

Networking and new products

The event saw a wide range of new products on display, giving exhibitors and visitors alike a welcome chance to view products and machinery in action. Many exhibitors commented that it was positive to be back out talking to customers face-to-face, including Norbrook’s territory manager Rebecca Jessett, who said the team had had good conversations with farmers and vets like. The company was displaying its full dairy range, including the Eprizero and Taurador pour-ons and Spotinor spot-on solution – but the focus was on its new transition cow bolus range.

The Spread-a-Bale team, displaying the HR and HD machines, had a very busy show and said they are expecting a busy winter. The Horizontal Rotor (HR) spreader head option, introduced this year, extends the spread distance and enables livestock farmers to make further reductions in straw spreading time and labour and straw savings of 30–50%. The HD was designed to facilitate the spreading of high density, compact bales. Both options are available on Spread-a-Bale’s entire M series.

BvL’s south England and Wales sales manager John Molton had on display a 22m3, twin axle feeder with double doors, which he describes as a fairly ‘standard’ machine. Commenting on the show he said that as far as he is concerned, it is one of the best one-day shows with an attendance that is certainly “quality rather than quantity”.

He added that it was great to be back being able to speak to customers face-to-face and they obviously felt the same as a lot of the dairy farmers he knows and would normally expect to see at the show were there.

With a view to the new farming environment that farmers are going to have to work in, Mr Molton said there was a noticeably greater focus on the cost of production. Farmers are very interested in technology and ideas that will save them time but also provide them with production information which, Mr Molton says, will be key going forward as farmers focus more on both maximising production and what it is costing them to achieve that, and how the two can be balanced.

Provita launched a new and improved formula for its Hoofsure Endurance footbathing product, which is now 33% faster acting, providing more contact time on the hoof. A scientifically proven proprietary blend of organic acids, essential oils and wetting acids, Endurance has been proven to reduce lameness by 44% compared to Formaldehyde and Copper Sulfate. Among its full range of dairy products, Provita was also keen to discuss Promist, an air purifier for fogging housed livestock, which reduces pH, ammonia and dust levels, and is effective against airborne bacteria.

Meanwhile, smaXtec unveiled its unique TruRumi technology which measures rumination inside the reticulum of the dairy cow. The company’s boluses already offered the revolutionary ability to measure inner body temperature, but the additional parameter to measure rumination provides unrivalled precision and accuracy on the number and duration of contractions of the rumen. This allows farmers to improve decision-making in health and feeding as well as oestrus and calving – detecting problems at an earlier stage. For example, detection of E. coli mastitis is possible up to four days before external symptoms appear. Displaced abomasum can also be reliably detected at an early stage and the system can notify farmers on average 15 hours before calving. It allows animals to be monitored even more closely during the critical period around calving, taking necessary measures as early as possible if complications occur.