Local Dairy Farmer’s Success in National Competition.

One of our dairy farmers; Jonathan Crickmore from Fen Farm Bungay was runner up in a national competition to find the Dairy Farmer of The Future.
This is a great achievement because the level of competition was very high. The panel of Judges were very impressed by the health and fertility status of the herd and the improvements made to the farm and parlour over recent years.
A 20:20 milking parlour and dairy was installed in a new specifically designed building in 2006 which has given Jonathan, who milks around 200 commercial Holsteins cows, increased control over parlour hygiene and animal welfare.
Jonathan has also changed milk distributors to join a local dairy Marybelle as he believes, in the current climate, it is necessary to concentrate on local produce and more efficient, cost-effective distribution methods.
The competition is run by the Dairy Farmer magazine in conjunction with industry support and is now in its seventh year. The award recognises and rewards young dairy farmers who demonstrate an understanding of technical animal husbandry, their vision for future business and how they plan to achieve their long-term goals.
This year, the competition was tougher than ever and entries were whittled down to a shortlist of five before an online public vote began in August.
The three finalists were visited on farm by a judging panel consisting of FG’s livestock editor Joanne Pugh; Peter Hollinshead, editor of Dairy Farmer; Ian Macalpine, RABDF council member and previous winner of the Gold Cup and Andy Dodd, DairyCo’s extension officer for the South West.
Following a tour of their farm and detailed discussions on their herd, profitability, feeding and breeding systems, challenges and future plans, the panel reached their decision.

 To read EDP article about this click here