Belfast, 10th April - The British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and the British Cattle Breeders Club (BCBC) proudly announce Dr. Tianhai Yan as the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Sir John Hammond Award. This esteemed award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to animal science through research, teaching, knowledge exchange, breeding, farming, industry, or affiliated...

Government policy should reward outcomes, not breed, and farmers must harness the power of data to improve efficiencies and lower farm emissions. These were two key messages from British Limousin Society Chief Executive Alice Swift at the British Cattle Breeders Club Conference in January. With over 60% of UK land unsuitable for growing crops she emphasised the important role suckler cows playe...

It was with great pleasure that the British Cattle Breeders Club welcomed Holstein UK’s President Andrew Jones to present Mary Mead of the Lakemead Prefix with Holstein UK’s Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual conference dinner in January, at Telford. Mary and her husband Roger started farming in 1961 in the Yeo Valley where they formed the Lakemead herd of British Friesians.  A closed h...

Brongain Farms are using data to pinpoint areas for improvement in its quest to become carbon neutral by 2030. Father and son Rowan and Greg Pickstock, who are also beef processors, farm 350ha in Llanfechain. They are targeting a daily liveweight gain of 1.1kg to produce net zero beef from grass. Currently, dairy-beef animals are finished at 650kg aged 22.5 months, and are on grass for 270 days...

To meet the UK’s legislative goals for net zero, as measured using the UK National Inventory, the farming industry needs to urgently move with a great pace on measuring, monitoring, and reducing gross farm emissions, warned a leading agricultural professor. Speaking at the British Cattle Breeder’s Conference on 24 January, Professor Elizabeth Magowan, Director of Sustainable Agri-Food Sciences Di...

Dairy farmer Rory Christie from Dourie Farming Ltd in South-West Scotland has helped create the first crossbreeding index as part of the Fast Breeders Project, led by geneticist Mike Coffey from SRUC. The project involves three other spring calving grazing herds milking a total of 4,250 cows. Mr Christie says during the inception of the project they had the ‘very audacious goal’ to increase inco...

Aberdeenshire suckler farmer Duncan Morrison said running a simple, low-cost grass-based system has helped him build a ‘lean and mean’ business. Since taking on a 226-acre tenancy in 2016, Mr Morrison and his wife Claire have grown their business to 650 acres and will bull 250 spring-calving cows and heifers this spring – a mix of Aberdeen-Angus and Stabilisers. He advocated for farmers to becom...

Red meat and dairy are vital for human health and more must be done to challenge publications that advocate dramatic reductions or total exclusions of animal-sourced foods from human diets. This was the message from Professor Alice Stanton, from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, who warned that many publications calling for this are not rigorously peer-reviewed or transparently evidence-b...

Organic dairy farmer Wil Armitage said genetics was a key part of a healthy business alongside good cow and soil health, people, and profit. Wil milks 900 cows across three farms comprising almost 3,000 acres under various agreements. Cow health Moderate-sized Holsteins make up the mainstay of the herds. “We have stuck with the Holstein, and she has delivered,” said Wil. Bulls are selected fo...

Over 250 years of breeding has made the famous red-coated, white-face Hereford the worlds most recognised beef breed. Capable of adapting to all type of production systems and environmental conditions, the breed can be found from the highlands of Scotland to the prairies of Canada. The breeds many attributes include ease of calving, docile natures, and superior calf survival: however, it is not j...