New Event For Dairy Farmers
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17 November 2009
An innovative national event is to be staged in Dumfries to help farmers deliver the very best in health and welfare to the modern dairy cow.
NFU Scotland, in collaboration with the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) and DairyCo, will host the Talking Health and Welfare conference at SAC's Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries, on Thursday, December 3.
It is believed to be the first specialist farmer event in Scotland to focus exclusively on dairy cow health and welfare.
The conference will underline that happy, healthy and comfortable cows are also the most profitable.
As well as looking at specific disease threats, such as bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) and Johne's disease, the conference will tackle thorny issues, such as the industry's record on dairy cow longevity and mastitis, head on.
The average age of a cow on UK dairy farms has been increasing year-on-year since the mid-nineties and conference speakers will explain how breeding priorities built around a cow's lifetime will only enhance this further.
In addition, the incidence of mastitis has plummeted and is now less than it was 30 years ago, but tackling mastitis to improve milk quality remains a priority for all producers.
Scottish dairy farmers also know that there remains room for improvement, particularly in areas such as fertility and lameness.
Speakers include Simon Hall, chief veterinary officer for Scotland, whilst Nigel Miller (NFUS) and George Caldow (SAC) will cover the topics of BVD and Johnes.
There will be a short walk to the Crichton farm where farmers can visit stations with experts from SAC, Dairy Group, Barony College and DairyCo covering issues such as genetics, housing, lameness, mastitis and transition feeding
