Telford set to host major farming conference in new year

The 75th British Cattle Breeding conference will take place at Telford Hotel and Golf Resort from January 23-25, bringing together expert knowledge, experience and opinion from across the industry.

With increasing pressures on dairy and beef farmers, the opening session will ask whether it is time for change.

Keynote speakers will share their insight into the latest challenges and opportunities.

Opening the beef day on Tuesday, January 24, Lucianne Allen, Sales and Marketing Director for Aubrey Allen will explore how the industry is faring in the war against meat.

John Giles, of Promar International, will then share insight from the soft fruit industry and how lessons learned in the past 10 to 15 years could benefit livestock farmers.

The dairy day, on Wednesday, January 25, will open with Dr Judith Bryans, CEO of Dairy UK, who will explore UK and global consumers’ consumption trends, consumer sentiment and nutritional needs, and address some of the challenges that need to be overcome if the opportunities are to be maximised.

Tim Brigstocke, Policy Director for RABDF, will share his personal reflections on genetic progress over his working life but challenge those working in the industry to better communicate with farmers.

A line up of expert speakers – Arron Nerbas, Prof Geoff Simm, Terence Pye, Ben Nottage, Catherine Pickford and Professor Rainer Roehe – will discuss the importance of avoiding carbon tunnel vision in the second conference session.

Producing functional cattle which perform well and thrive in our farming systems is the focus of the third session. Professor Phil Garnsworthy, Eric Fontanillas, Dr Lorna MacPherson, Gareth Mulligan, Wietse Duursma and Pieter van Goor will discuss fertility and feed efficiency for sustainable and profitable herds.

Cross-breeding can be a useful strategy to introduce hybrid vigour and boost sustainability and, in session four, delegates will hear from Richard Phelps, Aled Evans, James Evans, Rhys Davies, Sean Chubb and Tom Moore who will all explore the changes and gains they have made for a sustainable business.

The final session of each day will be dedicated to the best of British breeding, with a panel session consisting of farmers from across the UK including John Scott, Bridget Borlase, Paul Williams, Nicholas Eccles, Colin Ferguson and Abi Reader.

Workshops during the conference will be dedicated to the beef and dairy sectors, with the beef workshop exploring the sustainability of suckler herds and the dairy workshop covering the practical application of genetics on farm.

“In our 75th year, we have endeavoured to create a programme that highlights the importance of breeding and genetics in creating a sustainable British cattle industry across all sectors commercial and pedigree alike,” said BCBC chair Amy Hughes.

The full programme and registration details are now available at cattlebreeders.org.uk