Three dairy farmers from the north-east are in the running to be crowned Scotland’s best dairy farmer.
The producers are among a shortlist of 20 for the AgriScot Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year award, which is sponsored by Cogent Breeding Ltd.
They are: Ronald Barron, who milks 276 Holsteins at Darahill, Udny; the Colquhoun family who milk 688 Holsteins at Dendolrum, Inverbervie; and the Marr family who milk 240 Holsteins at Cultercullen, Udny.
The shortlist of 20 producers, which includes farmers from across the length and breadth of Scotland, was drawn up by Jimmy Goldie who works as a dairy farm specialist with Carrs Billington.
A final shortlist of four will be announced next month and Mr Goldie will visit the farms to select his winner, which will be unveiled at the AgriScot event at Ingliston, Edinburgh, on November 16.
Mr Goldie said: “Assessing all the performance data from nearly 1,000 farms, without knowing their identity, before deciding on the top 20 was certainly a tough task. All the performances were worthy of credit, especially in these difficult times.
“It was not all about yield. Various factors that affect profit were taken into consideration, especially age at first calving, calving index, length of time in the herd and somatic cell count, all of which reflect happy and well cared for cows.”
Average herd data for the top 20 was: 431 cows in the herd, first calving at 25.5 months, calving index of 384 days, yield of 10,273 litres at 3.84% butterfat and 3.21% protein, a somatic cell count of 151, and for 15.8% of the herd to be in their fifth or a later lactation.
