NWF Agriculture is holding a Cow Signals Workshop for all agricultural students at Duchy College, Stoke Climsland on Friday 25th April commencing at 10.00am and concluding at 3pm.

Cows send out signals continuously about their health, well- being, nutrition and production. The challenge for dairy farmers is how to interpret these signals and use them, and this is the concept behind Cow Signals.

It’s important not to jump to conclusions immediately when observing cows, but to ask three questions; what do you see? Why has this happened? What does this mean?

If farmers know what to look for, these signals can be easily picked up. The cow’s needs will be met, leading to increased productivity, better animal welfare and lower production costs.

Speakers at the six workshops at the event include- • Tom Hough NWF Agriculture – Feeding Signals • Michael Head, Shepton Vets – Rumen Insight • Simon Harper, NWF Agriculture – Heifer Rearing • Jo Speed, Dairy Co – Locomotion • Castle Vets – Understanding Ruminant Health • Adam Clay- Forage Technology Over 60 Duchy college students are expected to attend the event, in groups of 10 listening to each of the six workshops, with coffee and lunch breaks planned to break up the presentations.

The event will also be filmed, and the footage will be available on both the NWF Agriculture and Duchy College YouTube channels.

The event is collaboration between NWF Agriculture and Duchy College. The college prides itself as being “at the heart of rural education and learning in Devon and Cornwall.” Roger Clark of Duchy College and Tom Hough of NWF Agriculture have been working on this event for a number of months to bring commercial and technical expertise into the classroom.

NWF Agriculture is heavily committed to the training and employment of young people who want to join the industry. It’s very successful Graduate Training Scheme, now known as the NWF Academy, was set up two years ago by NWF’s CEO David Warrington, who feels “We need fresh young minds to take the business forward, and these young people are the future of our industry”.

David feels that this type of collaboration and knowledge transfer events are very important, and a number of the NWF trainees have been recruited from agricultural colleges.

The is a “closed” event. However, if any journalists would like to attend to listen to the experts taking part, and also to hear reactions from the students, please get in touch with the contacts listed below.