Three farms from the south west in the final round of the national Excellence in Farming awards.

Three farming families from the south west have been names as regional finalist in the 2019 ForFarmers Excellence in Farming Awards.

The Bowden family has been named a regional finalist in the Youngstock Producer of the Year category in the ForFarmers Excellence in Farming Awards, as a result of the family’s outstanding approach to heifer rearing on their dairy farm near Falmouth.

South West Farmer:

Alec Bowden and his family from Boswidjack Farm run high herd health pedigree Holsteins in two herds and rear all their own replacement heifers on site. Their aim is to produce high quality heifers, ready to calve down on or before 24 months and the judges commended the team on their attention to detail at every stage of the rearing process.

“The Bowdens take heifer rearing seriously, recognising how important healthy replacements are to the future success and advancement of their pedigree herd,” explains Peter Whittal-Williams, judge and youngstock specialist for ForFarmers. “The specialist calf unit has been carefully designed to create the right environment for calves to flourish. All aspects of the rearing process, from colostrum management to regular weight monitoring, are carried out to the highest standards. I am delighted to put them through to the next round of the awards.”

Ian and David Green have been named regional finalists in the Forage Manager of the Year category for the ForFarmers Excellence in Farming Awards, as a result of their attention to detail towards forage production.

South West Farmer:

The brothers run a 150-head organic herd at Bedchester Farm, near Shaftesbury. Over the past five years they have produced an average 63-67% of their milk from forage, generally taking four cuts of silage a year and paddock feeding cows on a rotational grazing system. Soil nutrition is carefully planned, using a combination of macro and micro-nutrients to not only encourage growth, but balance pH and palatability.

Richard and Susan McKie have been named regional finalists in the Dairy Feed Efficiency category in the awards as a result of their dedication to continual improvement on their mixed farm near Wimborne, Dorset.

South West Farmer:

The couple farm with their sons David and Joe, on a National Trust farm tenancy. As well as supplying milk to Arla, they have diversified and sell glass-bottled pasteurised milk through three vending machines in local town locations. Inspired by a trip to Holland, the family has recently taken a more focused approach to cow feeding and forage production, which, despite a difficult year for growing forage, resulted in impressive changes. From April 2018 to March 2019 the farm increased milk from forage by 5%, reduced feed rate by -7% while increasing yield per cow by 9% from 8,386 litres/cow to 9,166 litres.

Philip Ambler, ForFarmers technical manager, was one of the judges in this category: “This is an excellent family farm making big improvements, despite the difficult growing season last year. It is great to see their hard work paying off in increased yields and efficiency and I am delighted to put them forward to the next round of these awards.”

Read more: The finalists have been announced for South West Farmer Awards 2019

All regional finalists go head-to-head with other farmers from across the country at the final round of the competition in London at the end of November, where one will be crowned the national winner.