Thousands expected at Dairy Day event

Dairy 31/07/2023 Adam Gunton

Final touches are being put in place for next month’s UK Dairy Day – the annual one-day showcase for the dairy industry held at...

• Demonstrations on cow management

• New zone showcases latest products

• Type classification and linear scoring

Final touches are being put in place for next month’s UK Dairy Day – the annual one-day showcase for the dairy industry held at the International Centre in Telford, Shropshire.

Thousands of visitors are expected to attend the show, which takes place on Wednesday, 13 September. The day will include seminars, exhibitions, practical demonstrations and a full programme of livestock classes.

Seminars will include a range of subjects related to dairy herds and farm businesses. A full list of the topics to be covered is expected to be published this month. A new product zone will showcase dairy-related items launched into the market over the past 12 months.

Practical demonstrations will include type classification and linear scoring; foot trimming, blocking and knife sharpening; and an innovative session which will see calves painted to help visitors visualise and better understand dairy cow anatomy.

Breed Village

The NBDC breed village will feature practical demonstrations and breed societies trade stands. During the day members of the NBDC Classification team will run type classification and linear scoring demonstrations for different breeds.

At each session, the audience will have the opportunity to learn more about the services offered to dairy farmers. In conjunction with the linear scoring demonstration, a virtual cow demonstration will run on a TV.

Virtual Cow is an educational tool which graphically illustrates the linear scale for cow conformation traits. This allows for improved understanding of dairy cow conformation and easy visualisation of anatomical differences within each trait across the linear scale.

The outside exhibition area will see the return of Tim Carter for advice on foot trimming, blocking and knife sharpening using the right tools for the job – demonstrated on dairy cows throughout the day.

Demonstrations

These practical demonstrations will streamed to a large TV screen with commentary so visitors can see first-hand the detail of the trimming, blocking and knife sharpening.

They will also be highlighting the Cattle Hoof Care Standards Board, a self-funding non-profit organisation to improving the health, welfare and mobility of the national herd, through ensuring its members promote, achieve and maintain a recognised and validated standard of cattle hoof care.

Special presentations by the team from Scarsdale Vets in the calf rearing zone will use painted animals to visualise and understand cow and calf anatomy. The ‘Beneath the Black and White’ calf painting sessions will take place throughout the day.

Scarsdale Vets will also paint the calf head to demonstrate the disbudding nerve block; and calf chests and abdomens, to talk about pneumonia and digestion.