FINALISTS IN 2024 NMR RABDF GOLD CUP

Six dairy businesses, from Cheshire to Cornwall, have made the final line up in the 2024 NMR RABDF Gold Cup. They are:

• Mark Lovatt, E A Lovatt & Son, Stoney Stanton, Leicester.
• Ruth and Stephen Ashley, PJ & PE Ashley & Son, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
• Ben and John Oakley, G.E Oakley & Sons, Whitchurch, Cheshire.
• Harper Adams University Future Farm, Newport, Shropshire.
• Tim and Will Venn, Taunton, Somerset.
• Andrew and Matthew Rowe, Liskeard, Cornwall.

Judges, RABDF Chairman Robert Craig and vice Chairman Tim Downes, NMR veterinary officer Karen Bond and Gold Cup winner 2023 Alistair Logan, have visited each farm, and they will announce the winner at DairyTech, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire on February 5, 2025. Presentation of the Gold Cup, along with other breed specific and lifetime yield award winners selected from Gold Cup entries, will take place on the NMR stand at 4pm.

A record number of dairy herds qualified for the 2024 Gold Cup through milk recording channels, meeting qualifying criteria, or through nominations by dairy discussion group leaders.

The Gold Cup qualifying criteria for milk recorded herds is set at 100 cows or more, 100 with qualifying lactations in the milking herd, an average somatic cell count for the year ending 30 September 2023 of 200,000/ml or less, or 250,000/ml or less for organic herds and a minimum PLI specific to the breed or time of calving for block