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Written by Digby Gribble
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Wednesday, 14 March 2012 10:59 |
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Robert Wiseman who process over one third of the liquid milk in the UK have announced a joint venture with the A2 Corporation to distribute milk from cows that have tested to be homozygous ( A2 xA2) for Beta Casein A2. Guernsey herds have the highest natural proportion of homozygous A2 with approx 2 or 3 times more homozygous cows than other dairy breeds. The market for A2 milk in Australia is growing by 30% a year and is now 2% by volume but worth 4% by value, if we were to achieve a similar share of the liquid market in the UK it would require 21,000 Guernsey cows to provide it! The customers in Australia appear to be those who have "self diagnosed themselves" to be "milk intolerant" and have difficulty digesting ordinary milk, but do not suffer the side effects with A2 miilk. Wiseman/A2 Corp are testing all cows in herds whose owners are interested within their milk field close to the Droitwich ,Worcs processing plant and have offered to test the Guernsey herds in the West Midlands, the first of which the Leighgrange herd of Ernie Durose was tested last week .55 of the 69 cows tested have tested as A2xA2 (80%) which compares to the Holstein herds tested (30% -37%). I have looked at the pedigrees of the Leighgrange herd and tried to predict which of the 69 cows are possible carriers of the A1 Beta Casein gene , using information about the sires and maternal grandsires that were tested before use in AI. Assuming that the A1 gene has always been passed from the A1xA2 parent, then 25 cows could possibly be A1xA2. What will be interesting will be to see if the 14 cows that are not homozygous A2xA2 are amongst the 25 possible A1xA2 group. It is possible that some of the untested Natural Service or AI sires could also carry the A1 gene but if the A1xA2 carriers have been correctly identified then it could reduce the cost of testing other herds. Ernie Durose is hosting a meeting in Staffordshire on the 26th March when Wiseman's will set out the opportunity to other Guernsey herds as the A2 milk will earn a premium some of which can be passed back to the suppliers.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 March 2012 11:37 )
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Monday, 12 March 2012 12:25 |
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Saturday night saw the Annual Dinner and Competition Awards for the newly renamed Wessex Guernsey Cattle Association, which now covers Guernsey herds situated in Dorset,Gloucestershire, the Isle of Wight,Somerset and Wiltshire. Judge Martin Smith who manages the high yeilding Kingspool herd of Holsteins, that was the NMR/RABDF Gold Cup winning herd in 2010 had 9 herds to visit and stated that he was " surprised and impressed by the quality" of the cows in all of the herds. With the addition of Gloucester and the Isle of Wight, there was a marked change in the prize winners with the Briddlesford herd of the Griffins providing the runners up in all of the production awards with Andy and Rachel Payling's Oxlynch herd providing the winners with a team of 10 cows averaging over 800 kgs of Fat +Protein led by the individual winner Oxlynch Streaker 9 who yeilded 940 kgs from an 11,000 kg third lactation. Her dam Oxlynch Streaker 5 has had an impact with over 6000 kgs F+P from 11 lactatations whilst producing six daughters.Streaker 5 calved her first calf at 2 years old and her 11th at 12 years and six months.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 March 2012 12:51 )
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Thursday, 12 January 2012 10:29 |
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The above link appeared in my in-box this morning and I thought I should pass on the Good News. The Unpasteurised Guernsey milk will most likely be from David Paull's Hurdlebrook Guernsey herd at Babcary Somerset which he takes to London to the Notting Hill Farmers Market every Saturday morning. I forwarded the above link to David Paull who confirmed that he does supply the milk to the gentleman mentioned in the above article and added the comment " I wonder if that is why I am so tired in the morning! "
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 April 2012 23:28 )
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Tuesday, 13 December 2011 19:47 |
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Whilst reviewing the Top Cow proofs released today by Dairy Co, my attention was caught by Carne Quoit, the highest ranked heifer by PLI in England & Wales with a PLI of +£131, but it is her great grandmother Carne Tennis who will feature here. This remarkable cow had 13 calves, calving her first calf at 2 years and 5 months and her 13th at 14 years and 2 months, she produced 8 heifer calves and the 4 that have classified Good Plus or Better earning a total of 43 points so far for their milk production and type scores and thus gaining their dam 5 Gold Stars.
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Heifer calves born in 2011 |
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Monday, 05 March 2012 17:16 |
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Breakdown of 2011 Female Registrations 797 heifers sired by 96 different sires with 44% sired by Non A1 sires, 41% by young AI sires and 15% by Proven AI sires. This compares with 2007 when 28% were sired by Non AI sires, 50% by young A1 sires and 22% were by Proven AI sires. There were daughters sired by 10 young US sires, 5 Guernsey Island young sires, 4 Mainland young AI sires and 17 Proven US, 3 Proven Canadian sires and 57 Natural Service sires. Only 25 of the 96 bulls sired more than 10 daughters in 2011, mainly the AI bulls but including 11 Natural Service sires, but the sires with most daughters were Beechgroves Ezekiel with 80 daughters, Marksman( 51 dtrs), Mint ( 35 dtrs), Andante (34 dtrs) and Ghenghis ( 29 dtrs). The average GMI (Pedigree Indexes) of Heifers registered in the last 3 years is as follows | Year | Heifers | Milk | Fat | Fat% | Prot | Prot% | £PLI | GMI | | 2011 | 765 | 142 | 6.62 | -0.00 | 3.96 | -0.01 | 32 | 97 | | 2010 | 974 | 130 | 5.88 | -0.00 | 3.73 | -0.01 | 28 | 89 | | 2009 | 1025 | 93 | 4.11 | -0.00 | 2.41 | -0.01 | 15 | 56 |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 01 April 2012 23:27 )
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Wednesday, 04 January 2012 19:36 |
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The South West Herds competition was this year judged by John Berry, who retired in 2001 when his Sunninghill Park Guernsey herd at Windsor was sold to the Thomlinson family in Cumbria to restart their dairy farm having lost their Black and White herd to Foot and Mouth. John has visited 14 farms from Cornwall, Devon ,Gloucester, the Isle of Wight, Somerset and Wiltshire, judging the herds, youngstock and cow family and bull progeny groups. In each herd the Judge is asked to pick an "individual" best cow and before the final results are announced, I thought it might be a good idea to showcase some of these individuals. Our first visit was to Berkeley Farms at Wroughton near Swindon where Nick and Christine Gosling are milking around 80 cows with all of the milk bottled on the farm and delivered to as part of an "Organic" box scheme byAbel & Cole. The cow that caught John's eye on the day was Artis A Melanie 75 who is the dam of the young stock bull Artis Edward that is being reared for use in the herd.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 January 2012 12:07 )
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Written by Digby Gribble
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Saturday, 26 November 2011 14:28 |
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Guernsey milk from Olive Farm ( David Paull) will be tasted on the BBC One Show at 7pm on Wednesday 30th November, when studio guest Jeremy Clarkson will be asked to give his opinion on the Guernsey milk as compared to ordinary milk. The milk from the Hurdlebrook Guernsey herd is sold as "Green Top" ie unpasteurised or raw and there are only about 200 herds in England and Wales that are licensed to sell direct to the public and in the case of the Hurdlebrook milk is mainly sold at Farmers Markets. Cream, Yoghurt and Cheeses are also available and can be obtained by contacting the Paull's at www.hurdlebrook.co.uk Other Guernsey milk products are available in all areas of England and Wales and can be found on the Guernsey A2 Milk website under this link The item was broadcast last week, but in the absence of Jeremy Clarkson, the studio guest was John Craven, who has spent his 40 years at the BBC in never giving an opinion on anything, the presenter who was filmed on the farm trying to handmilk a cow ( and failing to do so) , then made a great song and dance about whether she would be "brave enough" to drink the raw milk, all in all a waste of time and money!
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 December 2011 11:11 )
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