The evening before the Dairy Show sees the young people of all breeds competing in Handling classes with one class for young Holstein handlers followed by three classes that are open to all breeds split by the age of the handler.
The dispersal sale of Mr W J Forrest’s Coopers Court Guernsey herd saw a strong trade for young milking cows and in particular the maiden heifers and heifer calves at foot. The sale of what was one of the newest herds in the breed was as a result of a change of farming policy and was a very sad day for Colin Gleed who had purchased the Guernseys in the summer and autumn of 2007.
David and Rosie Paull and family invited me to an Open day at Overton Farm on the 27th September where they entertained about 100 people, mostly parents with young children and explained about the farm, the herd, their own Hurdlebrook products and the Guernsey cow.
The Paull’s have been putting on a display at the Bath and West for the last 5 years which has involved a Guernsey milk tasting with Milk from Nick Gosling’s Artis herd as he can supply 4 gallon pergols of milk.
Whilst working with the top 1000 cow list, I noticed several cows that had more than 8 calves but were still ranked in the top 10% of the UK Guernsey herd. These cows are the real money makers in the breed. Name Sire Lacts Age at Last Calving Milk kgs Fat …
Dairy Co produce the list of top 1000 cows which is updated 3 times a year. The August 08 list contains a combination of cows from both Guernsey Island and England and Wales and is where the potential bull mothers are to be found. The full list can be accessed …
On the afternoon of the EGCS AGM 10th September 2008 the meeting was shocked and saddened to hear of the death that morning of Mrs Sheilagh Andrews.
Sheilagh had travelled to Cornwall on the Tuesday afternoon to be present at the AGM but had suffered a stroke and died. Her death brought home to all of us that there are more important things than Guernsey politics.
A report of what was seen when not in the Pub in Cornwall, The Programme for the EGCS AGM allowed for three herd visits but a few of us managed find 4 more local herds to view, whilst i made two calls on the way down on Monday.
Guernsey milk in the News:
Channel 5 News contacted me a few weeks ago as they were interested in the A2 properties of Guernsey Milk. Derek Moody of Prosperous Home Farm at Hungerford had put them in touch as they wanted to know about the background information.
88% of the protein in milk is Beta Casein and the varients are A1, A2, B, C, D and E. But in practical terms the important Casein’s are A1 and A2. Genetically cows can be one of 3 Genotypes A1xA1, A1xA2 and A2xA2 but the genes are codominant so that a cow that is A1xA2 will give half her milk as A1 protein and half as A2. For more information regarding the science take a look at the A2Corporation website.