A record number of dairy herds have qualified for the 2024 National Milk Records (NMR) and Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) Gold Cup.
This year, 1,217 dairy businesses recording with NMR and the Cattle Information Service (CIS) have made the entry criteria and, with herds that have been nominated, will be invited to enter the competition.
Entries for the 2024 NMR RABDF Gold Cup must be submitted by July 22, 2024, and the resulting finalists will be judged by a panel of specialists covering each aspect of the dairy business considered in this award.
The 2024 Gold Cup winner will be announced at the Dairy-Tech event in February 2025.
Herds with accredited milk records meeting the criteria gain automatic entry and have been notified and invited to enter through their milk recording company, RABDF said.
Dairy businesses can also be nominated for entry by dairy discussion group leaders or by achieving defined KPIs submitted industry nominations.
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 September 30, 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 calving herds.
A total of 647 NMR recorded herds have met this level, including 193 from south west England, 112 from the west Midlands, 63 from the north of England, 82 from Wales, 41 from Ireland and eight from Scotland.
Gold Cup
NMR marketing manager, Katy Stanlake, said: “We recognise the high levels already achieved by the qualifying herds and in recognition of this we have presented them with a qualifying certificate.
“This year’s winner, NMR-recorded Bisterne Farms, is a shining example of the standards achieved and targets met across the business and the plans to future-proof and progress the dairy unit going forward.”
This year, RABDF has streamlined the application form and automated data collection for herds milk recording with NMR and CIS.
Gold Cup competition manager, Romany Marshall, said: “This means that these herds just have to tell us some background to the business and an outline of plans.
“The herd data is collected automatically. Non -recorded herds will provide data alongside their entry forms.”
