So how do you win? The first step is familiarise yourself with the competition process, ensure you put your best foot forward and then simply be the best of the finalists on the day.
To access the RABDF website, click on the following link.
January :
All milk recording organisations are invited to submit herds that meet the competition's qualifying criteria for the standard recording year ending on or around 30 September 2011. These are:
- More than 100 cows/heifers with qualifying lactations in the milking herd
- Annual somatic cell count average for the recording year ending 30 Sepember 2011 of 200,000/ml or less, for non-organic herds. For organic herds a SCC of less than 400,000/ml for the same period; all other criteria apply.
- Minimum £PLI value specific to the breed. For Holsteins, this is a PLI of £21.
March:
Qualifying herds informed and invited to enter the Gold Cup 2012. Entry forms sent to these herds and available electronically, by request.
During April
Closing date for completed entry forms to be returned to the organisers by post or electronically
May
Finalists selected
June
Finalists announced
July
Judging of finalists' farms and dairy units
September 4
Presentations at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show, NEC
- Gold Cup winner 2012
- NMR Silver Salver to the runner up
- Chris May Memorial Award to the herd with the highest Lifetime Daily Yield in the qualifying herds in the 2012 Gold Cup competition
Judges 2012
David Cotton: Chairman of the RABDF and Chairman of judges, plus Bryan Thomas, ex Non-Exec Director NMR, and Geoff Spence, winner of the 2009 Gold Cup.
Typically 1000 farms will receive this entry form, which is already a good vote of confidence in your enterprise if you are one of the recipients. Do leave yourself plenty of time to fill in the form. Decide what it is which makes your farm different from everyone else and then sell this theme in the entry form.
Of the 1000 farms who qualify to enter typically 50 forms are filled in and returned. Making your entry stand out amongst 50 is now a more achievable task. The judges sit down and review each individual entry and come up with a short list of between 6-8 herds to visit.
The judges visit each herd during a 2-3 day tour of the country at the beginning of July with each visit lasting between 1-2 hours. This gives an opportunity for the farmer to highlight the aspects of his entry which he believes are particularly relevant and gives an opportunity for the judges to get first-hand experience of the farm and ask questions on entry. The visit is informal in nature but this is the principal way of picking the winner from the finalists who by this stage in the competition are all very good herds. The winner is notified very soon after the visits.
This is the start of a hectic year for the winner as the award is presented on the NMR stand at the Livestock 2012 incorporating Dairy Event and the finalist has plenty of opportunity to gain exposure following the award with the farm open day in June typically attracting 700 visitors and a monthly column in the British Dairying Group journal.
Gold Cup 2011 winner Tom King with RABDF President John Alvis (left) and NMR Chairman Philip Kirkham (right)
