The University of Liverpool’s Wood Park Farm has been highly commended at the 2016 Dairy Industry Trade Awards.
The 4th annual Cream Awards took place in Birmingham and saw more than 400 guests assemble from across the dairy industry to celebrate the brightest and best in UK Dairy.
Wood Park Farm, the University’s dairy farm and Tesco Dairy Centre of Excellence, was commended in the High Yield Herd Award category, which recognises farms with high levels of production, cost efficiency and animal welfare.
Excellent learning opportunity
Set in 200 acres, the farm supports a closed herd of 220 milking cows, with an annual yield of 12,500 kg per cow, as well as 140 young-stock.
The main aim of the farm is to provide an excellent learning opportunity for Veterinary students who attend the farm throughout their course, and is also heavily involved in knowledge exchange with the dairy industry and research.
The ceremony was attended by Mr John Cameron, Farm Manager; Mr Andrew Parkinson, Assistant to the Manager; and Professor Robert Smith, the farm’s academic lead.
Continuing support
Professor Smith, said: “The performance of the herd is the culmination of ten years hard work from the farm team since the University invested in a new cattle building in 2006. It is great to receive recognition from the industry we train vets to enter.
“Much emphasis is placed on the research led teaching of the University and it is important that our other activities are industry leading and expose students to best practice too. We look forward to continuing to improve performance and animal welfare with the continuing support of the University and our industry partners. “
The awards were organised by Farm Business and took place at the National Birmingham Motor Cycle Museum on 16 September, 2016.