Calf Rearer of the year award 2023

First of all, we would like to thank everybody who nominated or entered this year’s awards. We have had a noticeable increase in popularity from last year, which is great!

Calf rearing is an extremely important part of dairy farming and that until recently, has not been fully appreciated.

The research is clearly demonstrating that better calves = better dairy cows = more milk in the vat!

Not that productivity is the sole reason calf rearers do the wonders they do. They do it to achieve healthy, vibrant calves, by putting in an enormous amount of work and effort.

It was a tough task to separate out the finalists! All of them had impeccable hygiene, impeccable failure of passive transfer results, fantastic looking calves, and next to no issues with disease. Massive congratulations to you all, on your fantastic achievements. Needless to say, making the decision for this year’s winners, really meant we had to nitpick through all the details.

Our winner for this year Jess Maaka from Dukefield. A runner up last season, Jess has maintained a high level of calf care for multiple years and can this year lift the calf rearer trophy with pride.

The runner ups, in no particular order:

Meagan Wilcock from Wilcock Farming

And the entire calf rearing team at Claxby Farming. Ashley Spark, Olivia Gibb, Heidi Taylor, Kate Rive.

This is what we feel it’s all about, the mutual respect for the hard work which goes into rearing these awesome animals.