| Livestock
National Dairy Event 2017 launched
The Livestock Event is reverting to its roots in 2017 .
O rganiser , the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers is returning the event to its traditional time slot with next year ’ s event scheduled for 6 September at The NEC , accompanied by a name change to the National Dairy Event .
“ The event originally rescheduled from September to July in 2013 , renamed Livestock Event and widened its remit to cover other livestock enterprises , similar to the very successful Eurotier held in Germany ,” RABDF chairman , Mike King told a media briefing in London today , 28 June . “ It was anticipated that farmers would benefit from hearing about developments in other sectors and that the July date would be better for beef and sheep producers rather than just dairy .
“ However , annual tracking of producers , visitors and exhibitors clearly indicates that while the changes have gained support over time , a specialist event in September remains the preferred option .
“ The move to hold the event over one day rather than the usual two is simply down to cost ; the single-day format will allow exhibitors who are reducing marketing costs in line with the fall
in demand for farm inputs , to save on hotel , stand , catering and personnel expenses .
“ RABDF is acutely aware these changes will position the event in the calendar close to Holstein UK ’ s UK Dairy Day . RABDF and Holstein UK acknowledge that consolidation in the industry is already affecting both their events , and they have been discussing how to resolve this for the past year . Negotiations are ongoing , however with the 2016 event imminent , RABDF has been placed in the position of having to start discussions about next year ’ s arrangements with exhibitors .
“ RABDF is hopeful that it will reach agreement with Holstein UK over a possible joint future event , however in the meantime , it has no wish to conflict with UK Dairy Day more than necessary , consequently it will not include any cattle showing at the 2017 event .”
He added : “ We look forward to delivering an event in 14 months time that will continue to offer dairy farmers support , knowledge and information to help them progress their business ’ future .”
How the West was won –
In 1966 , the same year as England ’ s World Cup win , Harry West
H arry came from humble beginnings - born in Rowtonstall in Lancashire on 2nd April 1925 , Harry was the eldest of 4 children . His father Jobe was a traveller who travelled throughout England and Wales selling carpets .
Harry explained that he is lucky to be here , because as a toddler his father was looking after him at night while his mother was away having his brother John . Unfortunately , Jobe fell asleep with the candle burning and was awakened by his fellow travellers shouting that his caravan was on fire . They both got out in time but Harry still carries a scar from a burn to his arm . Harry was later told of the generosity of the fellow travellers who clubbed together to buy them a new caravan , as everything they had was lost in the fire .
When Harry was 5 , his parents settled at Cumberbatch House , Lower Heath with 6 ½ acres of woodland , and with only a short walk to the school , it was ideal . After leaving school Harry served his country in the Royal Navy for four years , where he took part in the D day landings . As an Able Seaman , he later had two tours to Australia on board the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable until he was eventually demobbed . On his return from military service he began work at Cattle and Bowl Company , later to become the multinational Rubery Owen . It was there Harry gained valuable experience and good engineering knowledge . This prompted him to realise he could be doing the same thing for himself and so became his own boss .
In order to fulfil his ambition , he needed somewhere with enough space to accommodate his engineering activities . With this in mind , he uprooted his family and 2 small children from their much loved , newly built council house in Prees , to a bus he renovated himself on his father ’ s property at Lower Heath . Harry remembers that his neighbours thought he was crazy to do so at the time .
1966 was a good time to start a new business as there was plenty of work around . Initially Harry specialised in light fabrication work , such as repairs to machinery for the local farming community . From his modest workshop at Lower Heath , he went on to produce over 18,000 roll bars for a variety of tractors . As the premises grew and the workforce increased , he began to manufacture industrial and agricultural buildings , also taking on contracting work from Fullwood , Bland Milking Systems at Ellesmere , McConnell ’ s Machinery at Ludlow , GKN at Telford and bottle banks for the local council .
In 1979 , the company started to provide its own purpose made agricultural machinery . This started with a Grain and Silage Trailer range , followed by the silver award winning Hi-Feeder .
1981 saw the introduction of the first Dual Spreader which gained the gold medal award and remains the market leading manure spreader to this day . The highly popular Comet Straw Chopper was to follow and in recent years the revolutionary Contra Flow Diet Feeder and large capacity Rear
36 | Farming Monthly | July 2016 www . farmingmonthly . co . uk