32 BROOM HOUSE FARM OCT / NOV 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
32 BROOM HOUSE FARM OCT / NOV 2021 • farmers-mart . co . uk
RECOGNITION FOR MAINTAINING FABULOUS HOLSTEIN PROWESS
CHRIS Berry talks with the Booths of Broom House Farm , Lothersdale
This year ’ s Great Yorkshire Show provided the Booths of Broom House Farm , Lothersdale with one of their proudest moments when David Booth was presented with the Holstein UK Master Breeder award .
Due to Covid , it had been a long time coming as he would have received the award at the 2020 Great Yorkshire Show had it taken place . Nonetheless it was still a proud time for the family .
‘ It ’ s not all down to me by any means ,’ says David . ‘ It is a team operation on the farm that all of our four daughters have played their part in over the years and today it is myself , my wife Margaret and our youngest daughter Jennie .
‘ All of the cows in the dairy herd are awarded points for production and the daughters they have bred . There are only ten Holstein breeders presented with the award each year and once you ’ ve received the award you cannot apply again for another ten years . It ’ s quite prestigious in the breed and I was presented with our award from the Holstein UK president .’
It has been a momentous past few years for David , Margaret and Jennie as they also picked up Northern Dairy Farmer of the Year title through another publication and in 2019 achieved the pinnacle of their dairy showing career when they had Holstein breed champion at the Great Yorkshire Show with Shawdale Atwood Pamela 119 .
‘ We had taken her to Dairy Expo at Carlisle in March 2019 as a junior 3-year old second calver and she had won there . That was a real surprise ,’ says Jennie . ‘ When she won in Harrogate it was just amazing . It is the one show we had always wanted to get breed champion and we had come close previously with exhibitor bred champion and reserve junior champion but to get the big one just topped everything .’
David has been breeding dairy cows for 40 years . He ’ s a second generation dairy farmer having taken over the farm on the top of the hill from his parents Edward and Mabel . He ’ s one of four brothers who all run their own farms today . He and Margaret went on their own in 1992 when the brothers all went amicably their separate ways .
Broom House Farm runs to 240 acres overall with 200 owned and their farm is at 1000ft above sea level .
‘ We have eight months of winter up here and about four months of not even right weather ,’ says Margaret . ‘ There is not a lot of time these days when you think it is just right . It can be either too
Pleased to be associated with David , Margaret & Jennie & Broom House Farm .
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