Milking robots can help dairy farmers increase efficiency, ease staffing issues, and improve public perception of milking cows, delegates heard at this year’s Dairy-Tech Online.

Speaking during the Robotic Milking session on Thursday (5 February), NMR/RABDF Gold Cup Winner Robert Sloane from Ayrshire, said this past year had been the most important for having milking robots.

A new statutory Code of Conduct will be developed for the dairy sector to increase fairness in the supply chain and help farmers become more competitive, Farming Minister Victoria Prentis announced today (Wednesday 3 February).

Registrations for Dairy-Tech Online have rocketed reaching almost 2,500, with one week still left to sign-up for the free fortnight-long event.

Capacity on Zoom has been increased for each of the sessions due to the number of registrations, with delegates urged to secure their place by signing up.

Farmers are being reminded to issue their staff with a Key Worker Travel Pass with tougher measures being taken by the police to clamp down on those breaking Tier 4 Coronavirus restrictions.

In a bid to get the virus under control, more reports have been filtering through on social media of police stopping drivers to check the validity of their journey. When a journey is proved to be non-essential a fixed penalty notice could be issued.

A final year student from Harper Adams University has beat off six other finalists and one of the highest number of entries to scoop this year’s RABDF Dairy Student of the Year Award, sponsored by Mole Valley Farmers.

Agriculture with Farm Business Management student Katie Ackland from Devon, won the award after going through a rigorous application process, which included writing a 1,500-word essay on a case study and delivering a presentation to the judges over Zoom.

Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) Vice Chair Di Wastenage has been awarded with an MBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list, for her services to the UK dairy industry.