Shropshire Star

Invitation to view new Walford dairy unit

Farmers, students, former students and members of the public are being invited to the Walford Campus of Walford and North Shropshire College in Shropshire to see the new £1 million dairy unit.

Published

The event is being organised by Bruce Udale, former chairman of the College's Farm Advisory Committee, on Sunday, September 22 to show off the new facility to a wide audience.

"Our aim is to target farmers to come and see the new dairy unit and hopefully observe the parlour and rotary milking equipment working," said Mr Udale, who farms near Wellington.

"The college has recently bought 99 extra cows so we should be up to the target of 300 cows fairly soon. Sixty of the cows are being milked through the Fullwood Merlin Robotic milker and the rest through the 24 cow herringbone parlour.

"We are keen to welcome as many people as possible on the day including farmers, ex students and potential students from throughout the whole of Shropshire and Herefordshire too as the college draws many students from that area," he added.

Farm manager Neil Ridgway has been the driving force behind the new dairy. He has worked like a Trojan over the past year, overseeing the new development whilst managing the day to day operations of the farm in the middle of a massive building site.

Neil and his head herdsperson Mike Lutman are over the moon with the new dairy. The college took delivery of an additional 100 cows from a farm dispersal in Carmarthen, which allowed milk production to be ramped up within days of bringing the new dairy into use.

"We managed to procure an excellent addition to the herd, it is a fantastic investment and meant we could hit the ground running pretty much from day one," said Neil.

"The official opening of the new unit was a very proud day for me and the farm team – especially Mike Lutman who has worked in the dairy for over 30 years. He has embraced the new technology like a man re-born."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.