Cumbrian dairy farmer wins trip to New Zealand
James Robinson (centre) with his wife Michelle (far left) and sons Robert and Chris, and Germinal’s Helen Mathieu (far right) Cumbrian milk producer James Robinson is set to find out how much the New Zealand dairy sector has changed in the past 20 years, having won a trip the home of the All Blacks.
He was the winner of the Farmers Weekly/Germinal Grassland and Muck competition run earlier this year at the event.
The holiday-cum-study tour, with his wife Michelle and sons Robert and Chris, will be a rare and welcome break for the family, who run a 100-cow pedigree Dairy Shorthorn organic milking herd.
His herd is currently producing 7,000 litres a cow, with much of the production from grazed grass or grass silage.
“When I visited New Zealand previously, their dairy industry was quite different to the way it is now,” he said.
“I believe milk producers in New Zealand have been investing in their businesses in recent years, so it will be interesting to see how they are now reacting to this current downturn in global milk prices.”