Dairy Event gets new name and date
The Dairy Event and Livestock Show is set to be renamed from next year, and will move from September to the first week of July from 2013.
Organisers, the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) say they hope to transform the event into the number one show for all livestock producers in the UK, by incorporating all sectors including dairy, beef, sheep, pigs and poultry.
As of 2012, the Dairy Event and Livestock Show will be called Livestock incorporating Dairy Event, and from 2013 onwards the event will take place on a Wednesday and Thursday in the first week of July – 3 and 4 July 2013.
The show will continue to take place at the NEC in Birmingham, but according to RABDF chief executive Nick Everington it’s time to get “in with the new” and make the show “more attractive to all livestock farmers”.
“As of next year, we are going out to promote the show to dairy, sheep, beef, pig and poultry producers. My objective is to put all of these people in one spot because there is an opportunity to meet and discuss common issues such as feed prices and bovine TB,” he said.
“This will create an opportunity for people to learn from each other, and it offers a real opportunity for the British livestock industry to show we are proud of what we do, as well as offering a great opportunity for us to market our industry abroad.”
He said the decision to change the name and increase the offering, was made after a fall in the number of UK dairy farmers and an increase in those keeping other stock alongside their dairy enterprise.
“While dairy farmer visitors continue to remain dominant at the event milking 78% of the UK’s cows, more and more visitors have non-dairy enterprises. In fact at this year’s event, 57% of farmers were rearing beef, 27% sheep, 11% pigs and 7% poultry,” he added.
“Our exhibitor profile featured 68% offering products for beef farmers, 51% to sheep farmers, 40% to pig producers and 33% to poultry producers.”
Commenting on the move to a July date from 2013 onwards, he said he thought it would be a “more convenient time for livestock farmers”.
Showing Regulations
Despite opening up the event to the rest of the livestock industry, Mr Everington said it would continue to offer a showing element for dairy classes only, as there are enough agricultural shows out there.
And following on from the fixing which happened at this year’s event, he said there would be a greater focus on enforcing showing regulations against fixing practices such as teat sealants.
“We are not interested in doing classes for beef and sheep – we want to do something that is designed to help the commercial beef and sheep farmers,” he explained.
“Looking back to the showing this year, in hindsight I don’t regret it because it brought the whole thing to the fore and now we have the full backing of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, things are going to change. I may have lost the battle this year, but we will win the war.”
The new website for the event is www.livestockshow.co.uk.
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