Somerset dairy advisor brings home the bacon

A dairy advisor from Somerset is celebrating his success after being declared the national ‘Livestock Advisor of the Year’ at the 2009 Farmers Weekly Awards. Robert Mintern, from West Bradley based independent dairy consultancy, Kingshay, was announced as the winner of the prestigious and fiercely fought category at a glittering awards ceremony held in London last week. Sponsored by Silotite®, the market leading brand of silage balewrapping film from bpi.agri, the category sets out to recognise those individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the UK’s livestock farming community. Every year, it attracts entries from some of the best in the business across professions such as veterinary surgery and animal nutrition. Speaking of Robert’s entry, Kate Collett, Marketing Coordinator from award sponsor bpi.agri said: “This year, as always, the standard of entries to the Livestock Advisor of the Year category were incredibly high and even making it to the shortlist should be seen as an impressive achievement. By all accounts, choosing an eventual winner certainly wasn’t easy for the judges.” Those factors which did lead to Robert’s ultimate success include his involvement in developing an innovative new scheme known as How’s My Herd. This assesses everything from cow nutrition and fertility through to a farm’s management practices before offering farmers realistic and practical advice. Robert also runs regular workshops for students, vets and field staff and still has time to deal with farmers on a daily basis. Plus, he’s assisted organisations like TESCO - who he’s currently advising on lameness/mobility and the effects it can have on milk production - and Bristol Vets School, creating an online 'ready reckoner' on their behalf that’s able to calculate lameness costs. Robert was presented with his award by David Pendlebury, Managing Director of bpi.agri, Jane King, Editor of Farmers Weekly and Julia Bradbury, presenter from BBC series, Countryfile. Commenting on his success, he said: “Winning the award is fantastic. I can’t think of a better compliment to my professional abilities than to be deemed worthy of such a prestigious title - and by a judging panel made up of industry experts.” ENDS IMAGE: Robert Mintern Award Success.jpg CAPTION: Award winning advice. Robert Mintern, from West Bradley based dairy consultancy Kingshay, receives the award for Livestock Advisor of the Year at the 2009 Farmers Weekly Awards. Pictured left to right: Jane King, Editor of Farmers Weekly, David Pendlebury, Managing Director of bpi.agri, Robert Mintern, Julia Bradbury, BBC presenter.

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