ChewintheCud Podcast

If your robot relies on cake to keep cows moving, ask yourself a blunt question: what happens the day the pellet system breaks? That single point of failure is one of the reasons we wanted this conversation, because Kelli Hutchings and Matt Strickland have gone the other way and proven a “cake-free robot” approach can work on a commercial dairy.

Kelli is a feed and herd management adviser who found herself deep in the world of DeLaval VMS after helping launch large robotic sites across North America. Matt is a fourth-generation dairy farmer in Merced, California, running eigh...

AI is creeping into dairy whether we call it that or not, and most of the noise you hear is either hype or horror stories. So, we brought the conversation into the room with our first live event at the UK Agri-Tech Centre and asked a more useful question: what can artificial intelligence and machine learning genuinely do for a working dairy farm today, and where do the risks begin?

We’re joined by Chris Knight from Agribot, Ian Garner from Antler Bio, and Mike Jones from the UK Agri-Tech Centre. Chris pulls the curtain back on th...

Sunburn feels like an inconvenience until you connect it to the cancer statistics. Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, and Susanna Daniels, CEO of Melanoma Focus, joins us to explain why a “just a mole” mindset is risky, and why early action can be life-saving. We talk plainly about what melanoma is, how UV damage builds up over time, and why noticing a new or changing mole, or something that simply looks odd is the moment to contact your GP.

We also bring it back to farm life. Outdoor work in agriculture and hort...

Silage isn’t just a crop, it’s a high value asset, and the clamp you store it in can quietly decide how much of it you actually get to feed. We sit down with Jeremy Perkins from SiloStop Agri to talk through what good silage pit design looks like in 2026, from the first site visit to the details that protect forage quality for months. If you’re expanding, switching systems, or simply running out of space, this conversation helps you think clearly about layout, access for modern machinery, and how to future proof capacity without creating an unmanageable feed f...

Clover can feel like a gamble until you understand what it’s really doing in the sward and how small management choices decide the outcome. We’re joined by John Spence, Forage Crops Product Manager at Limagrain, to get clear on the practical differences between red clover and white clover, and how to choose the right option for grazing, silage, or a dual-purpose ley on UK dairy farms.

We talk through the big paybacks farmers actually care about: higher home-grown protein, better digestibility, and nitrogen fixation that can cut fertiliser use when prices spike or supply tightens. John...

Numbers make people uncomfortable for a reason: they tell the truth. We’re joined by the EDF UK team to unpack European Dairy Farmers and the EDF Congress heading to Chester on 23 to 25 June, including what it is, who it’s for, and why cost of production benchmarking can turn a good idea into a confident decision.

We talk through the structure of the three day programme at Chester Racecourse, mixing plenary sessions, targeted workshops and tightly run farm visits in one of the UK’s most concentrated dairy regions. The theme “New Challenges, New Opportunities” gives us room to...

What if your muck heap could hold onto its nitrogen, keep its carbon, and feed soil life the moment it hits the ground? We sit down with Andrew Sincock of Agriton to demystify Bokashi—an anaerobic, lactic-led fermentation of farmyard manure that turns a “waste problem” into a high-value fertiliser strategy. No turning windrows. No mystical inputs. Just weekly microbes on deep bedding, a sensible handle on carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, and a sheet to finish the job.

Andrew takes us from first principles to field results. We compare aerobic composting, anaerobic digestion, and fermentation, and unpack why carbon and ni...

Forget the headline battles over “cow versus climate.” We dig into how livestock, managed within a circular bioeconomy, can actually reduce risk, recover nutrients, and improve the food we eat. With Professor Michael Lee of Harper Adams University, we connect the dots between soil carbon, methane chemistry, and what ends up on your plate, showing why measuring only gross emissions per kilogram misses the true picture of sustainable dairy and beef.

We start by reframing circular farming: crops generate non‑edible biomass and the food industry creates co‑products; ruminants turn those streams into milk and meat while pr...

What if the biggest gains in calf health happen after the first feed? We explore the overlooked power of transition milk — the nutrient- and antibody-rich milkings from days two to four — and how feeding it for 10 days can tilt the odds toward healthier, faster-growing calves. With veterinary surgeon Dr Ryan Davies, we follow a spring block-calving herd in West Wales from a farmer’s observation to a structured study, complete with daily passive immunity testing and twice-daily Brix checks on pooled, pasteurised fresh cow milk.

We start with the fundamentals: dialling in colostrum quality, quantity, timing, cleanliness, and st...

Fresh grass, quiet robots, and cows that choose their own breakfast. That’s the unexpected picture that emerges when grazing meets automation on modern UK dairy farms. We sit down with Matthew Senior, Farmer & Robot Grazing Consultant and George Dalton, Farmer, who prove robotic milking doesn’t end pasture; it strengthens it, from ABC grazing schedules to leaner labour and sharper decisions.

We unpack why a shift from spring to autumn block calving can fit dry summers, wet winters, and evolving milk contracts. The conversation follows the practical steps: planning lanes and gates, sizing paddocks, sticking to entr...

New year, fresh start, better teams. We sit down with Becky Miles from Real Success to map out how UK dairy farms can turn a good hire into a long-term teammate. Not with grand gestures, but with the basics done well: a thoughtful first day, honest safety culture, and the kind of everyday communication that prevents small problems becoming big ones.

We unpack a practical onboarding blueprint you can copy tomorrow—10 a.m. start, warm welcome, terms and conditions on the table, health and safety brief, PPE issued, WhatsApp groups explained, and a mentor assigned. Becky introduces th...

What really makes a cow go lame, and why did it take so long to change our minds? We sit down with Professor Jon Huxley—raised on a Welsh dairy, now leading Massey University’s vet school in New Zealand—for a candid tour through research that reshaped mastitis control, lameness prevention, and fresh cow care.

Jon shares the story behind teat sealants becoming a cornerstone of selective dry cow therapy, showing how solid trials helped cut antibiotic use without compromising udder health. We then tackle the big pivot in lameness thinking: moving beyond the old acidosis-laminitis narrat...

Planning grazing by guesswork is costly; planning it with field‑level satellite insight is a game‑changer. We sit down with Chris Knight of Agribot to unpack how AI, radar, and atmosphere forecasting can measure pasture growth, cut labour, and help UK dairy farms make better, faster decisions.

Chris shares his journey from space and defence systems into agriculture, and why the most powerful shift is modelling each field on its own behaviour. Instead of relying on generic equations and perfect weather data, Agribot blends discrete atmospheric states with optical and radar satellites to read how your swar...

A farm doesn’t pause for grief, and that’s exactly why a clear succession plan matters. We sit down with Old Mill partners Willem Puddy and Philip Kirkpatrick to unpack the human, legal, and financial knots around passing on a family farm—without tearing the business or the family apart. From the first awkward conversation to the final signatures, we walk through what actually works on real farms.

We start with the essentials: who owns what, what sits in the estate, and where the single points of failure hide. Wills, partnership agreements, and up‑to‑date records ke...

Ever wish you could read a shed like a story? We walk through CowSignals® with vet consultant Owen Atkinson and coach-trainer Jo Speed, showing how behaviour becomes your best advisory tool. From the CowSignals® Diamond (feed, water, light, air, rest, and space) to the way cows actually see the world, we translate subtle cues into practical changes that raise performance and lower stress.

We dig into stress-free stockmanship and the Hemsworth cycle, where human tension fuels animal tension and back again. The fix is not force; it is design and timing. More even light across the shed, cl...

A down cow should never mean panic. We sit down with Dorset tenant farmer James Yeatman and Synergy Farm Health’s research lead, vet Rachel Hayton, to unpack a farmer-built “cow ambulance” that turns a stressful emergency into a calm, repeatable procedure. Born from love for cows and sharpened by hard lessons—and yes, a tough Panorama broadcast—this system pairs a purpose-built, rounded-edge, rubber-lined bucket with a simple reel and straps, then anchors it all with a nine-step training method any well-briefed team can follow.

We trace the journey from improvised bucket-rolls and hip lifter misuse to a stand...

A hard truth: UK farming employs a tiny slice of the workforce yet carries a heavy share of workplace deaths. We don’t say that to point fingers—we say it to spark action. This conversation gets practical about first aid on farms: what the law expects, what good looks like for a working farm, and how to build skills that actually stick when seconds matter.

Emma Hann joins us with a rare blend of A&E, 111 and minor injuries experience, now delivering first aid training shaped for agriculture. We unpack the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 in p...

Discover how the GB Calf Strategy is transforming British farming by creating purposeful connections between dairy and beef sectors. Join AHDB experts Sarah Tomlinson, Laura Awdry, and Harriet Bunning as they reveal the remarkable progress already made and outline an ambitious five-year vision built on three foundational pillars: Right Calf, Right Start, and Right Route.

The podcast takes you on a journey from the strategy's origins in 2006 following the ban on live calf exports to today's world-leading adoption of sexed semen (88% in Holstein breeds) that's dramatically reduced unwanted dairy bull calves. You'll learn how the UK's unique...

What if your cows could tell you exactly what they need to thrive? That's the groundbreaking promise of epigenetics, where the frontier of dairy science meets practical farm management. 

In this fascinating deep dive, Ian Garner, Head of R&D at Antler Bio, reveals how gene expression technology is revolutionizing dairy farming by unlocking hidden potential beyond traditional genetics. While genetics provides the blueprint, epigenetics determines whether those genetic instructions are actually followed—and this can be influenced by everything from nutrition to environment.

Through real-world examples, we discover how farms across Europe are seeing rem...

What happens to your dairy heifers between weaning and calving? This question reveals a critical blind spot on many UK dairy farms. While we meticulously monitor pre-weaning calves and track age at first calving, those crucial months in between often become a forgotten period where potential growth, health, and future productivity can be compromised.

Farm veterinarian Emily Linton takes us through this overlooked phase, revealing eye-opening facts about its impact on your bottom line. The financial stakes are significant - rearing costs range from £1,000-£3,000 per heifer, with each day beyond 24 months adding £2.87. More alarmingly, heifers calving at...

Amino acids may be the most underrated nutritional tool for transforming heifer development and health on your dairy farm. In this eye-opening episode, Ken March takes us through his remarkable journey from East London to becoming a dairy nutrition specialist in West Wales, where his thirst for knowledge led him to the cutting edge of amino acid nutrition.

Ken shares results from a ground breaking trial comparing 100 calves on a standard diet against 100 calves receiving an amino acid-balanced diet from birth through first lactation. When salmonella struck both groups, only three calves died in the amino acid...

The transition period is the highest-risk window in a dairy cow's life, with far-reaching consequences for health, productivity, and farm profitability. In this comprehensive episode, we speak with Donald Lawson, head of the ruminant team at Premier Nutrition, who shares invaluable insights from his extensive experience managing transition cow nutrition.

Donald reveals how approximately 80% of health problems in dairy cows originate during the six-week window around calving, and how getting transition management right can save farms an average of 6 pence per litre. Drawing from Premier Nutrition's Transition Management System data covering 200,000 cows, he breaks down the critical...

What does the UK's third-highest PLI Holstein herd discover when they test every calf born on their farm? Stuart and Helen Rogers of Longmoor Farm reveal how genomic testing transformed not just their breeding decisions, but their entire approach to dairy farming.

When the Rogers family moved their pedigree Holstein herd from Oxfordshire to Dorset in 2011, they wanted to push their genetics forward. What started with tentative use of genomic bulls evolved into a comprehensive strategy where every calf born gets genomically tested at birth. The results challenged their perceptions of which cow families were truly valuable. "...

This time Simon Reeves, Managing Director, Pangea Insurance joins the team.

Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with their respective businesses.

Like usual we start with Simon's background to get to where he is today as Managing Director of his own insurance brokering business.

Then we move on to discuss today's topic of how's your insurance cover?

Simon discuss how insurance companies like to win, and the advantages of having a broker on your side.

Often he finds that...

This time Conner Smith, Product Lead for Diagnostic & Ruminant Specialist, Bimeda and Rachel Hayton, Vet & Research Lead, Synergy Farm Health join the team.

Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with their respective businesses.

Then we move on to today's topic of Calf Immune Status, and more specifically the development of the ImmunIGY Bovine IgG Test.

We discuss how the idea of the test came about, how the product was developed from the original concept, with some dead ends along the way, to being...

This time Robert Morrison, Head of Farms, UK Agri-Tech Centre and Mike Jones, Dairy Technical Manager, UK Agri-Tech Centre join the team.

Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with UK Agri-Tech Centre.

It's been a year since we visited the South West Dairy Development Centre (SWDDC) with Mike, and so we have a little catch up with how the herd is now doing, but it's also been a year since UK Agri-Tech Centre was formed when three agri-tech centres merged to form one single entity.<...

This time Neil Adams, former Managing Director, Promar International, joins the team.

Like usual we start with Neil's background from a small dairy farm in Shropshire, to (now retired) Managing Director of Promar International.

Then we move on to today's subject of Pursuing Wealth.

We discuss what is wealth? Is it money in the bank? Is it time with your family? Or being happy in what you do?

This was recorded in October 2024 and all information was correct at the time of recording.

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This time Jade Toone, Key Account Manager, Buitelaar Group and Jessica Tomley, Buying Manager Livestock, Elite Beef join the team.

Like usual we start with both their backgrounds to get them to where they are today with Buitelaar Group & Elite Beef.

Then we move on to today's subject of Elite Beef.

 Elite Beef is an integrated beef scheme set up in partnership between Buitelaar Group and Myton Food Group to source and supply beef into Morrisons supermarkets. 

Buitelaar Group source and rear the calves, before going to Elite Beef Scheme members, wh...

This time Eric Dorr, Founder, Silage Consulting International joins the team.

Like usual we start with Eric's background, having been in the industry and worked for several companies that are household names within the industry, including Lallemand Animal Nutrition & Chr. Hansen Animal Health. Eric was also the original importer of Silostop into North America before founding his own business Silage Consulting International in 2023.

Then we move on to today's subject of Optimising Silage Production.

We discuss the problems, and therefore solutions, for good silage production worldwide, and talk about the basics of getting...

This time Ollie Simons, Crew Manager, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service joins the team.

Like usual we start with Ollie's background, on the periphery of agriculture before joining Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service to be where he is today.

Then we move on to today's subject of fire & rescue!

While we have an expectation of Ollie & his colleagues to deliver a service when we need them, we discuss with Ollie what we can do, to make their life easier & safer when we do need to call them.

From using what3words...

This time Sarah Tomlinson, Technical Director, TB Advisory Service (TBAS), joins the team for an episode of the podcast.

Like usual we start with Sarah's background, graduating as a farm vet to where she is today with TBAS.

Then we discuss the history of TB, and how you used to be rewarded for the voluntarily testing your herd!

We discuss the different skin tests, and why we use the one we do here in the UK, before moving on to discuss the Gamma Test and what this brings for TB detection.

...

This time the team are joined by Gabby Emery, Customer Success Manager, HerdVision.

Like usual we start with Gabby's background, from growing up on a farm in Somerset, to where she is today with HerdVision before we move on to today's topic of HerdVision.

Listen as we discuss how HerdVision went from a proof of concept to be developed into the commercial product it is today.

We talk about it's ability to measure body condition score (BCS) and mobility every time an animal walks under the camera, and measures changes in BCS far...

This time the team are joined by Kathryn Rowland, Senior Farm Services Manager, Kingshay Farming & Conservation Ltd.

Like usual we start with Kathryn's background, from a dairy farm in West Dorset, to where she is today with Kingshay before we move on to today's topic of the Antimicrobial Focus Report.

We take a look at different aspects and discuss the trends of the report, and look at how while the use of antimicrobials on farm is down, the overall health of the herds in the report has not suffered as a consequence.

We...

This time the team are joined by Claire Winson, Head of Animal & Environmental Sciences and George Stickly, Farm Manager of Rodway Farm, from Bridgewater & Taunton College - Cannington Campus.

Like usual we start with both Claire & George's backgrounds, before we move on to today's topic of Educational Opportunities in Agriculture.

We discuss the different education options available to students, from Level 1 all the way to Level 6, depending on previous experience & qualifications, how teaching has changed in the last thirty years, to the support students can get when at the college.

We then take...

This time the team are joined by Paul Harris, Founder & CEO of Real Success Ltd.

Like usual we start with Paul's background, which was outside the agricultural industry, how he began Real Success and then how he became involved with agriculture to the role he plays within it today.

Then we move on to the main topic of today's episode, People Management.

We discuss the challenges we face today as an industry for recruiting, and then retaining staff, and sometimes how the most basic things can make a difference.

Along the...

This time the team, based in the South West of England, are joined by Neil Parish, farmer, former MEP & MP and now podcaster.

Neil started life on the family farm, not far outside Bridgewater, in Somerset and so we initially discuss his life in farming, and how his farm has changed over the years to where it is today.

Then we move on to politics and discuss Neil's time as an MEP in Brussels, before becoming an MP in Westminster. We compare the two parliaments, discuss all the different Prime Ministers we've had during that...

This time the team, based in the South West of England, are joined by Paul Morris, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Oxi-Tech Solutions Limited.

As usual we start with a brief overview of our guest's background to get to where they are today.

Then we move on to the main topic of today's episode, the Oxi-Tech system that uses pulse oxidation to offer a chemical free solution to cleaning your milking equipment.

At the South West Dairy Development Centre (SWDDC) it was attached to the Lely robots on site, but can be fitted...

This time the team, based in the South West of England, are joined by Mickie Blackett, Supply Chain Business Growth Manager & James Taylor, Farm Manager from the Buitelaar Group.

As usual we start with a brief over view of both of our guests' backgrounds to get to where they are today.

Then we move on to today topic of Evidence Based Calf Rearing.

Not only do we take a tour of the farm, but we discuss the continuing development of the farm and it's facilities and how the business is constantly tweaking as...

Your hosts Andrew Jones & Sarah Bolt, based in the South West of England, are this time joined by Dr James Wilson, Hoof Health Consultant & PDRA (Post Doctoral Research Associate) at Liverpool University.

As usual we start with a brief over view both of our guest's background from herdsman to where he is today.

Then we move on to today topic of Feet & Mobility.

We first discuss the UK Hoof Health Registry and the benefits of people sharing their data with the AHDB to improve genetic gain with regards to feet & mobility.

...

Your hosts Andrew Jones & Sarah Bolt, based in the South West of England, are this time joined by Richard Tunnicliffe, Analytical Services Manager and Isabelle England, Technical Account Manager both from Trouw Nutrition.

As usual we start with a brief over view both of our guests backgrounds to get them to where they are today.

Then we move on to today's main topic which is silage sampling. What happens, over the next twenty four hours, once your sample is put in the post to receiving the results the next day.

We then discuss...