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                     Pictured : Caroline Groves Senior Consultant at Promar and Andrew Eastabrook Farm Manager

Hartpury is honoured to have won a prestigious farming award in recognition of the success of its dairy herd and facilities.

The leading land-based education institution has been announced as the winner of the Promar International Milkminder Manager of the Year 2019 – Regional Award for the South of England.

Hartpury, which has its own on-site commercial farm, featuring more than 250 dairy cows and a modern milking parlour, also finished runner-up nationally.

Promar Milkminder is one of the country’s leading independent dairy costings services providing a detailed breakdown of dairy herd performance. It has been established for 35 years and has several hundred participating farmers

The Milkminder Manager of the Year Award has been running for more than 30 years and recognises businesses who have made significant advances in their dairy herd performance.

Criteria on which businesses were rated included overall performance, efficiency measures such as production from forage, and effective development of the system.

Hartpury’s commercial farm supplies produce to Sainsbury’s, Muller, Glencore and Frontier, and provides students with access to a wide range of the latest farming equipment.

Andrew Eastabrook, Farm Manager at Hartpury, said: “We are delighted and extremely honoured to be named as the Promar International Milkminder Manager of the Year 2019 Regional Winner for the South, and runner-up nationally.

“To be awarded this accolade, competing against around 1,200 other dairy herds, is an extremely proud moment, and welcome recognition of the technical and financial performance of our dairy herd.

“It bears testament to the hard work put in by all involved.”

Promar Managing Director Neil Adams added: “Hartpury is a worthy winner of the Southern Region and National runner-up.

“They are achieving exceptional levels of performance, producing 9,418 litres with 4,000 from forage which is 50% higher than the average farm.  Feed costs per litre are also 11% lower than average.

“Despite the very dry summer in 2018 they increased yield by 2% while cutting purchased use by a staggering 23%.

“They are managing this while at the same time moving from all year round calving to a block calving system which will improve forage utilisation still further.

“They are setting high standards of animal husbandry and bio-security while playing a vital role in educating the next generation of farmers.”

Hartpury, which runs a number of agriculture diploma and degree courses, is committed to providing its students with access to state-of-the-art agriculture technology to equip them with the skills and knowledge to gain careers in the industry.

Early next year, Hartpury will open its £2 million Agri-Tech Centre, which will utilise and demonstrate the latest smart farming techniques and illustrate the importance and impact of science and technology in agriculture.

Hartpury has recently announced exciting ambitions to create a Digital Innovation Farm, in response to an increasingly digital world with global demand for new technology in farming.

This development will include the National Centre for Agricultural Data Management and Interpretation, which will play a pivotal role in the development of agricultural data and security.

Hartpury University and Hartpury College sit alongside one another on the same 360-hectare campus that has benefitted from more than £50million of investment over the past 20 years.

Hartpury College has the highest student satisfaction of all land-based further education colleges in the UK (Department of Education survey 2018/19).