David Howard, head of dairy at Wynnstay, was named a finalist in the Livestock Adviser of the Year category after his success in encouraging farms to become more sustainable in their milk production.

David has been a livestock adviser for 18 years, four of which have been with Wynnstay. In 2023 David began working with Kate Robinson, ruminant manager at Harper Adams' farm in Shropshire.

"David can operate commercially in the academic environment of the university, acting as another manager for us," she said, in a Farmers Weekly report on the Awards. "The next aim will be for David to help us move towards the goal of net zero by 2030."

Since David has been involved, the farm at Harper Adams has increased yields by 2,500 litres, to 11,400 litres/cow per year; 6,000 litres of which comes from forage, double the national average. And he's even managed to do this while removing soya from the diet.  The ration comprises 63% maize with grass and lucerne making up the rest.

David currently advises 26 clients across Wales, south west England and the Midlands. Out of these, half have now cut soya completely from their diets; reducing input costs as well as their environmental impact due to the deforestation and transport costs associated with soya production.

"We are so excited to be recognised in such a prestigious award, says Sian Probert, head of marketing at Wynnstay. "It is so important that successes both among farmers and the supply chain are acknowledged and commended."

Success is not new to David; in fact, he aided Mark Lovatt at Oak Lodge Farm, Leicestershire to his win of the Feed Efficiency Award at the 2023 Cream Awards.

"I am passionate about helping farmers to increase herd productivity while managing volatile feed costs at the same time as meeting consumer demand over farming's environmental footprint," says David. "It's a constant challenge but scientific understanding of cow nutrition is improving all the time, and it's a privilege to be able to pass that on to my farming clients."