All set to go for gold

摘要

At last year's National Holstein Show the Premier Breeder award for the most points won by a team of homebred cows went to the owners of Ridgefield Holsteins. No mean achievement for a husband and wife partnership who, seven years ago, knew nothingabout cows. In that short time they have managed to shake off the hobby farmer image to build a state of the art dairy unit and establish one of the top breeder herds in the country. Angela Rhodes paid them a visit. What started out as a chance viewing of a house for sale on a Leicestershire estate has ended up as a consuming passion and a major business enterprise for John and Val Barker. In 1995 they bought Groby Lodge Estate near Leicester, and inherited a herd of Dairy Shorthorns and a fairly run down dairy unit. Having taken on the farm, the Barkers were advised to sell the Shorthorns and buy in Holsteins. "Once we started to restock, it was soon obvious that Val was a natural talent spotter and it is her fault that I became involved in trying tomake pedigree Holstein breeding into a viable business!", says John Barker wryly. With the help of retired breeders Alan and Rosemary Shufflebotham, the Barkers gradually built up a herd by purchasing high quality heifers from good cow families in the UKand Canada, and they soon resolved to develop an elite herd of cows with top class pedigrees, high milk components and superior conformation.