February / March Newsletter 2026 - British Friesian Breeders Club

As we enter another new year, our dairy industry is facing yet more challenges. In a world awash with milk, and no single unifying body to represent UK dairy farmers in discussions with Dairy UK, our production has exceeded expectations. Processors either do not have the capacity for this extra milk, nor can they be expected to process milk only to sell at a loss. We are also competing with imports from countries with lower costs of production. So where have we gone wrong? Perhaps this is the result of a ‘top down, instead of bottom up’ approach? Farmers changed their methods of production to suit a particular cow, rather than selecting the cow to best suit their farm conditions. Therefore, some are exposed to high costs of production.

We do not need to dwell on the way in which PIN was calculated, and how it disadvantaged British Friesians, as it is well documented in the History of the British Friesian Breed https://britishfriesian.co.uk/history . It is thanks to your committee that a separate breed code was finally achieved. As the commercial AI Companies, repeatedly promote their leading bulls in their breeding programs in an endeavour to top the league tables, so does the inbreeding % increase. We read that the recommendation across the water, is to genomically test young heifers for inbreeding %.

Increasing generational turnover has led to shorter herd life, no doubt the result of factoring in 6 times yield to 1 of lifespan. Recent data from AHDB quotes the average age of the UK national milking herd as 4.56 years, so unlikely to calve for a third time. Apparently, according to ‘Bullvine,’ the US national herd averages 2.7 lactations.

With a smaller population, your committee has been wary of the Index system effect on our British Friesians and, at our request, HUK have added the inbreeding % for males to their published lists.

The Dutch Friesian, from which the British Friesian is directly descended, was bred to utilise the wonderful grass found in the area known as Friesland. We should remind ourselves that it was their practice to calve at two years and cull at six, thereby covering the cost of replacements with high cull values from the market. Although we do not have the veal calf trade here in the UK, we do have the extra income from male calves reared on to finish. Together, with embedded superior fertility and lifespan, due to breeding from well proven animals, we have the ideal cow for grass-based systems and the contribution she can also make to carbon capture.

Club members have been proactive in retaining a diversity of bloodlines which are offered through the various independent AI operators, both UK-bred, and from Holland and Ireland, as well as the Club’s test bulls.

We look forward to the new Grazing Index from the team at AHDB, which we hope will restore a measure of profitability to our beleaguered industry.

Notice of AGM - Friday 13th March 2026

The 36th Annual General Meeting of The British Friesian Breeders Club will be held on Friday 13th March 2026 at the Auctioneer (Bidders’ Room) Borderway Mart, Rosehill, Industrial Estate, Carlisle, CA1 2RW. The AGM will commence at 7pm. A two-course dinner will follow the meeting at a cost of £30 per head. Will those wishing to attend, please return the enclosed / attached form to Adam Lawson (contact as per letterhead) no later than Friday 6th March

National British Friesian Show – 14th March

Borderway Mart, Rosehill, Industrial Estate, Carlisle, CA1 2RW

Entries close on 14th February and this year’s Judge is Sally Howarth.

Entry forms can be found on the Borderway website, through the Club’s Calendar of Events or directly here: https://borderwaydairyexpo.uk/entry-form/british-friesian/

For further information call Adam Lawson on 07815 055476 or email lismulligan@btconnect.com.

Herd Visit to Cornwall on June 23rd - 24th

Our first visit is to the Nattle family’s Rosewarrick herd at Rosewarrick Farm, Lanivet, Bodmin, PL30 5JS and the Tripconey’s Goonhilly herd at Priske Farm, Polhorman Lane, Mullion, TR12 7JP will be on the second day. Both days start at 11 am. Dan Nattle has kindly agreed to collate the responses for catering purposes. Please contact him on dannattle@hotmail.com or telephone 0781 3018380 if you hope to attend. An accommodation list will be available online via the Club website and Facebook page nearer the date. Our grateful thanks to both hosts and their families for their hospitality and willing, and we look forward to having an enjoyable couple of days and seeing some super cows. There will be an informal dinner on the evening of June 23rd.

Further details will be available in the April/May Newsletter, but it’s summer and it’s Cornwall, so you need to get cracking as soon as possible in booking your accommodation! Our hosts have each written a summary of their herds below:

Rosewarrick British Friesians

Dan. Liz, Angel and Max run a herd of 220 Pedigree British Friesian based cows on a predominantly spring calving grazing system in mid-Cornwall. The British Friesian cow lends herself well to our grazing system, grazing daily here from late January until mid-November. We supply ARLA on a manufacturing contract maximising the solids produced from the British Friesian and ensuring a market is available for every calf born. In recent times we have introduced a small August calving portion to ensure a consistent milk supply for our on-farm Milk vending machine and farm shop which opened in 2024. In addition to the Friesians, we also have a small herd of Ayrshires formed mainly from the dispersal of Liz’s family’s Rosehill herd in 2024. The breeding policy for our herd is for cows that can walk on strong legs and feet with tidy tight udders and well-placed teats which will last. Fertility is paramount to keep a tight spring block. We expect our heifers to grow well and calve down at two years of age. We look forward to welcoming all breeders, be they pedigree or commercial, to view the herd and spend some time with us in June.

Goonhilly British Friesians

James and Clare Tripconey run a herd of 150 pedigree British Friesians on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. We have moved from Autumn calving to Spring calving to suit the milk profile required by our milk buyer, Roddas, which rewards us for high butterfat milk to make clotted cream. Our whole farm system revolves around the attributes of the British Friesian with her ability to graze throughout most of the year on grass and fodder crops through until Christmas, producing low cost, high value milk, being easily managed and highly fertile to maintain our Spring block. The calf she produces provides a good beef animal and, when crossed with our Hereford stock bull, the heifers are sold to make a first-rate suckler cow. Our breeding policy has always concentrated on milk quality, as well as good udders from strong cows able to walk to grazing and calve every year for many years. We calve our heifers at two years old and enjoy seeing them mature through their second and third lactations to make lovely cows that average eight lactations.

British Friesian SP Awards

The new criteria for British Friesian SP awards went live at the beginning of the year. They are labelled SP1, SP2 etc per qualifying lactation (600 Kg of CFP or more and at least 105 production indices for 2nd lactation and above). Any Breed Code 20 cow finishing a lactation in 2024 or 2025 has been retrospectively awarded for all its qualifying lactations.

Oakalby

Many congratulations to the Burroughs family for the wonderful article in Dairy Farmer (January 2026). Though Suffolk is not typically known for its milk production, they have put their faith in dairy and diversified extensively to support it. Oakalby have had many successes in the show ring and have won the BF Annual Herd Competition several times.

David’s sister Margaret Vale served on the Club Committee for many years. They have participated in the Club’s project to widen the genetic profile of the breed with their bull, Oakalby Breakaway, available from UK Sire Services.

Penrith & District Farmers’ Mart.

Great to see British Friesians leading the way at the recent monthly dairy sale.

Website and Facebook Page

Do keep up to date with our Club website where you can read our Newsletters, check dates for the year and access any necessary forms via the Calendar: https://britishfriesian.co.uk/ .

From the Homepage, you can jump straight into the Facebook page and please don’t forget that if you have something to say about our Breed, or pictures you’d like to share, then this is the place.