Bishop Burton College has announced plans to invest in a Hereford cattle herd, ahead of the students arriving back this month. The new herd will give the students a chance to experience the breeding of pedigree cattle, first-hand.
The first four suckler cows, which form the trial herd, were home bred from a pair of two-year-old Limousin cows and a pedigree Hereford bull. Following the success, the College will be investing in six pedigree Hereford heifers to form the nucleus of the initial breeding stock. It is anticipated that the herd will be 40-strong by the end of the year.
On the new herd, Jeanette Dawson OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Bishop Burton College said: “The new herd will live on-site and will offer a wealth of new teaching opportunities for the College, enabling our students to experience a different breed to the 370-strong herd of Holstein, Limousin and Brown Swiss cross cattle they are used to.
“At the end of the academic year, our students will have had first-hand experience of the pedigree cattle breeding process, will have a much deeper knowledge of the dietary requirements of a range of cattle breeds, and more importantly, they will know how to grow a profitable herd from suckler cows.”
As well as offering a range of new teaching practices, the herd will also provide home-reared British Beef for the College’s commercial partnership with Dunbia, which supplies British Beef to retailers, including ASDA, Sainsbury’s and the Co-operative.
Dawson added: “Our farm is second-to-none and we’re proud that as well as providing a hands-on educational environment for students. Our farm is also run commercially. In today’s economy, it has never been more important than to teach students how to run a viable farm business.”
Bishop Burton College is a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Agriculture. As well as the 370-strong herd of cattle, students also benefit from having access to more than 280 hectares of farmland, a 500-strong flock of sheep and a drift of 250 pigs.
For information on all agricultural courses available at Bishop Burton College, please visit www.bishopburton.ac.uk/courses
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