FOLLOWING THE success of last year’s inaugural competition, the search is on to find the Scottish Dairy Farmer of the Year 2010.

The competition, which is organised by AgriScot and sponsored by World Wide Sires, sees all the dairy farms in Scotland automatically entered. The initial competitive round is based on calving index, somatic cell counts and long living cows and this gives a leet of around 250 herds which are then selected for further scrutiny.

Undertaking the challenging task of judging for the second year in succession is George Jamieson, the dairy specialist with NFUS, who will then reduce the numbers to the top twenty herds.

The final stage which follows further scrutiny and then on farm assessment will take the numbers down to the top four herds in the country and the climax of the competition comes at AgriScot, which this year will be held on Wednesday November 17, where the overall winner will be announced.

Commenting on the launch, the convener of the competition Jack Lawson said: “This is not about herds with show cows but it is to highlight outstanding management in herds of healthy, long living and regular breeding cows that also produce a respectable yield for the particular management system and breed. In other words, good animal welfare, which is also the key to profitability.”