The Calf Conference – January 2025

The foundling event was the ambition of Morven Watson, The Saskatoon Colostrum Company, UK & Ireland. The concept was driven by the need for more knowledge transfer when it comes to calf rearing and frustration of lack of non commercial educational opportunities for farmers & calf rearers to learn more of best protocols, the science and how to achieve best outcomes with their calves.

The event held at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries on Wednesday 29th January 2025, exceeded all expectations on attendance numbers. “ I was anticipating between 100 – 150 attendees for this new event, I was astounded by the level of interest and had to release further tickets, doubling my estimations. It was also highly encouraging to see the majority of attendees were calf rearers and farmers, so often similar events can be top heavy with representation from other businesses”, Morven’s response following the event last week.

The Chair for the day was Tracey Roan, NFUS & The Scottish Dairy Hub, and calf rearer in her own right. Tracey ensured the day ran smoothly and more importantly stayed within the time frame, with so much discussed this was a huge achievement to her.

The educational offerings were certainly attained by some of the more acknowledged academics in the UK & Scottish dairy industry such as, Professor Alistair Macrae The University of Edinburgh, Dr Tim Potter – VetPartners, Dr Katie Denholm – The University of Glasgow, Dr Colin Mason – SRUC, Dr Ryan Davies – VTC, Dr Ali Haggerty – Stewarty Vets, Dr Bethan Till – ForFarmers. There was also valuable practical advice from the highly regarded Georgina Thomas – Trouw Nutrition, Liz Newman & Julia Wadeson – Advanced Ruminant Nutrition and Andrew Gardner from Galebreaker.

The audience had advice on everything from colostrum, cleanliness, nutrition and housing, there was opportunity to discuss the presentations further with the presenters during lunch and coffee breaks.

“The Calf Conference 2025 was a fantastic event, with an excellent line up of speakers providing practical advice which was backed up with evidence. There is always room for improvement, which is what we always strive for at Derryduff Farm” Wesley Semple, Derryduff Farm, Northern Ireland.

On the back of the success of The Calf Conference 2025, please save the date for The Calf Conference 2026 – Wednesday 28th January 2026 – where we will continue the mix of science and practical education to all interested in rearing healthy, happy calves.

For more information contact: Morven Watson 07498 137930 or morven.watson@sccl.com