January! You're just recovering from the Christmas and New Year celebrations and
thinking that there is still a long way to spring when you suddenly spot the British
Cattle Conference programme lying on the kitchen table! Yes, it’s the perfect
antidote to the midwinter blues! Once again the British Cattle Breeders Club Committee
has managed to secure an exceptional set of world class speakers to deliver Conference
papers to challenge us all.
The theme for the British Cattle Conference 2010 is "A Sustainable Breeding
Future."
Agriculture, and particularly livestock breeding, is at a crossroads and a farming
revolution is at hand. Recent announcements from Government show that the stance
taken by successive administrations, allowing others to feed us rather than feeding
ourselves, is changing at last. Is it possible that the perceived assumption that
British farmers are merely custodians of the countryside and that we are rich
enough to buy in open markets is now being sidelined?
The British Cattle Conference 2010 will focus on this brave new world. A world
where we now have many more "breeding tools" at our disposal, particularly
the increasing use of genomics, but also a greater awareness of what our customer
demands, what the world expects of us in environmental terms and how we can sustain
and grow our businesses profitability. Is the priority to keep food cheap or to
lower its carbon footprint and lower the cost of diet related health care? Are
consumers our modern gods or is it time to wake up to the fact that we cannot
sustain the ever increasing choice that we see on supermarket shelves? With the
phenomenal growth in the world population, how can we efficiently produce protein,
through milk and meat, without a damaging impact on our environment and, in particular,
our already vastly depleted water resources?
These are tough questions which demand careful consideration and full debate.
Come and join us at the superb facilities offered at the Telford Golf and Spa
Hotel in Shropshire for this vibrant, informative and challenging Conference.
We are proud of the history and traditions of the Club and feel that the role
we play is of great importance to the well-being of the cattle breeding industry
at large.
Also look out for:
• A free ‘workshop’ on the Monday afternoon on R&D
• ‘Welcome’ reception and superb speaker on Monday evening to
set the scene
• A joint Beef/Dairy session at the end of the first full day
• An inaugural Inter-Collegiate Poster Competition
• A British Cattle Photo Competition
• Post-Club Dinner Question Time
Don't wait, BOOK NOW! Come and join us at the Telford Golf and Spa Hotel from
25 to 27 January 2010 where we will look forward to welcoming you. The Conference
programme and Booking forms can be accessed at
www.cattlebreeders.org.uk
[03/12/2009]