The ChewintheCud Podcast was originally the idea of, and hosted by, Andrew Jones and his friend Neil Greggor, however fast forward a few years and it is now hosted by Andrew along with his friend, and our very own Technical Exchange Manager, Sarah Bolt.
So tune in to stay on top of current affairs and new techniques!
Stride 2026: The Cost of Doing Nothing!
Most farmers know lameness is a problem. Far fewer know what it’s actually costing them, and the 2026 Stride survey suggests that gap is exactly what’s holding the industry back.
This conversation was recorded back in December 2025 and sat on for the best part of a year, with Andrew and Sarah Bolt asked to hold it until the findings could be formally released. The wait was worth it: a GB-wide study of five thousand dairy herds found a quarter tested positive for bovine TB at least once during 2023, including a fifth of herds that were officially TB-free at the time and trading with no restrictions in place.
Andrew fed England’s new fifty-five-page bovine TB strategy into AI and got nine bullet points back — with no way of knowing whether any of them were actually right. So he called Sarah Tomlinson, Lead Veterinary Science Expert at AHDB and the TB Advisory Service (TBAS), instead.
Calf nutrition has come a long way since we last covered this topic — and in this episode, we catch up with two of Trouw Nutrition’s own experts to find out just how far. Georgina Thomas, Young Animal Feed Technical Sales Manager, and Dr Juliette Wilms, a ruminant researcher who did her PhD on fat inclusion in calf milk replacer, join us to talk through the shift from growth-focused feeding to what they call resilience-focused nutrition. We get into why eight litres a day is now considered moderate rather than generous, what a calf would actually drink if left on its dam, and why feeding more only works if you’re feeding the right thing.
Published abattoir research found over 40% of cull cows had toxic levels of copper in their livers. Pull back to elevated concentrations and Annie Williams, independent mineral nutrition consultant at Mineral Advice Ltd, suggests more than half of UK dairy cows may be above the threshold — potentially suppressing performance in ways that are almost impossible to distinguish from deficiency. In this conversation, we examine why copper excess is a far more widespread problem than most farmers and advisers currently recognise, and what can realistically be done about it.
The transition period is the twenty-one days either side of calving. Get it right and the rest of the lactation follows. Get it wrong and you could spend the next ten months firefighting. To kick off Year Five, we’re joined by Vicky Ham, Ruminant Technical Services Manager, Europe for Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition, to talk about DCAB — what it actually is, why it still strikes fear into people who should know better, and why the research keeps pointing in the same direction. The work goes back to Dr Elliot Block in the mid-1980s and is reinforced by meta-analyses from J.E.P. Santos: cows fed a negative DCAB diet calve with better calcium status, suffer fewer transition diseases, and eat more dry matter post-calving. The evidence is there. The question is why more people aren’t using it.
Herbal leys can feel like a contradiction: you pay for a carefully chosen seed mix and then it refuses to look the same from month to month. That’s exactly why we wanted a proper, practical conversation about multi-species swards, not the brochure version. Recorded live with a panel of specialists, we dig into what actually happens in the field and how to manage herbal leys for UK dairy systems when the weather turns extreme and the rotation plan stops behaving.
If your robot relies on cake to keep cows moving, ask yourself a blunt question: what happens the day the pellet system breaks? That single point of failure is one of the reasons we wanted this conversation, because Kelli Hutchings and Matt Strickland have gone the other way and proven a “cake-free robot” approach can work on a commercial dairy.
AI is creeping into dairy whether we call it that or not, and most of the noise you hear is either hype or horror stories. So, we brought the conversation into the room with our first live event at the UK Agri-Tech Centre and asked a more useful question: what can artificial intelligence and machine learning genuinely do for a working dairy farm today, and where do the risks begin?
Sunburn feels like an inconvenience until you connect it to the cancer statistics. Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, and Susanna Daniels, CEO of Melanoma Focus, joins us to explain why a “just a mole” mindset is risky, and why early action can be life-saving. We talk plainly about what melanoma is, how UV damage builds up over time, and why noticing a new or changing mole, or something that simply looks odd is the moment to contact your GP.
Silage isn’t just a crop, it’s a high value asset, and the clamp you store it in can quietly decide how much of it you actually get to feed. We sit down with Jeremy Perkins from SiloStop Agri to talk through what good silage pit design looks like in 2026, from the first site visit to the details that protect forage quality for months. If you’re expanding, switching systems, or simply running out of space, this conversation helps you think clearly about layout, access for modern machinery, and how to future proof capacity without creating an unmanageable feed face.
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Clover Can Cut Nitrogen Use, Without Cutting Yield
Clover can feel like a gamble until you understand what it’s really doing in the sward and how small management choices decide the outcome. We’re joined by John Spence, Forage Crops Product Manager at Limagrain, to get clear on the practical differences between red clover and white clover, and how to choose the right option for grazing, silage, or a dual-purpose ley on UK dairy farms.
Numbers make people uncomfortable for a reason: they tell the truth. We’re joined by the EDF UK team to unpack European Dairy Farmers and the EDF Congress heading to Chester on 23 to 25 June, including what it is, who it’s for, and why cost of production benchmarking can turn a good idea into a confident decision.
What if your muck heap could hold onto its nitrogen, keep its carbon, and feed soil life the moment it hits the ground? We sit down with Andrew Sincock of Agriton to demystify Bokashi—an anaerobic, lactic-led fermentation of farmyard manure that turns a “waste problem” into a high-value fertiliser strategy. No turning windrows. No mystical inputs. Just weekly microbes on deep bedding, a sensible handle on carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, and a sheet to finish the job.
Forget the headline battles over “cow versus climate.” We dig into how livestock, managed within a circular bioeconomy, can actually reduce risk, recover nutrients, and improve the food we eat. With Professor Michael Lee of Harper Adams University, we connect the dots between soil carbon, methane chemistry, and what ends up on your plate, showing why measuring only gross emissions per kilogram misses the true picture of sustainable dairy and beef.
What if the biggest gains in calf health happen after the first feed? We explore the overlooked power of transition milk — the nutrient- and antibody-rich milkings from days two to four — and how feeding it for 10 days can tilt the odds toward healthier, faster-growing calves. With veterinary surgeon Dr Ryan Davies, we follow a spring block-calving herd in West Wales from a farmer’s observation to a structured study, complete with daily passive immunity testing and twice-daily Brix checks on pooled, pasteurised fresh cow milk.
We unpack why a shift from spring to autumn block calving can fit dry summers, wet winters, and evolving milk contracts. The conversation follows the practical steps: planning lanes and gates, sizing paddocks, sticking to entry covers around 2,800–3,000 and residuals at 1,500–1,600, and letting the grazeway gate cue movement every eight hours. The cows’ driver isn’t sweets in the stall; it’s fresh pasture on the other side of the robot. Average visits hover around two per day, robots stay free for heifers and fresh cows, and the yard stops feeling like a twice-daily stampede.
We unpack a practical onboarding blueprint you can copy tomorrow—10 a.m. start, warm welcome, terms and conditions on the table, health and safety brief, PPE issued, WhatsApp groups explained, and a mentor assigned. Becky introduces the accountability ladder to shift behaviour from blame and excuses to ownership and solutions, and explains why leaders must provide time, tools, skills, and knowledge before they demand results. We dig into vision, mission, and values, turning them from corporate wallpaper into simple, lived behaviours around animal handling, safety, and respect.
What really makes a cow go lame, and why did it take so long to change our minds? We sit down with Professor Jon Huxley—raised on a Welsh dairy, now leading Massey University’s vet school in New Zealand—for a candid tour through research that reshaped mastitis control, lameness prevention, and fresh cow care.
Planning grazing by guesswork is costly; planning it with field‑level satellite insight is a game‑changer. We sit down with Chris Knight of Agribot to unpack how AI, radar, and atmosphere forecasting can measure pasture growth, cut labour, and help UK dairy farms make better, faster decisions.
A farm doesn’t pause for grief, and that’s exactly why a clear succession plan matters. We sit down with Old Mill partners Willem Puddy and Philip Kirkpatrick to unpack the human, legal, and financial knots around passing on a family farm – without tearing the business or the family apart. From the first awkward conversation to the final signatures, we walk through what actually works on real farms.
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Reading Cows: Signals That Boost Welfare And Yield
Ever wish you could read a shed like a story? We walk through CowSignals® with vet consultant Owen Atkinson and coach-trainer Jo Speed, showing how behaviour becomes your best advisory tool. From the CowSignals® Diamond (feed, water, light, air, rest, and space) to the way cows actually see the world, we translate subtle cues into practical changes that raise performance and lower stress.
A down cow should never mean panic. We sit down with Dorset tenant farmer James Yeatman and Synergy Farm Health’s research lead, vet Rachel Hayton, to unpack a farmer-built “cow ambulance” that turns a stressful emergency into a calm, repeatable procedure. Born from love for cows and sharpened by hard lessons—and yes, a tough Panorama broadcast—this system pairs a purpose-built, rounded-edge, rubber-lined bucket with a simple reel and straps, then anchors it all with a nine-step training method any well-briefed team can follow.
A hard truth: UK farming employs a tiny slice of the workforce yet carries a heavy share of workplace deaths. We don’t say that to point fingers—we say it to spark action. This conversation gets practical about first aid on farms: what the law expects, what good looks like for a working farm, and how to build skills that actually stick when seconds matter.
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The GB Calf Strategy: Past Progress, Future Vision
Discover how the GB Calf Strategy is transforming British farming by creating purposeful connections between dairy and beef sectors. Join AHDB experts Sarah Tomlinson, Laura Awdry, and Harriet Bunning as they reveal the remarkable progress already made and outline an ambitious five-year vision built on three foundational pillars: Right Calf, Right Start, and Right Route.
What if your cows could tell you exactly what they need to thrive? That’s the ground breaking promise of epigenetics, where the frontier of dairy science meets practical farm management.
What happens to your dairy heifers between weaning and calving? This question reveals a critical blind spot on many UK dairy farms. While we meticulously monitor pre-weaning calves and track age at first calving, those crucial months in between often become a forgotten period where potential growth, health, and future productivity can be compromised.
This was recorded in August 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
Amino acids may be the most underrated nutritional tool for transforming heifer development and health on your dairy farm. In this eye-opening episode, Ken March takes us through his remarkable journey from East London to becoming a dairy nutrition specialist in West Wales, where his thirst for knowledge led him to the cutting edge of amino acid nutrition.
This was recorded in August 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
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The Transition Period: Setting Cows Up for Success
Whether you’re struggling with milk fever, ketosis, or simply want to optimize your transition program, this episode offers both technical depth and practical wisdom. Donald’s parting advice? “Don’t go looking for savings in your dry cow diet. It’s the one place you should spend the money.”
This was recorded in June 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
What does the UK’s third-highest PLI Holstein herd discover when they test every calf born on their farm? Stuart and Helen Rogers of Longmoor Farm reveal how genomic testing transformed not just their breeding decisions, but their entire approach to dairy farming.
This was recorded in June 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
This time Simon Reeves, Managing Director, Pangea Insurance joins the team.
Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with their respective businesses.
Like usual we start with Simon’s background to get to where he is today as Managing Director of his own insurance brokering business.
Then we move on to discuss today’s topic of how’s your insurance cover?
Simon discuss how insurance companies like to win, and the advantages of having a broker on your side.
Often he finds that many people, when he first meets them, are considerably underinsured. Do you realise the risk this exposes you to?
We discuss the advantages of having a good house keeping policy to keep track of all your equipment, what happens when things go wrong and a few stories along the way.
This was recorded in July 2024, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
This time Conner Smith, Product Lead for Diagnostic & Ruminant Specialist, Bimeda and Rachel Hayton, Vet & Research Lead, Synergy Farm Health join the team.
Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with their respective businesses.
Then we move on to today’s topic of Calf Immune Status, and more specifically the development of the ImmunIGY Bovine IgG Test.
We discuss how the idea of the test came about, how the product was developed from the original concept, with some dead ends along the way, to being the product it is today, available for all to use.
We don’t just discuss the ImmunIGY product though, we discuss the implications of the results and what this can mean for you on farm.
This was recorded in September 2024, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
This time Robert Morrison, Head of Farms, UK Agri-Tech Centre and Mike Jones, Dairy Technical Manager, UK Agri-Tech Centre join the team.
Like usual we start with both their backgrounds, to get them to where they are today with UK Agri-Tech Centre.
It’s been a year since we visited the South West Dairy Development Centre (SWDDC) with Mike, and so we have a little catch up with how the herd is now doing, but it’s also been a year since UK Agri-Tech Centre was formed when three agri-tech centres merged to form one single entity.
A lot has happened in that time with the SWDDC continuing to help develop new technology for the UK dairy industry. It has also received many overseas visitors at its facilities, with its opportunities for innovation having become the envy of the world, with countries looking to duplicate its model, to be able to do the same in their own countries.
This was recorded in April 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording.
This time Eric Dorr, Founder, Silage Consulting International joins the team.
Like usual we start with Eric’s background, having been in the industry and worked for several companies that are household names within the industry, including Lallemand Animal Nutrition & Chr. Hansen Animal Health. Eric was also the original importer of Silostop into North America before founding his own business Silage Consulting International in 2023.
Then we move on to today’s subject of Optimising Silage Production.
We discuss the problems, and therefore solutions, for good silage production worldwide, and talk about the basics of getting it right!
Should you use an additive, what about using an oxygen barrier sheet? It doesn’t seem to matter where you are in the world the problems seem to be just the same!
This time Sarah Tomlinson, Technical Director, TB Advisory Service (TBAS), joins the team for an episode of the podcast.
Like usual we start with Sarah’s background, graduating as a farm vet to where she is today with TBAS.
Then we discuss the history of TB, and how you used to be rewarded for the voluntarily testing your herd!
We discuss the different skin tests, and why we use the one we do here in the UK, before moving on to discuss the Gamma Test and what this brings for TB detection.
Throughout the podcast we try and dispel some of the rumours and myths about TB while offering some sound practical advise.
This time the team are joined by Kathryn Rowland, Senior Farm Services Manager, Kingshay Farming & Conservation Ltd.
Like usual we start with Kathryn’s background, from a dairy farm in West Dorset, to where she is today with Kingshay before we move on to today’s topic of the Antimicrobial Focus Report.
We take a look at different aspects and discuss the trends of the report, and look at how while the use of antimicrobials on farm is down, the overall health of the herds in the report has not suffered as a consequence.
The team discuss the different education options available to students, from Level 1 all the way to Level 6, depending on previous experience & qualifications, how teaching has changed in the last thirty years, to the support students can get when at the college.
Kingshay’s own Sarah Bolt joins in discussions surrounding the challenges we face today as an industry for recruiting, and then retaining staff, and sometimes how the most basic things can make a difference. Along the way we discuss little ideas and tips that can help you become an employer of choice.
Discussions include the UK Hoof Health Registry and the benefits of people sharing their data with the AHDB to improve genetic gain with regards to feet & mobility; The Healthy Feet Programme, and what this actually means for people of farm, what’s involved and the benefits it can bring; Feet & mobility in general, the benefits regularly mobility scoring brings, should people feed biotin, and for how long, and how often should they be trimming?
Ever wondered what happened to your silage sample once it reached the lab?
Andrew Jones & Sarah Bolt, are joined by Richard Tunnicliffe, Analytical Services Manager and Isabelle England, Technical Account Manager both from Trouw Nutrition.
In this episode, Andrew is excited to welcome Sarah Bolt from Kingshay to the ChewintheCud Podcast team!
After guest co-hosting, Sarah is now officially part of the team!
Kingshay’s Sarah Bolt was asked to join Andrew Jones & Neil Greggor on the ChewintheCud podcast.
Sarah spoke about carbon sequestration and shared with us how it’s not just about the trees, but how it is impacted by your soil type, and how you treat that soil that can impact its ability to absorb carbon. She discusses how a scale has been developed to compare the ability of different soils to hold carbon against one another.
Sarah also shared her own journey into the industry, from a entirely non rural background, but already knowing at the age of four that she wanted to be involved in the dairy industry, before then completing her education and joining the commercial side of the farming industry to where she is now at Kingshay.
We also briefly discussed Sarah’s involvement in Women in Dairying, being one of its original four founding members.
