British Cattle Breeders Conference, 2010

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! The perfect antidote to the midwinter blues! Once again the 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". Let me explain our plans!

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 on 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. The British Cattle Breeders Club takes its responsibilities seriously.

Come and join us at the superb facilities offered at the Telford Golf and Spa Hotel 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. I am deeply honoured and delighted to have been asked to Chair this prestigious Club and so let me tell you a little of what's new and what's in the programme for the Conference.

Look out for:
* A free Workshop Monday afternoon
* Reception with a superb speaker on Monday evening to set the scene
* Joint Beef/Dairy session at the end of the first full day
* A slightly earlier start and finish on the last day
* An inaugural Inter-Collegiate Poster Competition
* A British Cattle Photo Competition
* Post-Club Dinner Question Time.

The Committee has been outstanding in its dedication, original and creative thinking and support and I am extremely grateful to each member. We are a happy crew and I know that we will continue this good work with my "Right-Hand Man" Lucy Andrews next year. But, of course, none of this would be possible without the enormous influence of our Secretary, Lesley Lewin. Thank you Lesley, the British Cattle Breeders Club has gone from strength to strength in your capable hands and I look forward to watching the growth of prestige in the livestock world continue in the future.

Click here to view the presentations from the conference