Britain’s best dairy cow crowned

All hail Snowqueen, the winner of the UK’s ‘make mine Milk’ competition to find Britain’s best dairy cow. She is a Jersey cow from Devon. The competition, launched at the Livestock Event in July 2013, encouraged farmers to nominate their ‘best in herd’ – whether this was for the dairy cow they felt had the best personality, was the best looking, or the one that they were proudest of for whatever reason.

A shortlist of six entrants was uploaded to the make mine Milk’ Facebook page and the 137,000-strong community voted for its favourite. The winner of the hotly-contested title was a stunning cow called Snowqueen. Snowqueen’s owner, farmer Mark Davis, from Tiverton, Devon, says, “She is the most beautiful cow in our herd and has the most affectionate personality. Having already achieved the title of ‘Cow of The Year’ this year she is really making a name for herself. Snowqueen is so friendly and makes you want to get out of bed every day. We are very proud of her.”

In addition to winning the ‘make mine Milk’ title, Davis will also be whisked off for an all expenses paid trip to the races and £150 (€177) spending money for the day.

Sandy Wilkie, Chairman of the Milk Marketing Forum, comments: “Not only do British farmers produce some of the best milk in the world, but they have some of the most outstanding dairy cows among their herds too. Over the years we’ve noticed that a lot of farmers have their favourites, so this was a great opportunity not only for them to tell us why their cow was best, but also to win a great day out. Snowqueen is a beautiful cow and a deserving winner of Britain’s best dairy cow 2013.”

The ‘make mine Milk’ campaign has contributed to improvements in both rational and emotional attitudes towards milk. Figures from research company Kantar show that volume in the UK in the 12 months ending December 2012 was +3.9% higher than in 2009 (the period before the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign started). This followed many decades of decline and is the equivalent of incremental volume of 726 million litres*. The positive trend has continued into 2013.

Annual per capita consumption in GB increased, too, showing an uplift between 2009 and 2012 of + 1.6 litres for every man, woman and child in the country (source: Kantar/Dairy UK, Office for National Statistics.)