A LEADING dairy farmer will explain how he recruits and develops first class employees at an open day on his farm.

Robert Craig, of Cairnhead Farm, near Carlisle, is a former Dairy Farmer of the Year and Nuffield Scholar, and will host a Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers event on Wednesday, May 10.

Knowledge transfer, training and skill development will be the themes for the day, with other talks from LIC, Nestle and SRUC covering subjects from breeding to antibiotic use and benchmarking to apprenticeships.

Mr Craig says staff training and developing the next generation are essential for dairy industry survival and future success.

He said: "It’s an area I am particularly passionate about, which is why I am going to talk about our scholarship programme which sends an aspiring young manager to a top New Zealand dairy farm for a year.

"The recipient of the first placement benefited greatly from this scheme and is now my farm manager at Cairnhead."

Mr Craig was recently co-opted to the RABDF Council and is thrilled to promote the organisation’s aim of creating a profitable and sustainable future for the sector.

"This day should meet that goal in providing fresh ideas for existing and aspirational producers," he said.

Other speakers will include Nestle’s Mark North, First Milk’s Ian Critchley and Bess Jowsey who is a pasture-to-profit consultant at LIC. There will also be a presentation from SRUC on industry opportunities and the work of its Dairy Research Centre.

Admission is free for RABDF members or £7 in advance, £10 on the day, for non-members to cover costs. To book and see the programme, visit rabdf.co.uk/forthcomingevents/openday or call 02476 639317.