COGENT ANNOUNCES
2014 ‘FUTURES’ WINNERS
Matt House from Somerset has been announced as the overall winner of this year’s Cogent Futures programme, with Tom Jones from Pembrokeshire taking the competition’s runner-up spot
T
he annual ‘Futures’ programme is aimed at providing a comprehensive introduction to genetics and sire analysis for devotees of cattle
breeding. Four short-listed candidates; Tom Riley from Lancashire, Robert McConaghy from County Antrim, Tom Jones from Pembrokeshire and Matt House from Somerset were selected from applications received in January and given the opportunity to experience the role of a sire analyst with Cogent.
As part of the experience, the Futures candidates visited a range of dairy herds throughout the UK and were assessed on their ability to select potential bull mothers and to match these cows to a suitable sire. As their prize, Matt and Tom have been invited to travel to Holland with Owain Harries, Cogent’s Genetics Procurement Manager and 2009 Futures winner, to visit a selection of top herds in the country and to attend the well-known Tulip Holstein Sale in IJsselhallen. Matt will also receive a package of elite quality Holstein embryos for use within his own dairy herd. The standard of this year’s Futures candidates was once again extremely high, explains Owain. “All four participants showed great depth of knowledge, with their passion for pedigree cattle breeding and their excellent understanding of the dairy industry obvious from the outset. However, Matt and Tom proved themselves by exhibiting a real understanding of genetics.” This year’s winner, Matt House from Fowlers Plot Farm in Somerset, milks 190 cows plus 150 followers on 450 acres of rented land. With his father, John focusing on the farm’s arable crops, Matt has a free rein to focus on the dairy herd’s breeding strategy, using genomic sires and sexed semen on the herd’s 80 best cows and an Aberdeen-Angus stock bull on heifers. In recent years he has concentrated on cow nutrition to improve the herd’s health status and in doing so has reduced vet bills by more than £500 a month. His ongoing focus is to produce a uniform herd with cows that are long-lasting and with enough dairy elegance to deliver high milk yields.
Commenting on his win, Matt said: “I have gained a huge amount of knowledge during my time as a Futures finalist and am absolutely thrilled
28 THE JOURNAL DECEMBER 2014
TOP Cogent’s Owain Harries congratulates Futures Award winner Matt House.
ABOVE 2014 ‘Futures’ winners.
and very surprised to have been chosen as the winner.
“It was a privilege to go to some of the UK’s top herds and look at great bull mothers and working with Cogent sire analysts has taught me so much. I used to just look at a my service sires’ pedigrees for overall type, mammary traits and to make sure the mating would not be inbred, but now I look for so much more,” he says.
Runner-up, Tom Jones returned to his family’s Pembrokeshire farm following his degree and has since worked hard to ensure every cow within the herd has full pedigree status. Over the next five years he plans to expand the dairy herd, which consists of Holstein and British Friesian animals, from 160 to 300 cows. Other young cattle breeding enthusiasts wishing to follow in the footsteps of Matt, Tom and Owain Harries should look out for the start of the 2015 Cogent ‘Futures’ cycle which will be inviting applicants this autumn.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140