ÎÞÂ붯»­

Momentous double dairy wins make history

Posted Today

ÎÞÂ붯»­ staff and students made history this week, with a momentous double win in the RABDF dairy awards.

The University’s Future Farm dairy team were named winners of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers’ Gold Cup at this year’s Dairy Tech Conference – the same day as final year BSc (Hons) Agriculture student Matthew Butterfield was named RABDF Dairy Student of the Year.

The Gold Cup is given to the dairy farming business judges decide is the best in the UK and is a mark of all-round excellence. It was the first time in history that the team from Harper Adams had put in for the trophy, first awarded in 1920, after being put forwarded by their milk recorder, NMR.

Speaking shortly after receiving the award, Harper Adams Future Farm Ruminant Sector Manager Kate Robinson said: “I am incredibly proud to be able to say the farm team at Harper Adams Future Farm have won the RABDF Gold Cup 2025!

“It did come as a huge shock, as the other farms were also worthy winners.”

Congratulations ?? to our Gold Cup winners ÎÞÂ붯»­! What a phenomenal team doing amazing things!

— National Milk Records (NMR) (@NMRgroup)

The main dairy unit at Harper Adams provides accommodation for 400 cows, which are milked three times a day in a rotary parlour.

The parlour has computerised cow identification, gleaning crucial data about each cow, such as her milk yields. Cows also have CowManager ear tags, which relay real time data to the farm team.

The parlour is also laid out to enable research and teaching – with students at Harper Adams, from undergraduate right through to PhD, learning on the farm every day.

Among those students is Matthew, from Wimborne in Dorset, who is currently working on a final year research project with Professor of Animal Science Liam Sinclair, looking at ways of reducing methane emissions in dairy cattle.

Matthew was one of three Harper Adams students to make the final shortlist – and his win is the tenth time a Harper student has secured the prize in the past 11 years.

His win is even more impressive as he does not come  from an agricultural background – with his first taste of the industry being when a friend’s father invited him to work on the family farm during shearing time. He then worked on farms nearby, gaining his first dairy sector experience at 18, shortly before starting his studies at Harper Adams.

Speaking after winning the award, Matthew said: “I’m absolutely buzzing! It hasn’t fully sunk in yet, but it was a great privilege to receive the award and to fulfil a goal that I had set for myself.

“All I can think now, is onwards and upwards!”