d. Townlaw Kendall Nosegay VG88.......................... by Alfrag Juror Kendall

Foreword

Embracing opportunities is the theme of our Gold Cup open day. In the seventies Anne and I were given the opportunity by my father Robert to farm at Darnlaw and this encouraged us to establish a new Dairy herd of Holsteins, one of the first in Scotland. We purchased only pure bred cows with deep pedigrees to form the foundation of the Townlaw herd. Groups of heifers were purchased from Bleasby and Greengill, top Holstein herds in the 80’s. A large group of in calf heifers was purchased from Hallbrooke in Lincoln, whose cows would later be sold to Hayleys. To this we added selective purchases at dispersal sales as well as from the Black and White sale at Carlisle. Target Nosegay Ex 96, Fintalex Bellado Ex 93 and Manumore Jannie Ex93 to name but 3. These cows laid the foundations and gave us the opportunity to breed strong families within our herd, which is the backbone of our business. Mixed with the use of high Genomic and top proven AI sires our objective has always been to breed the type of cow which milk producers can relate to. Productive, long living cows with good functional type, high fertility and strong health traits • 34 Ex and 74 VG cows • Herd average of 12300kgs at 4.13% BF and 3.15% Protein. • The Herd has bred 22 100 tonne cows • 2017 the herd was the overall winners on production and Inspection of the

Scottish Herds Competition • 2018 we were awarded Master Breeder Status from Holstein UK • 2019 Darnlaw announced as Gold Cup Winners Our cows played the main role in bringing the Gold Cup to Darnlaw. To mark the occasion we will be holding a small “post box” auction of the very best young cows and heifers on the farm. We hope that what we offer has a little something for everyone, from the pedigree enthusiast to the commercial dairyman. The concept is pretty simple, if something takes your fancy, place your bid in our post box.

Bryce Sloan