Rivermead Lambda Missy wins supreme title at Dairy Show
Championship results
Nearly 300 cattle entered the competitions on 7 October. The winning cow, Rivermead Lambda Missy VG89, comes from the Davis family’s Westcott Farm near Tiverton. Judges awarded her 191 points out of a possible 200.
Missy was bred at the farm by Farnear Delta-Lambda and is out of Willsboro Milestone Missy EX90. She is in her second lactation and was producing 53kg of milk a day six weeks after calving. Emily Davis said the cow was distinguished by her “frame, power and mammary system”. Will Horsley led her in the ring. Missy had also finished second at the 2025 National Holstein Show at UK Dairy Day.
The Davis family keeps 200 pedigree Jerseys and 25 Holsteins. Its other success at the show came with Rivermead Victory Pixie, a Jersey that won the interbreed heifer championship. Born in March 2024, Pixie is by River Valley Victorious and out of the homebred cow Verdi Pixie. Starlet Has It All Rae, a Holstein heifer owned by Kevin and Sian Rickard of Gwent, placed reserve.
Other dairy breeds
The reserve interbreed championship went to Butterbesley Precision Daffodil, a senior Ayrshire owned by Robert, Henry and Anita Cornish. The homebred cow is in her fifth lactation, was sired by Tristar Precision and is out of Butterbesley Winston Daffodil. After calving in July, she was giving 42kg a day and had reached a peak of 50kg. The result followed her interbreed championship at Honiton Show last year.
Robert Cornish described Daffodil as a herd cow that received no special treatment. Anita Cornish said the judges valued her lactation history, strength and dairy type. The family milks 57 pedigree Ayrshires at Higher Besley Farm in Holcombe Rogus, near the Davis family’s Devon holding. The Cornishes also won the reserve title for an Any Other Dairy Breed calf and the top junior-cow award.
Seminars and farm business
Visitors attended cattle judging, exhibitor meetings and expert discussions. At a Mole Valley Farmers breakfast seminar, speakers said producers were entering a difficult winter with narrow margins, limited forage and uneven silage quality. Chris Bartram, head of nutrition at Mole Feed Solution, said a coordinated approach to forage, feed and minerals could raise returns by as much as 5p per litre of milk. He also presented a moist feed containing TraffordGold, cider yeast and straights as an option for farms with forage shortages, saying it could support dry-matter intake while supplying energy and protein at low carbon intensity.
Bradley Causey, a rural adviser at Old Mill, said higher input costs and the hot, dry summer could put pressure on cash flow during the winter. He advised farmers approaching overdraft limits, using reserves or struggling with loan terms to act early. Another panel examined inheritance-tax changes introduced by Rachel Reeves. Mike Butler, an agricultural partner at PKF Francis Clark, said the government had underestimated their effects and encouraged farm businesses to seek advice on succession and future tax liabilities.
