Dairy NewsletterSummer 2015

Raw drinking milk

Last year there were three separate instances of public illness caused by E. coli O157 linked to consumption of raw drinking milk. This was very serious. You are reminded the Red Tractor logo is not permitted to be used on raw drinking milk, even if it is sourced from an assured farm.

The farm assurance scheme includes standards and inspections designed to minimise the contamination of milk, to ensure good health and welfare for the dairy cows and to control environmental pollution. The scheme assumes that the careful attention to hygiene on the farm will be followed by a pasteurisation step in the bottling plant. We believe that the two processes must go hand in hand.

If you are aware of any raw drinking milk products which carry the Red Tractor logo please report them to us at: enquiries@redtractor.org.uk so we can investigate.

Legal changes affecting refrigeration

Are you aware that recent “tightening” of legislation may affect your milk refrigeration system? If you need advice on the implications for your farm then contact a competent refrigeration engineer. More information can be found at: www.gov.uk and search HCFC gases.

The legislation relates to refrigerant gases used in the food industry – namely the types of refrigerant gases used, how they are topped up and by whom. From 1 January 2015:

• Refrigeration equipment containing 3kg or more of HCFC gas e.g. R12, R22 and R502 need to be leakage tested once every 12months by a qualified refrigeration engineer (unless the system is hermetically sealed) • HCFC gases cannot be used to top-up existing equipment (alternative gases must be used) • Records of HCFC gases added and recovered from equipment need to be kept

Health performance data & review

Remember that once a year you need to collate data on mastitis, lameness, mortality and culling. Ensure you record the data as stated, e.g. % not actual number if required. Your vet must carry out a review of your herds health and performance once a year. As part of this, they need to see relevant livestock, review health and performance data, medicine records, medicine purchases etc, before making any observations or recommendations. We updated our templates in October 2014 to cover the requirement for the vet to review and discuss antibiotic usage with you. Download from: www.redtractorassurance.org.uk/templates

Cooling milk to the required temperatures quickly and consistently is critical to milk quality and safety, so some of our standards focus on this area. You need proof that your milk cooling system is maintained by a competent refrigeration engineer. The maintenance could include a routine/ad hoc maintenance or formal service. From 2016 assessors will also need to see that a leakage test has been undertaken where required by legislation.

#DiscoverDairy DairyCo’s consumer campaign to engage and inspire consumers to take an active interest in modern dairy farming.

DairyCo’s online newsletter Moosflash keeps the public abreast of facts and stories. And #DiscoverDairy, promoted through DairyCo’s @thisisdairy Twitter feed, uses film, fun and facts to educate and engage. “We’re now getting a strong following,” says Diane. “The videos on our YouTube Mooviechannel had over 100,000 views in 2014. That equates to over 145,000 minutes of viewing time. And we had 106,500 visits to the website during 2014, up 20% on the previous year.”

‘Catching ‘em young’ is really important so, as part of AHDB, DairyCo supports www.foodafactoflife.org.uk “The levy boards work together in conjunction with the British Nutrition Foundation, providing some great resources to get farming, including milk and dairy production, back on the agenda in classrooms.”

Our ‘Discover Dairy’ campaign has been developed to run parallel with Red Tractor Assurance activity and is underpinned by a call to action to ‘Trust the Tractor’. DairyCo is supporting Red Tractor Week again this September. Diane says that, last year, 227 pieces of media coverage in newspapers, online and on radio and TV were secured. “That’s not all”, she says. “Red Tractor’s attendance at the Big Feastival in 2014 saw 50,000 visitors over three days and over five million mentions of Red Tractor on Facebook and Twitter!”

‘It’s in our hands’ – Showing the public the passion, commitment and high standards that go into every litre of milk produced, gives them great reasons to value our dairy products. Building greater understanding of the responsible farming standards behind the assurance schemes is a core part of the campaign. ‘It’s in our hands’ to help shoppers make more informed purchasing decisions. In return, we seek to encourage the public to demonstrate their support for local dairy farmers by making a promise.

The DiscoverDairy stand experience

There will be a fun element on stand – an interactive game resulting in the improved knowledge of quality assurance schemes.

The ‘ambassadors’ for the dairy industry will be five Red Tractor assured GB farmers and ‘symbolic’ cows which represent the geographic diversity of the region the event is in.

Dairy ambassador Abi Reader, a dairy farmer based in Cardiff says, “I like the idea that we can speak to consumers and potentially influence the way they shop. I‘m very proud to be an ambassador for dairy farming and I have learnt a lot since I have engaged directly with DairyCo over the past two years – I feel empowered as a farmer to speak about my industry and I think it adds another dimension to what DairyCo does. ”

Speaking to an audience or to the media can be daunting and preparation is key to success. Preparing information about dairy farming which is understandable to non-farming people is critical. DairyCo helps by providing access to facts and figures as well as giving an overview on issues and the industry, on a national level.

The best ambassadors for our industry

Our Discover Dairy ambassadors, the farmers lending ‘their hands’ at The Milk Race village and the other events across the country will help showcase the great job dairy farmers do.

Amanda Ball, DairyCo head of marketing and communications, explains – “All events and campaign activity will highlight farmers – dairy ambassadors as we call them – their stories and, of course, prominently featured will be the different breeds of dairy cows. This will all be promoted through regional PR, social media via @thisisdairy Twitter and on the new Facebook page, This Is Dairy Farming. All of this, including our featured farmer’s stories will all be hosted on www.thisisdairyfarming.com (TIDF)

It’sINOURHANDSTweet or post your photos and videos using

#DiscoverDairy

We’d like you to get involved

Farmers are playing a central role in the campaign, helping us to deliver a real, human and inspirational aspect to #DiscoverDairy. Farmers have been getting involved with the ‘It’s in our hands’ campaign by sending images and film clips from farms for use on TIDF social media. There are plenty of other ways to get involved. DairyCo has resources which many farmers are already using and practical support is available to help engage with the public including, flyers to hand out in the local community through to full resource packs when hosting on-farm events. To find out more about our public-facing work, take a look at the ‘Talking to the public’ section of our website or give Di Symes a call – 07966 760123.

Get involved! You can help us too – tell your friends and colleagues to visit www.thisisdairyfarming.com or follow us on Twitter @thisisdairy to find out more.

Reaching the public ‘It’s in our hands’

There are many exciting new ways to tell the public about the great job being done by dairy farmers, says Diane Symes, DairyCo’s consumer marketing manager.

#DiscoverDairy

‘It’s in our hands’

DairyCo uses a number of ways – such as social media – to encourage the public to look at its consumer-facing website, www.thisisdairyfarming.com

Diane says: “We also work with schools under the banner Food -a fact of life and support events and initiatives designed to bring farmers, their products and the public closer together.”

DairyCo’s ongoing public-facing #DiscoverDairy campaign will be engaging directly with the public, at key regional events this summer. The first event is – The Milk Race, Nottingham, in May.

Follow us @ThisIsDairy on Twitter, Like ‘This Is Dairy’ on Facebook, and watch our ‘MoovieChannel’ on YouTube.

Contact For any queries relating to the Red Tractor Dairy Scheme either contact your Certification Body (details listed in the back page of the Standards Manual) or contact Red Tractor Assurance:

Call us 0203 617 3670 Email us dairy@redtractor.org.uk Visit www.redtractorassurance.org.uk

Meet the Red Tractor team

Livestock Event 8-9th July at the NEC Birmingham

Assured livestock and milk transport

The Red Tractor logo is based on whole chain assurance including the transport of both livestock and milk.

As a Red Tractor dairy farm your own livestock transport vehicles must meet the standards and be checked at your assessment. If you use any commercial haulier they must be assured for the livestock being transported or your livestock could lose their assurance status if this isn’t the case. This applies to all journeys between farms, markets, collection centres and abattoirs.

All dairy products carrying the Red Tractor logo will now be made from milk hauled by a Dairy Transport Assurance Scheme (DTAS) certified haulier. DTAS standards cover traceability, food safety and environmental protection from farm to milk processor. This development will give consumers even more reasons to look out for and trust the Red Tractor when buying dairy products. We are looking at the use of the Red Tractor logo on vehicles in order to communicate this great news more widely.

Still time to get involved

This campaign provides a huge opportunity for everyone in the Red Tractor family, including farmers to get involved – it is your assured products we are promoting.

• Spread the word in local communities – tell the postman or village newsagent or the local pub landlord when next in for a pint and a chat. Get children to tell their classmates • Promote our BBQ promotion and the Red Tractor website from facebook or twitter accounts (or get your children / family to do it if you don’t use them – they are a brilliant way to get to consumers and the public). The more people we can get sharing this information with friends the better – let’s try to get it to go viral • Have a Red Tractor BBQ and take some photos. Share them with us via social media #redtractorbbq or email to marketing@redtractor.org.uk • Let us know if you have any other ideas about how the industry can get involved

Increasing public awareness

of the Red Tractor logo

Red Tractor is in the middle of our biggest consumer campaign yet – #redtractorBBQ. We are driving awareness and understanding of our standards by encouraging consumers to look for the Red Tractor logo on-pack. Although BBQ is traditionally associated with meat products we have also found interesting ways to include dairy products in this massive campaign too, particularly in recipe videos cooked by our Ambassador Alex James and on-line competition prizes which have included cheese hampers.

On-pack promotion A massive on-pack promotion across nearly 1,000 product lines and 50m+ packs of fresh meat and poultry within Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and even Sainsburys!! Winning prizes are tickets to an exclusive VIP summer BBQ party, hosted by Alex James at his Cotswolds house, multiple Outback gas BBQs, BBQ cooking utensil sets and chefs aprons.

‘Build a Burger’ app Visitors to the Red Tractor website design their own perfect burger from hundreds of different ingredients, including lots of different types of cheese and mayonnaise sauces. The best burger winner, as judged by Alex James, will win family tickets to The Big Feastival and see their creation made.

49 days of social media (Facebook & Twitter) Daily competitions and prizes covering everything BBQ related. Prizes include food hampers, BBQs and retail vouchers, many of which have been donated by our brand partners.

Recycled Manure Solids (RMS)

Don’t forget that if you use RMS (also known as green bedding) there are some additional legal and assurance requirements that must be followed. See RTA Autumn 2014 newsletter.