Experienced Personal Dairy Consulting

Helping you maximize future income potential!

Services on offer

Breeding

The genetic potential of a dairy cow combined with good management will ensure businesses maximise their profits. One will not work without the other. Investment over the years on UK dairy farms has resulted in some of the best systems and animal welfare in the world. However, if the genetic potential makeup does not suit the system income is being lost. With so many different breeding goals and requirements, selecting the next generation of bloodlines can be daunting.

We offer an independent and impartial breeding advise service tailored to your own requirements. We can offer a complete individual breeding programme for every animal in your herd or a simpler selection of sires to suit your needs. We will conduct an initial consultation with you which will include an inspection of the herd looking at your current management and performance. We will also need to understand your long-term goals.

Using the data on all available sires in the UK and our consultant's own experience and knowledge he will select sires for your breeding programme by analysing bull proofs, milk records, pedigrees, and type classification scores.

Sires will include UK bred genetics as well as a selected selection from overseas. Young unproven sires from consistent families will be considered and genomic results can be factored into the selections where the reliability allows. Our consultant can help you determine where best to include sexed semen and he will also select animals to be bred to a beef sire if required.

As this is a service tailored to your own requirements all results will be based on your business and your own needs.

We offer this service to all dairy breeds including cross breeding herds.

The next generation of successful breeding in your herd depends on your selections today

Diversification

Many Dairy farms would benefit from another source of income due to fluctuating milk prices and high input costs. On most farms a diversification project can be easily established. Our consultant also has substantial farm diversification knowledge and experience with success. In the space of eight years he transformed from a farm tenant, to purchasing part of his tenanted farm and diversifying the business to develop a profitable asset to sell.

We will assess your property and region to look at the best options available to you to diversify and project a capital investment and income stream achievable. This can be as small or as large of a budget available. We can also advise on future diversification planning from experience to capitalise on your farm assets.

Business overseeing and future planning

All too often dairy farmers physically work all hours just to maintain their business, whilst mentally do not have the time or even the enthusiasm to look at the margins and see where extra income can be made and costs can be reduced. In many cases, a change for the future is required but future planning has been neglected. Whether it be a generation succession, retirement planning, expansion, tenancy purchase, reduction, or dispersal sales etc. Hunter Dairy consulting has experience and knowledge to assist you in your future. Future planning is essential to all businesses.

About Hunter Dairy Consulting

Our Consultant

Duncan Hunter is based in Hertfordshire and offers his services to all Dairy farmers throughout the United Kingdom. He has over 30 years of experience of breeding dairy cattle and has extensive knowledge of female and male bloodlines and pedigrees in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Along with his late Father and Grandfather he managed the Haresfoot Herd of Ayrshires and Ashlyns Herd of Holsteins where he was responsible for the breeding of the herd for 28 years before the herd was dispersed in 2011. Haresfoot Ayrshires were in the top 1% in the UK for production for many years and won numerous awards with their high-quality milk and management standards.

Herd health and longevity were crucial to the business and both herds were consistent in breeding great cows for many years breeding strong cow families with success in the showring and herd competitions. Many breeding males and females were sold into herds across the UK and bloodlines have extended globally resulting in a huge influence in dairy herds all over the World.

In recent years, our consultant held the position of Breed manager for the Ayrshire Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland whereas part of his work, he managed the Breed Heritage programme helping to develop many cow families within the breed resulting in many of those families making rapid genetic gain to produce top genetics into the UK and around the world.

Duncan has a great understanding of type and production evaluations and great cows having judged cows of all dairy breeds throughout the UK and overseas in Finland, Sweden, Australia, and South Africa.

Duncan is known throughout the industry and is held in high regard by breeders across the globe.

Our Approach

An initial consultation will take place on your farm to help us to understand which service you require and to inspect what is necessary for our consultant to be able to help you and construct a plan going forward. Following communication can be via phone, email, WhatsApp or when and if necessary another meeting can take place on your farm. Services and assistance can be provided on a regular basis or on a one off project short term basis, whichever is better suited for your needs.

Why Choose Us?

Hunter Dairy Consulting has the hands-on experience having been there and done that! Duncan has worked tirelessly throughout his life to achieve success and results to secure a future for himself and his family. His friendly and approachable manner along with his passion for helping others through his own experience has helped give him the reputation he has today throughout the industry.

Hunter Dairy Consulting offer a bespoke service to you and your business where all information and knowledge of your business will remain strictly confidential. We offer a flexible service throughout the UK to suit customers’ needs from occasional advice to regular assistance.

As with anything in life we have no guarantees, but you can be assured that we will give 100% into helping you develop your business to its full potential.