2016 All Breeds All Britain Calf Show Coloured Breeds Showmanship Judge Announced
15th March 2016
At this year's All Breeds All Britain Calf Show the Coloured Breeds judge is James Strachan. James comes from five generations of dairy farmers, with the original Strachans moving from Lanarkshire to Suffolk with Ayrshire cows in the 1950s in the form of his Grandparents - Robert & Mary Strachan.
James' parents David and Colette soon moved to breeding Friesians and then purebred Holsteins in the 1970s. The family milked up to 600 cows until 2001 when the next chapter in their dairy history unfolded, with the launch of Marybelle Dairy, a processing unit set up to source milk locally, and provide a whole range of fresh dairy goods throughout the East Anglian area.
James worked for three years in Canada as the International Sales and Market Analyst for the Semex Alliance, where he further developed his love for the pedigree dairy cow, and in particular the Canadian type of Jersey.
As the family dairy enterprise was launched, James brought a large batch of Jersey embryos from the world renowned Rapid Bay Jersey Stud in Quebec, Canada. Over the last 15 years the processing business has flourished, and so too has the development of the Jersey herd, winning many national awards and marketing livestock and embryos throughout the UK as well as Europe.
Adding value to the attributes of the dairy cow is a high priority for James, whether it be through breeding exceptional producers, developing the dairy products from them or educating the public about field to folk.
James has had the privilege of judging all of the great dairy breeds in countries across the world including, Jersey Island, Canada, USA, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, Slovakia and New Zealand, and is looking forward to adding the showmanship classes at the ABAB show as a real highlight in his judging career.
