Holstein UK Honour Lifetime of Achievement with Prestigious Award

The Holstein UK Lifetime Achievement Award is the ultimate accolade celebrating an individual who has unassumingly provided outstanding service to the Holstein breed and through doing so has made a remarkable contribution to the Society.

The individual who has won the 2019 award, presented at this year’s UK Dairy Day, has been the backbone of the Western Holstein Club for many years and is very familiar on the nationwide show circuit.

David Hastings grew up on his father’s smallholding in Ayrshire, Scotland where they milked a pedigree herd of Ayrshire cows under the North Boig prefix. A notable achievement from David’s early years is spending four days travelling to the London Dairy Show with ‘North Boig Bonnie Betty’. Thankfully it was a worthwhile journey as Bonnie Betty won the ‘Rowallan Challenge Cup’ for the best Ayrshire Cow. This was just the start of David’s success on the show circuit and he went on to show many fantastic animals over the years, placing highly across the UK.

Unfortunately, the time came when the smallholding could no longer provide enough employment for David and so he moved on to the position of Herd Manager for Wheatrig Ayrshires near Kilmarnock, Scotland. David spent over ten years with the award-winning herd before moving to Dorset with his wife Christina and three young children. It was after moving to the Crichel Herd in Dorset when David’s interest in the Holstein breed really started to take a hold. He would make regular trips to the USA and Canada with Tim Harding and Geoff Gould to source cows and calves for their herds. Portlea Ned Pamela was just one of the animals they brought back and she went on to win the Royal Show and the National Holstein Show.

It was in 1990 when David made the decision to move to Church Minshull in Cheshire to work with the Painley Herd. He made a huge impression with his work ethic and knowledge of the breed – not to mention his presence in the show ring. David worked there until the late 1990’s when he retired.

Cameron Baty from the Tyne Valley herd, who nominated David for the award, said “The word retirement doesn’t really apply to David as he continues to take a very active part in all things cow-related, including regularly helping his son, David Hastings Jnr, who works at Bullsgreen Farm Barbridge, with any manner of jobs from  TB testing to working on the robots. As the current President of the Western Holstein Club, David has been an integral part of the Spring Show for many years and is often found dealing with anything from plumbing issues to giving advice to the younger members. David still has a regular presence at the shows and very much keeps abreast of news and is always happy to give guidance and share his many experiences.”

Michael Smale, Chairman of Holstein UK concludes “Holstein UK are thrilled to present David with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to the breed and the Western Club. David has been instrumental in strengthening the genetics of the herds he has worked with and has always strived for the best. He is hugely knowledgeable and his dedication to pass on his experience to future generations should be commended. I cannot think of a more worthy winner for this award and I am delighted that we can celebrate a lifelong passion to dairy farming with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award.”

To receive this award, the nominee must have at least 20 years’ service to the breed and will have been nominated by a member of Holstein UK and then been approved by a panel of judges consisting of the Holstein UK Board of Trustees.