Succession planning for the family Dairy farm

Join us for a webinar to find out what to consider when succession planning before retirement or handing over the running of your business to the next generation.

Based at Bridge Farm, Glastonbury, Strategic dairy farmer, David Cotton, will share how he has already started to prepare for retirement to ensure a smooth handover. You will learn more about the business decisions he has considered and the practicalities of planning for the future.

You will also hear insights from David’s daughter Emma, Oliver Hall, Senior Business consultant and Partner from the Andersons Centre, and Iain McVicar, from Albert Goodman Chartered Accountants.   

This webinar will help you understand:

• Succession of the management of the business
• Assessing profit demands of all parties and creating a business plan
• Dealing with debt
• How to handle the farm and farm assets
• Involving your accountant

This webinar will be interactive, so we’d invite you to share your experience and raise questions for discussion throughout the event.

Who should attend this webinar?

Anyone interested in finding out more about succession planning on a family dairy farm.

About Bridge Farm

Bridge Farm is owned and operated by David and Lene Cotton in partnership with David's parents. The herd manager, Steve Crowther has been employed for 9 years and Chris Glass, with the business for 18 years, is a general farm worker shared between the dairy business and a friend's arable business.

The herd is currently made up of 280 pedigree Holstein Fresian, autumn calving cows. Achieving 7932 litres of milk per cow per year with 4.3% fat and 3.47% protein mix, milking twice per day and grazing from April through to October. All replacements are reared at home with an average age at first calving of 25 months.

Our journey has seen an increased focus on fertility since becoming an autumn block calving herd. The neighbouring farm, purchased in 2016, has allowed the opportunity for expansion. The integration of this with Bridge farm bringing both operation together efficiently will be the major area of focus for the next three years. Development of staff and training is a passion for David which he hopes to continue to build on.

About Strategic Dairy Farms

Strategic dairy farms help farmers learn from each other through regular on-farm meetings where we share key performance data and showcase what the best farmers are doing.

They form part of the Optimal Dairy Systems programme which aims to help dairy farmer’s lower costs and increase efficiency by focusing on either a block or all-year-round calving system.

The growing network of strategic dairy farms have calculated key performance indicators (KPIs) for their enterprises which are shared at meetings and published online. These are physical and financial performance measures that are critical to success. Farmers can benchmark their businesses against these KPIs and identify areas for improvement.

Follow the programme and find other local SDFs at www.ahdb.org.uk/farm-excellence