New recruits strengthen dairy technical team

We have welcomed three new recruits to our Knowledge Exchange (KE) team.

They each bring a wealth of experience which will enable them to deliver the latest research and provide support to farmers in their region.

Emily Collins (left), Sophie Miller (middle) and Hannah Lilburn (right) have all joined the Dairy KE team.

Emily Collins has been appointed KE manager in the block calving team after spending the previous year gaining an in-depth understanding of AHDB as a livestock graduate. Based in the West Midlands, she hopes to encourage and build relationships with dairy farmers and the wider industry to improve farm performance.

Hannah Lilburn will be utilising experience gained at her family’s pedigree Holstein unit in her new role of KE Manager for all-year-round calving herds, based in Northern England. After university, Hannah worked on dairy farms in the USA and Canada before taking up a position at Premier Nutrition helping farmers improve transition cow performance.

Sophie Miller joined AHDB as a Knowledge Transfer (KT) Manager following completion of a Master’s degree, where she specialised in the role of nutrition on performance in dairy cows. She is looking forward to translating practical outcomes into usable resources for farmers.

Izak Van Heerden, Senior Manager of Dairy KE, said: “These appointments brings the field based team back to full capacity and with the calibre of people we’ve got I’m sure our levy payers will feel AHDB can support their businesses in what will be a challenging time ahead.”