A future in dairy farming: Meet Lizzie Bradley

Lizzie Bradley, BSc (Hons) Agriculture alumna, has always had a passion for agriculture. From growing up on the family farm in County Durham, Lizzie has taken her love for farming with her throughout her academic career, now looking to specialise more within the dairy sector.

“Agriculture has always been my passion,” she said, “Making the course at Harper well suited.” With the opportunity to explore many areas of the industry from crop production to bioscience, Lizzie was able to learn a diverse set of skills that could help her to access many avenues into an agricultural profession.

While at Harper, Lizzie had many great experiences. She explained: “My placement year was spent with AB Europe, and I really enjoyed going out on the farm with the vet to perform ET and AI with sheep.

“Back on campus, I really enjoyed being part of the netball club as secretary and being involved in the social side of this.”

However, it was clear to Lizzie that dairy was where her future lay. She commented: “I got into showing at a very young age with my local Holstein young breeders club; my continued showing all stemmed from this.

“Showing memories highlights include working at The Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, leading the top price animal (€40,000) in the sale in Germany at the Schau Der Besten show and this year having our first home bred champion calf at our calf show.”

Coupled with her love of showing, Lizzie is also passionate about dairy genetics and nutrition. With ambitions of making this part of her future career, Lizzie seeks to advise farmers and help to make a sustainable and innovative future for the dairy sector.

When asked about the future of the dairy industry, Lizzie commented: “The dairy industry is tough with such fluctuating milk prices. Going forward, I feel farmers have to be more prepared for the lows like we have just had with Coronavirus causing the milk price drop.”

To see how you could take steps to become part of a modern movement in agriculture, understanding the importance of technology and innovation while also learning about the fundamentals of the rural economy, see our agriculture degree options here. For further information, or to talk to course lecturers, join us at our Virtual Open Day, July 22, to see how a degree that matters could be for you.