ChewintheCud Podcast

A year on from one of ChewintheCud's most talked-about episodes, Ian Garner, Head of R&D at Antler Bio, returns to take epigenetics from theory into practice on real dairy farms.
This time the conversation turns to application. John Walsh, Director at Friars Moor Livestock Health and a dairy farmer running 250 cows through four robots, joins to share how his practice used the ADOPT grant to fund EpiHerd testing across three of its own vets' farms. He walks through what the process actually involves on farm, from blood sampling to waiting on results, and how the trial came about in the first place.
Ian explains how Antler Bio's database has grown since last year, now spanning farms across the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and Canada, and how that extra scale is sharpening the picture on signatures like vitamin D. Sarah and Andrew press both guests on cost, return on investment, and how quickly farmers can expect results back once samples are taken.
For John's own herd, an early look at the results already has inflammation, immunity and protein metabolism high on the list to act on, with a full results meeting still to come. It is a candid look at what it actually takes to bring epigenetics onto a working dairy farm, warts and all.
This episode was recorded in August 2026, and all information was correct at the time of recording. Please note this transcript was generated using AI transcription software. Despite best efforts to ensure accuracy, there may be some errors in the final piece.
Has your herd's genetics ever felt like it was underperforming its potential?
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For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast, or on Facebook and LinkedIn as ChewintheCud Ltd . You can also email us at podcast@chewinthecud.com.

Most farmers know lameness is a problem. Far fewer know what it's actually costing them, and the 2026 Stride survey suggests that gap is exactly what's holding the industry back.
Andrew and Sarah are joined by Matt Dobbs, Vet & CEO of HerdVision, and Ian Lindsay, Business Development Director at LKL Services Ltd, to unpack the results of the newly released Stride survey on UK dairy mobility. With 173 producers responding on behalf of around 55,000 cows, the data lays out where the industry stands: the average cost of a case of lameness is around £330, yet nearly one in five farmers surveyed believed it was costing them under £100. Matt explains why lameness is a hidden cost in a way mastitis rarely is, and what that means for how seriously it gets taken on farm.
Time comes out as the single biggest barrier stopping farms acting, but it's far from the only one. Ian draws a memorable comparison between a modern high-yielding Holstein and a Formula One car: however good the team around her, none of it matters if the tyres, in this case the feet, aren't right. Training, investment, and a lack of clear on-farm responsibility for mobility all feature heavily too, and Matt makes the case for farms appointing someone with the same ownership over mobility that a herd might give a dedicated youngstock manager.
Stride is taking these findings on the road this autumn, with confirmed roadshow events in Somerset on Wednesday 14th October and Staffordshire on Wednesday 28th October, both run in association with the National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers (NACFT - nacft.co.uk). Search www.stridemobility.co.uk for full details.
This episode was recorded in July 2026, and all information was correct at the time of recording. Please note this transcript was generated using AI transcription software. Despite best efforts to ensure accuracy, there may be some errors in the final piece.
What's the one thing standing between your farm and a proper mobility action plan? Let us know, and if you enjoyed this episode, please share it, subscribe, and leave us a review.
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For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast, or on Facebook and LinkedIn as ChewintheCud Ltd . You can also email us at podcast@chewinthecud.com.

Andrew fed England's new fifty-five-page bovine TB strategy into AI and got nine bullet points back — with no way of knowing whether any of them were actually right. So he called Sarah Tomlinson, Lead Veterinary Science Expert at AHDB and the TB Advisory Service (TBAS), instead.
Sarah Tomlinson chaired one of the working groups behind the strategy, published in June 2026 with input from over a hundred farmers, vets and scientists — a marked shift from the government-led vision behind the original twenty-five-year eradication strategy in 2013/14. The headline that's grabbed attention is cattle vaccination by 2030, but Sarah Tomlinson was clear it's a smaller part of the strategy than the coverage suggests: field trials are largely complete, and the delay comes down to paperwork, trade rules and getting the DIVA test validated for distinguishing vaccinated from infected animals. Badger culling is ending in favour of vaccination, building on pilots like the one in East Sussex, delivered by local farmers and vets.
The change most likely to affect farmers directly is around ancillary testing. Under current rules, a positive animal must be culled within ten working days, triggering movement restrictions and sixty-day testing — which is exactly why farmers haven't wanted more sensitive tests run on their own herds. The strategy proposes letting officially TB-free farmers use these tests without triggering any of that, mirroring how the industry already manages Johne's disease. Herd risk scores will also be shared directly with farmers for the first time, and a new industry-government delivery board will decide priorities and timelines.
Sarah Tomlinson named local ownership as the real theme running through the strategy — government can't deliver this alone, and farmers and vets are already good at managing infectious disease without being told how. She also shared a message from a farmer she'd supported through TBAS that made the human cost of TB breakdowns impossible to ignore alongside the policy detail. The strategy also references Enferplex, the bulk milk test at the centre of a major new GB-wide study — hear the full findings in this week's other episode, Revolutionising TB Testing: Is Bulk Milk the Key?
Additional Help and Resources
For more information on Bovine TB, please see the below links to associated websites:
•      TBAS: https://www.tbas.org.uk/
•      TB Hub: https://tbhub.co.uk/
•      TB Free England: https://www.tbfreeengland.co.uk/
•      ibTB: https://www.ibtb.co.uk/
•      Defra TB website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb
•      Animal & Plant Health Agency, Recent TB Instruction Updates: http://apha.defra.gov.uk/vet-gateway/TB/index.htm
•      Official Veterinarian (OV) Conference: https://officialvet.com
Help & Support
If you, or any of the farm team, are concerned about how dealing with bTB is impacting your mental health, help is available via several organisations including R.A.B.I, Yellow Wellies, FCN and YANA. You are not alone. For help, support, additional information or for someone to just have a chat with please visit the links below:
•      Online mental wellbeing service – RABI: www.rabi.org.uk/how-we-help/mental-wellbeing
•      www.farmwell.org.uk
•      Mind Your Head – YellowWellies.org: www.yellowwellies.org/mind-your-head
•      YANA: You Are Not Alone – Rural Mental Health Support: www.yanahelp.org
•      www.fcn.org.uk
•      www.thefarminglifecentre.org.uk
This episode was recorded in July 2026, and all information was correct at the time of recording. Please note this transcript was generated using AI transcription software. Despite best efforts to ensure accuracy, there may be some errors in the final piece.
Have you had a chance to read the strategy refresh yet, or are you waiting to hear what it means in practice first?
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it, subscribe, and leave us a review.
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For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast, or on Facebook and LinkedIn as ChewintheCud Ltd . You can also email us at podcast@chewinthecud.com.

This conversation was recorded back in December 2025 and sat on for the best part of a year, with Andrew and Sarah Bolt asked to hold it until the findings could be formally released. The wait was worth it: a GB-wide study of five thousand dairy herds found a quarter tested positive for bovine TB at least once during 2023, including a fifth of herds that were officially TB-free at the time and trading with no restrictions in place.
The findings come from Rachel Hayton, Research Lead at Synergy Farm Health in the South West of England, recorded alongside Sarah Tomlinson, Lead Veterinary Science Expert at AHDB and the TB Advisory Service (TBAS). Rachel's team used the Enferplex test, a serological blood and milk test made by Enfer Group, applied for the first time at bulk milk level across whole herds, testing around five thousand herds across England, Wales and Scotland three times through 2023, in partnership with Sure Farm Ltd, National Milk Records (NMR), the UK Agri-Tech Centre and SRUC, with funding from Innovate UK.
The detail that stood out to Rachel was the overlap: 20% of herds with no restriction history in 2023, believing themselves clear, tested Enferplex positive. Sarah Tomlinson said this confirms what vets have long suspected: that officially TB-free status after two clear skin tests doesn't mean infection-free, and that this is exactly how the disease moves into new herds through trade. Both guests want to see infected animals managed out on a realistic timescale rather than removed immediately, mirroring how Johne's disease is already handled.
Since this conversation was recorded, England's bovine TB strategy refresh has been published, setting out exactly this shift. Hear what it actually changes in this week's other episode, TB Strategy Refresh: What Really Changes for You?
Additional Help and Resources
For more information on Bovine TB, please see the below links to associated websites:
•      TBAS: https://www.tbas.org.uk/
•      TB Hub: https://tbhub.co.uk/
•      TB Free England: https://www.tbfreeengland.co.uk/
•      ibTB: https://www.ibtb.co.uk/
•      Defra TB website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb
•      Animal & Plant Health Agency, Recent TB Instruction Updates: http://apha.defra.gov.uk/vet-gateway/TB/index.htm
•      Official Veterinarian (OV) Conference: https://officialvet.com
Help & Support
If you, or any of the farm team, are concerned about how dealing with bTB is impacting your mental health, help is available via several organisations including R.A.B.I, Yellow Wellies, FCN and YANA. You are not alone. For help, support, additional information or for someone to just have a chat with please visit the links below:
•      Online mental wellbeing service – RABI: www.rabi.org.uk/how-we-help/mental-wellbeing
•      www.farmwell.org.uk
•      Mind Your Head – YellowWellies.org: www.yellowwellies.org/mind-your-head
•      YANA: You Are Not Alone – Rural Mental Health Support: www.yanahelp.org
•      www.fcn.org.uk
•      www.thefarminglifecentre.org.uk
This episode was recorded in December 2025, and all information was correct at the time of recording. Please note this transcript was generated using AI transcription software. Despite best efforts to ensure accuracy, there may be some errors in the final piece.
If a bulk milk test could tell you your herd's TB status without the stress of a skin test, would you want to know?
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it, subscribe, and leave us a review.
Send us Fan Mail
For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast, or on Facebook and LinkedIn as ChewintheCud Ltd . You can also email us at podcast@chewinthecud.com.

Calf nutrition has come a long way since we last covered this topic — and in this episode, we catch up with two of Trouw Nutrition's own experts to find out just how far. Georgina Thomas, Young Animal Feed Technical Sales Manager, and Dr Juliette Wilms, a ruminant researcher who did her PhD on fat inclusion in calf milk replacer, join us to talk through the shift from growth-focused feeding to what they call resilience-focused nutrition. We get into why eight litres a day is now considered moderate rather than generous, what a calf would actually drink if left on its dam, and why feeding more only works if you're feeding the right thing.
The heart of the conversation is fat — specifically the short and medium-chain fatty acids that occur naturally in whole milk but have historically been almost impossible to replicate in a calf milk replacer. Juliette explains the science behind restoring these, and why the payoff shows up most clearly in gut and respiratory health, not just growth rates. We also get into the real cost of scours and pneumonia in the calf shed, what Trouw's own research trial found when comparing four litres against eight, and why getting the fat-to-lactose balance right matters just as much as how much you're feeding.
We round things out with a plain-English explanation of osmolality, why whole milk and calf milk replacer each have their place depending on your situation, and where Trouw's research is heading next — including some early findings on dairy beef calves that could reshape how a growing share of the industry rears its animals. As always, it comes back to the basics: get your colostrum, hygiene, and stockmanship right first, then use nutrition to build calves that can cope with whatever a real working farm throws at them.
This episode was recorded in July 2026, and all information was correct at the time of recording. Please note this transcript was generated using AI transcription software — despite best efforts to ensure accuracy, there may be some errors in the final piece. 
What's your own take on feeding more milk versus feeding it right? Share your experience with us, and if you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and leave a review.
Send us Fan Mail
For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast, or on Facebook and LinkedIn as ChewintheCud Ltd . You can also email us at podcast@chewinthecud.com.