Dairy Cows The Farmers' Country Showdown

Across the country,

thousands of farming families work tirelessly around the clock.

-Whoa!

-Stop arguing, girls.

Give over!

HE WHISTLES

But there's one day each year,

when they get to leave the daily routine behind.

Right, here we come, Dorset!

These are show days.

'A very, very warm welcome to the show.'

Where they come together as a community

to showcase the fruits of their labour.

I just love showing my girls off!

And try to win prizes for their breed champions.

Smashed it.

And award-winning produce.

That's really nice cheese, that.

It was very good, darling!

There will be highs...

That's what we want to see, red. Red is the best!

..and lows...

She's not happy enough to go.

..for the dedicated farmers who give everything to walk away a champion.

Fingers crossed!

There are nearly 10,000 dairy farms in the UK,

home to almost 2 million cows.

They supply us with millions of litres of milk every day,

and are the backbone of British agriculture.

COW MOOS

Come on.

Today, we're meeting two families from Kent.

Trevor Warne, and Holly Berin and Ben Dyer,

are getting ready to show their prize animals at this year's

County Show in Surrey.

It's their chance to show their hard work to the world,

and to compete for top prizes.

Come on, girl.

On a farm just outside Dover in Kent, it's the start of a new day.

It's 5am,

and Trevor and his son are already hard at work on the morning milking.

I love milk. I drink milk every day.

You know, I drink at least three pints, four pints a day.

It gives me that...whoa!

It gives me a buzz when I drink it.

I tell everybody, drink milk, it keeps you young!

Trevor is the herd manager for the Goddard family,

who own the 660 cows on their 800-acre farm.

He starts at 4am, and he has a long day tending to the herd.

Luckily, he has a large family to help.

I'm passionate about encouraging youngsters into this industry.

Right, you're going to lead it?

'My young son, Jude, when he started to lead his calf,

'and he was so proud of himself.

'He wants to be like what I'm trying to do, and that's why I do it.'

My daughter, Cleo...

COW MOOS

She's like, "Dad, I want to train my calf."

Sometimes I have to calm her down, she's so keen!

SHE SCREAMS

There you go!

LAUGHTER

I think the mouse...

The mice have been chewing it!

While Trevor has his family to help him, just down the valley,

his friends Ben and Holly are doing their milking on their own.

Come on, girls.

Neither 30-year-old Ben, or 25-year-old Holly,

are from a farming background, but both were smitten from an early age.

We used to go for days out to the Kent County show, with my family,

and just loved watching the dairy cows, the Holsteins,

walking around the ring. It was something I really wanted to do.

Loved it, addicted to it.

It's this love for dairy farming that first brought them together,

when Ben needed help with some show cows.

I offered to help with clipping his cows, so yeah,

I clipped his first team, and...

She done a good job, so she stayed!

LAUGHTER

Pretty much!

Basically!

This very committed couple are employed by the Billings family

to manage their 340-strong herd, virtually on their own.

So, while Ben does the milking,

Holly has to give the hungry calves their breakfast.

Let's put these out.

So every calf gets two litres.

I broke my two-litre jug.

So, I'm on a one-litre jug!

So extra scooping!

Okey dokey, let's go!

I always talk to the cows, especially the calves as well.

Like...

Especially when you're teaching them to get onto the teats and stuff,

yeah, there's a lot of talking involved!

Like, you're coaxing them to do it,

so I'm just talking them through how to do it!

I sound so weird!

-Not that they've got a clue what we're going on about, but...

-No.

Ben and Holly's dream is to own a farm of their own,

so they've been buying calves, gradually, to build up a herd.

You've got.. You've got to love cows to do this job, I think.

-Yeah, it's a huge commitment.

-Yeah.

Definitely, they're definitely part of your life.

I see these cows more than I see some of my friends and family, really.

Not only do they have to work such long hours...

..dairy farmers also have to cope with an unpredictable milk market.

So farmers are always looking for ways

to improve the amount of milk the herd produces,

using careful breeding and the latest technology.

On Trevor's farm, he's finished the milking.

It's 10am,

and time to check if any of his cows are ready to become mothers.

Come on, girls.

Come on, Hope. Get in there. Go on, girl.

What we're doing now is just checking if these cows are in heat.

After an examination, Trevor is happy that his cow, Hope,

is ready to begin the breeding programme.

Like many dairy farmers, Trevor buys in bull samples.

Breeding good stock is so important for Trevor and his family's future

that he's willing to pay hundreds of pounds.

That's what it comes in. Just give it little shake...

And then we're going to defrost it.

40 seconds.

BELL DINGS

Right.

That's it, it's gone.

Even for an expert farmer,

there's no certainty his cow will fall pregnant.

For now, all Trevor can do is keep his fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Ben has noticed

that a cow due to give birth is lying down and not moving.

The calf could be stuck.

This has been calving for a few hours now,

not really getting on with anything,

so I'll put my hand in and give a check,

make sure it's in the right position.

Sometimes it can be backwards,

or have a leg stuck, or something, so...

But this potential new mother doesn't want to play ball.

For these young farmers,

a successful birth is vital to the business.

They'll do anything they can to save the calf.

It's going. It's going.

COO MOOS

Eventually, they get her into the barn.

Ben gets a proper look at her, and finds the calf is out of position.

I just want to get it out now...

Take that gate back a bit.

HE SIGHS

For Holly, these are the most challenging moments as a farmer.

And in just a few minutes,

Ben helps the cow give birth to a healthy calf.

A nice little heifer.

If Ben hadn't have gone in, we could have lost Mum and calf.

She's had a lovely, healthy calving.

As you can see, she's licking it like crazy.

I do feel like I'm their mum, because obviously,

the mums, they've got to go to work and yeah, I'm their nanny!

Before long, this newborn is already strong enough

to take her first steps in the world.

For both these farms,

the cycle of pregnancy and birth is at the very heart of what they do.

After all, it's new mothers that make milk.

But for these competitive farmers,

there's something else on their minds...

Show day!

Showing is a very, very important part of what I do.

You're getting an opportunity to exhibit your animals.

If we win the first prize, in the ring,

then we're able then to market the genetics from that one cow

and we can profit from it.

It's another form of income, instead of just the milk.

That's what we've got...

You've got to make the money from genetics as well,

because we've invested a lot in it.

With the show looming, there's a lot to get done,

especially if just two of you run the whole farm.

We take it so personally, because, you know,

-you work with them every single day, and you want to win.

-Yeah.

I have to clip 13 animals within a few days of the show,

so that's highly intense.

Especially as I could easily spend two hours on one cow

to get her ready, so to fit...

There's a lot of this involved.

-Come on, Holly!

-Yeah!

Over at Trevor's, he's also thinking about the show.

And it has a special and romantic significance.

It was actually at the Edenbridge Show that we met, wasn't it?

Yes, we wasn't... It wasn't dating, we just met there,

and sort of got to know each other.

And then, a few months later,

May wanted a calf to show, so she came up,

picked a calf, and then... Yeah, the rest is history.

We got talking about cows, and I realised May would listen to me,

because nobody listens to me, really.

They're like, "Can you shut up about cows, please?

"There's more to life than cows."

No, there isn't! And May agrees with that.

And the dairy theme even carried through to their wedding day.

It took a bit of persuading May

-for me to have a milk churn to sit on, but...

-No...

It did! A little bit.

Yeah.

Romance aside, Trevor's ambition for this year's show

is to come home with a different kind of trophy.

This time, for the farm's champion cow.

So, this is Lucy.

She's a show cow, and she's a seriously good herd cow as well.

I just love looking at them.

I just love it.

This is what I get, I get a buzz out of it,

like anybody who'd look at their lovely sports car,

or something like that.

That's why it's so nice to go to a show and compete.

When you get there you just feel,

whoa, you know, it really gives you that real buzz.

So, two farms who believe their cows are the best.

And to make it more interesting,

Ben and Holly will be going head-to-head against Trevor

at this year's show.

Well, Trevor is a very good friend of mine.

He got me into cows.

He's got such a passion for it, and it rubbed off on me.

Now I just want to beat him!

Ben worked for me when he was younger.

And he's gone on to do the rest himself, really.

But he's got this great cow.

And she's been trying to take on Lucy at most of the shows.

And at the Kent, she pipped her to the post.

Boom!

You know, I was happy for Ben but I was absolutely gutted,

I had a lump in my throat, that Lucy had come second

because I was really excited that she might get first.

Well, we're one-all so far.

And so, yeah, it's the best out of three.

It's a rivalry that's played out for years.

But tomorrow's show will be the decider.

It'll be the final...

Yeah, the final one for this year.

Could literally go either way.

Yeah, we'll see how it goes.

After all their hard work, and months of preparation,

the day of the show has finally arrived.

The prestigious Edenbridge and Oxted Show in Surrey

is starting to come to life.

It's one of the highlights of the local farming calendar,

and an important show for the cattle-breeding community.

Up to 40,000 visitors are expected through the gates,

to experience the best of what the rural South East has to offer.

In the dairy section, preparations are in full swing.

The cows' beauty parlour is open for business.

It's like going to the hairdressers.

It's like the cow salon.

And then we do our hair later on with this, so...

Over at Ben and Holly's stall, true beauty takes time.

We started at 2.30am, washing, getting these ready.

Cleaning up all the poo.

I love show mornings.

It's just a mad rush to get everything done.

There's a bit of dirt there.

When Holly squeegeed them off, she didn't clean the squeegee first.

Who was doing the squeegeeing?

You!

For the farmers, cow beauty works on an industrial scale.

With clipping, blow-drying, powder,

and even super-strength hairspray.

All right, then.

All this hard work is to hide any imperfections,

and give them the best chance of winning.

We're trying to reduce the flaws.

So we're trying to trick the judge.

-Cheating!

-Cheating!

No, the cheating is the 50 quid we gave him this morning!

We're not cheating, we're just... trying to make her look beautiful.

But jokes aside, the boys are keeping a close eye on each other,

with so much at stake.

We're going to battle it out today.

Bit nervous, really.

You always are, it's all about competition, isn't it?

It's not long to go before everything kicks off.

Trevor has a few problems.

There's something wrong with his cow's food.

Ben, you haven't got any spare food, have you, which I could have?

-Mine's gone hot.

-You want some food, do you?

-Yes, please.

We'll help you out, no worries.

-Have you got some spare?

-Yes, yes. He needs some food.

-That's really good of you, mate.

-No worries, mate.

-Thanks very much.

The show is starting to fill up,

with crowds eager to see what's on offer.

'Attention. This is a ten-minute warning.

'We are going to be starting at 9am. Thank you.'

Time is ticking towards the first competition of the day.

Ben and Holly simply can't manage all the prep on their own,

so they've enlisted a team of helpers.

They're brilliant. We have done a show without them.

Just the two of us. We took a big team, and it was mayhem.

Mum, do you reckon you could run to the tent, please,

and get my tie, please?

Can you run now, because you'll probably have enough time.

The competition is moments away.

But Holly's not happy.

You know on that show-shine stuff?

Someone's accidentally done the jet setting,

and now it looks a bit silly.

Yeah?

I think that's probably Mum.

Today's dairy cow competition will be judged by farmer Ben Yates,

who has also brought along the family for a day out.

But what makes a good cow can be a matter of very broad opinion.

Everybody's got their sort of cow they like,

whereas you have a judge who has a different opinion

-and you can really burn.

-Yeah.

Holly and Ben are feeling hopeful.

See how it goes.

But things could change, now that he and Trevor are going head-to-head.

Yeah, we're getting close now.

Nerves are there. I've already run to the toilet once, so,

that bit's out the way.

Both are bringing out their big guns.

It will be Ben's prized Alison up against Trevor's champion, Lucy.

She's doing all right, Lucy. We'll just see how she goes.

Would've liked a little bit more milk on her

and I would've liked her to just relax a little bit.

All my cows seem to be really fired-up today.

I don't know if Ben's sabotaged me with the food he gave me.

It might have something in it and made them a bit hypo.

As they wait to be called in,

Trevor can't help doing a little last-minute comparison

with Ben's cow.

Trevor and Ben enter the ring.

There's no competition like the competition between two dairy men.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we come to our first in milk class,

and what a credit this class is.

We may not be in the big dairy country down here,

but what quality we've got in this class, it's quite tremendous.

COW BELLOWS

There are four others in the ring,

but they're only interested in each other.

Morning, mate.

It's a friendly rivalry, but Ben wants to show his former boss

he's his own man.

And Trevor wants to prove he's still got it.

Steady, steady, steady.

Now, he must decide.

Steady, steady, steady.

Steady.

And Trevor takes first prize.

The judge pulled me up at the front, number one.

That was it, I was ecstatic.

-Well done.

-Thanks, mate.

Well done.

She's the sort of cow that's either at the top or at the bottom,

and unfortunately today, she's at the bottom,

but that's the way showing goes.

You know, Ben...

I didn't like looking at his sad face,

but then I had a really smiley face so, you know...

It made me buzz!

Ben's cow, just when you get in amongst them,

she wasn't quite clean enough for me.

I mean, I'm happy - Trevor's cow was a good cow.

Just don't like losing to him.

It's midway through the day, and time for a spot of lunch.

For everyone.

Edenbridge has been running since 1837, making this the 179th show.

For generations of farmers, it has been a well-earned day out.

But for the many urban visitors that come every year,

this Home Counties show is an important link

with the countryside and rural life.

BLOWS HORN

The family lunch break is over,

and time for the competition between the two friends to kick off again.

Just a few last minutes for those all-important touch-ups.

It's like your foundation.

You know, we're putting the foundation on the legs this time.

Trevor's wife May and baby Hope are here to cheer them on.

Whoever's cows are the most identical will win this one.

Me and Ben, we're basically focusing on each other in that class.

Everybody else isn't there, to be honest with you.

-All right, Ben?

-All right?

There are a lot of buyers and dealers at the show today

who are looking out for competition winners.

Rosettes are invaluable to their business.

Showing's very important for the promotion of our cattle.

Bringing them to the show is our shop window.

But for Ben and Trevor, it's more personal than business.

When I'm judging the pairs' class, I like a pair to be a pair.

And I'm going to go with this pair right here as my winning pair.

Trevor's done it again.

Super pair of cows. A real credit to the breeder.

That unbelievable feeling inside.

The butterflies now have gone into something else.

They've gone into, like, a swarm of bees and butterflies and everything.

I just feel crazy inside.

Then we're going to go to this pair here.

A super, super pair.

And Ben and Holly come in second place.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Who wants the beer tokens?

I felt we had, I thought a good pair, but they were second today.

Felt a little bit hard done by. Just in my opinion.

That's what we want to see. Red. Red is the best. Well happy.

The day is beginning to come to an end.

But the crowds are still flowing.

In the cow tent, all thoughts are on the last competition.

It's 2-0 to Trevor.

But there's still everything to play for.

Ben and Holly are double-checking everything.

-Can you just check Norma?

-Huh?

-They let Norma lay down.

-Can you go and have a look at her?

-Yeah.

I'll get the numbers.

Over at Trevor's stall, he has a few last-minute tricks up his sleeve.

Ollie's putting the baby oil on now.

He's just rubbing it over the udder, so it shines a little bit.

We always have one person to do that

because if you get baby oil on your hands,

it's like a slippery fish, the halter is.

You can't hold on to it,

and the cow just runs away with you and the halter goes over there

and you're like, "Bye-bye, cow!" Gone!

Meanwhile, for Ben and Holly,

this is their last chance to get everything right.

The judge has changed for this competition,

so will he see Trevor and Ben's prized cows differently?

All the long hours, the hard work and dedication,

have come down to this moment.

Lucy, don't run away.

It could help Ben and Holly towards their dream

of owning their own farm.

And for Trevor, it could help him boost the size of his beloved herd.

The judge lines them up for a final assessment.

There's a lot riding on this.

All Ben and Trevor can do is wait and hope.

And Ben has won at last, with Trevor in second place.

It's good to have a bit of competition with Trevor again today

and it just shows how close those two cows are, really.

Good girl.

Could have gone either way, it was like splitting hairs.

He won that, so good on him.

We've got to give him something, haven't we?

Yeah, all good.

Being in the championship is really encouraging for the future,

to come back and try and do it again, and do better.

It just means that we are doing things right when we're at home

for the other 300-odd days.

The Edenbridge and Oxted Festival has turned 100 acres of empty fields

into a showground that's celebrated the best of the British countryside.

It's been a long competition.

As the site winds down, the families finally get a chance to reflect.

I think we've had a really good show this year.

Good fun, good rivalry...

-..and all worked out fair in the end, I guess.

-Yeah.

I've had a good day, actually.

We've had top-of-the-class wins, really.

Really, really happy.

Brilliant, absolutely over the moon at how we did today.

The winning is really good promotion for our herd,

and it's a good building block for the future family, hopefully.

COO MOOS

It is a big family outing, really.

It's a bit like a holiday.

We don't get away from the farm much,

so this is our fun break, really.

Yeah, that's true.

And the boys are already planning next year's showdown.

Next year, I think we'll get them lined up and see what happens then.

-You know.

-That's it.

I've got another one in the jewel box at home.

-I haven't taken her out yet.

-I've got two I left.

-Yeah?

-They probably could have won today.

-Really?

-Yeah.