Rosie Dennison can only be described as ‘one of the UK’s most progressive Holstein Young Breeders (HYB).’

Born and brought up at Scales Park Farm, the Dennison family farms near Ulverston in Cumbria and Rosie, aged 22, has spent her entire life within the dairy sector. She has been helping on the farm for as long as she can remember and started showing with the Lancashire Holstein Young Breeders aged five. Her grandfather, the well-known and highly respected John Dennison, was one of her greatest influencers; “When I was younger, he always found the time to spend with us when everyone else was very busy on the farm, he was a great mentor and had a fantastic passion for agriculture, I found him incredibly inspiring.”

Last year Rosie arranged to spend three months on an internship in Canada working with one of the country’s most dominant breeders, Winright Holsteins. She helped with the milking of their 100-head-herd, looked after the show calves, and attended shows across Canada.

After leaving school Rosie completed a Business Management course at college, and now works at home on the family farm helping with the 400 head Denmire milking herd as-well as working in a part-time marketing and solutions role for Semex.

Rosie is regularly seen on the dairy showing circuit and she herself has a handful of cows running within the Denmire herd. As part of the Lancashire HYB Club, she has competed in judging competitions at a national level, and last year she won the senior judging competition at the HYB Weekend Rally. Rosie has also won showmanship classes at the All Breeds All Britain Calf Show four times, receiving an honourable mention twice and the accolade of champion twice - the youngest HYB member ever to be awarded champion in the Showmanship Competition. She also represented Holstein UK at the Open Junior Show in Cremona, winning the junior showmanship class.

Rosie shows throughout the year and helps with the cattle for the monthly Borderway Dairy Pedigree Sales. She has attended Borderway UK Dairy Expo since its inception, and in 2019 she won Junior Champion with a Denmire Holstein Calf, “This heifer had won her class the year before, so it was great to bring her back for a second year and to be so successful” says Rosie.

Looking back on her career within the dairy industry to date Rosie said, “For me, my personal highlight has been, being given the opportunity to lead a Winright Holstein heifer at The Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and being able to attend the World Dairy Expo in Maddison. The events are the pinnacle in the world of Dairy Showing, the standard is phenomenal, there is a huge buzz and passion; these events are spectacular and exciting.”

In her increasingly busy life, Rosie says her biggest challenge is to, “find the time to make the commitment, because if you don’t; you will not be properly prepared,” and the best piece of advice Rosie has ever been given is: “Fail to prepare and prepare to fail, but most importantly enjoy it”, which says it all. Rosie also gets great pleasure out of passing on her own experiences and knowledge to the next generation of young members, “at the end of the day, that is what it’s all about.”

Alongside building the foundations of her dairy career at home, Rosie is also keen to reiterate the support she has been given through Holstein Young Breeders: “The opportunities for learning are remarkable, and it offers you the chance to travel the world to meet likeminded people and make lifelong friends. For any young person with a passion for the dairy sector my advice is to take the opportunity to be a part of this amazing organisation. On a personal note, I would like to thank Holstein UK for their support over the years.”

Denmire Holstein has always been, and continues to be, a Dennison family affair! Rosie works at home alongside her father Andrew, uncle Stephen, grandmother Margaret who is still very heavily involved and there are also children everywhere, including her brother and cousins, “so there’s plenty of us to help out!”

Rosie is looking forward to the 2024 Borderway UK Dairy Expo, “both myself and my brother, Tom, will be showing three calves – so fingers crossed.”