Promising future for award-winning Bethan
APhD student from Harper Adams University has successfully tested an innovative way to improve the benefits of dairy products and make them more attractive to today’s health conscious consumers.
Bethan Till, from Caernarfon, raised the level of long chain omega3 while reducing the level of saturated fatty acids in cheese and producing the same the taste by feeding microalgae to cows.
Ms Till said: “The aim of my project was to improve how healthy dairy products are by increasing the amount of omega-3 present in milk and, therefore, cheese.
“Western diets are providing less than recommended levels of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids which are beneficial to human health. Fish is typically regarded as a natural source of omega-3s but the levels are diminishing and less fish is being consumed.”
Omega-3 has many benefits including lowering the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and depression, along with improving general mental health and enhanced children’s learning ability.
Ms Till added: “By increasing the level of omega-3 in cheese, which is already integrated into many people’s diets, they can have this healthier benefit without having to alter their eating and shopping habits. It’s also a good route to ensure that children achieve good intake levels of omega-3s as they’ll more readily consume milk and cheese than say fish.
“We’ve managed to increase the level of omega-3 by feeding microalgae to cows. Microalgae is at the bottom of the food chain and is eaten by fish, which are consequently rich in omega-3, so we knew it’s a good source.”
The study was conducted on high yielding Holstein Friesian dairy cows, which were allocated one of four diets. Three of these diets contained microalgae at different levels to establish which produced the best results. The study found that microalgae at a medium level worked best.
Adding the microalgae didn’t affect cow performance, including dry matter intake, milk yield, body condition score and live weight.
Ms Till said: “From the cheese tasting panel, we found that there were also no negative effects on taste. The trained panellists described it as having a pleasant, nutty flavour. The colour and texture were also very similar to regular cheeses.
“Currently, we’re also looking at whether the microalgae improves fertility but it’s early days and we’ve yet to gather results. Other researchers from Florida have reported that this microalgae improved reproduction in dairy cows by increasing pregnancy rates and reducing days to pregnancy.”
Meanwhile, first year Harper Adams University student Isobel Thomas, who is studying rural land management and rural enterprises, has been presented with the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) Walter Rowlands Memorial Award.
The award is presented in memory of Walter Rowlands to recognise his hard work during his 29 years’ employment with the FUW as a county secretary.
Isobel Thomas, who lives at Croes Cwtta Farm, near St Brides Major in the Vale of Glamorgan, has been an active member of Wick & District YFC from a young age and enjoys taking part in the stock judging competitions.
She is the fifth generation on the family farm and her great-great grandparents moved to Croes Cwtta Farm more than 100 years ago. It was previously a dairy farm and changed to a beef and sheep farm with a small amount of arable.
She said: “I have lots of very happy childhood memories living and growing up on the family farm.”
Ms Thomas said she plans to use the award money to buy a digital camera which she will need during her training to become a chartered surveyor.
FUW Glamorgan county chairman Richard Walker, said: “The FUW is extremely keen to support budding young farmers through this award, which consists of a £200 grant to be used towards educational studies.
“We chose Isobel for this award as she has a wide range of interests in the YFC, is very motivated and clearly has a promising future career in the agricultural industry.”