A DAIRY farm at Martinstown has been recognised as the cream of dairy farmers in a national competition.

Church Farm won the prestigious Gold Cup – run by the National Milk Records (NMR) and the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), and widely recognised as the top prize in the country.

It was a case of third time lucky for the farm, which has 300 cows, after picking up runners-up prizes in each of the last two years.

Tom King, who runs the farm with his parents, said: “About 1,000 dairy farmers in the country qualify to enter it.

“There are certain standards you have to meet and you send off the entry form.

“Then they pick six finalists and the judges go round and view the farms and pick a winner.

“This year it just happened to be us. We weren’t expecting it, we have been finalists for the last two years, so I guess it’s a case of third time lucky.”

Tom said the dedicated team on the farm, which also has three full-time employees, helps give the best possible care for the cows which is behind the quality of the dairy farm’s end product.

He said: “Our set up is geared towards animal welfare and the health of our cows and we get very good performance from our cows because of that.”

Tom said the farm had big plans to grow in the future and industry recognition in the form of the Gold Cup would help lay the platform for future success.

He said: “It’s widely recognised as the best award you can win in dairy farming and we have been trying to win it for a few years.”

Tom, who has been involved in the running of the farm for around 12 years and grew up at Church Farm, said the team ethic and family atmosphere were also crucial to the success of the business.

The president of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, John Alvis, and NMR chairman Philip Kirkham presented Tom with the award at the 2011 Dairy Event and Livestock Show, which took place at the NEC in Birmingham.