Fertility might not be the flashiest topic on a dairy farm, but it’s the one that keeps everything else turning—and this week Dave hands the mic to the man who makes it happen. Meet Mal, the farm’s long-time AI technician, whose “walk-and-chalk” service starts at 4 a.m. every morning. From the shed gates he studies the herd’s body language, fresh tail-paint marks and data in the Uniform app before deciding which cows need checking, scanning or serving.

Mal’s work is a true partnership. The whole Halton team watches the herd throughout the day, snapping photos and notes to a dedicated WhatsApp group so he can fine-tune tomorrow’s plan—because even the tiniest shift in diet, a hint of mobility issues, or a change in the weather can knock a cycle off course.

The conversation widens into careers, too. Mal explains how he swapped a textile-factory job for seven-day weeks on the fertility circuit, why he still loves relief-milking, and how his son Calum has joined the family business. Passion, persistence and that 4 a.m. alarm have grown his one-man Land Rover-and-flask outfit into a trusted service for dozens of farms. He still relishes the job’s variety, the quiet moments in the parlour and, most of all, the buzz when another pregnancy check comes back positive.

By the end of the episode you’ll understand why fertility is the quiet engine of a year-round calving dairy, and why a good technician is worth his weight in milk.

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