An Early Easter Update

Periodically we get some good news to tell our HPF supporters. The photograph above is that of one of our earlier scholars, Tom Addison, receiving his award in the New Entrant category of the British Farming Awards.

Tom tells his story below, we take this opportunity to send him our warmest congratulations and wish him continued success in all his endeavours.

Tom Addison

Having been involved in the development of a new app to improve the wider beef industry, I was then nominated by Breedr (The precision livestock network for forward thinking farmers – see end of article for further details) for an award in the new entrant category of the British Farming Awards. I had been weighing my calves regularly with Breedr and using their technology to improve my system through interpreting the weigh data.  Having been entered I was delighted to win the competition. 

My calf rearing unit was a big part of my nomination and this was funded by the Henry Plumb Foundation a few years previously. Before help from HPF, I had been rearing calves on a small scale and wanted to expand to a more commercial, cost effective level and with the help of the Foundation this was made possible. My plan was to double my capacity and also create a healthier environment for the calves by installing 3 calf igloos on my already rented building. 

The HPF application was very straightforward and the interview process was a great experience so I was over the moon to be chosen as an HPF scholar. This helped with an investment that would not have been possible at the time without HP help. 

David Christensen, a highly successful farmer in my locality, became my Mentor and even from our first meeting he guided and advised me into the best way to lay out the building to make best use of the facilities within our budget. Having someone with a wealth of knowledge to guide like that is invaluable. Being able to pick the phone up and throw ideas around has been a huge part of my development and helped to build myself to the next level so I am extremely thankful for this.

This has all paid dividends over the past couple of years with me being able to rear quality calves and gain repeat customers but also has helped me and my business progress to the next level opening more doors along the way. My business has now grown to renting over 100 acres and sustainably farming in my own right. The helping hand of HPF right at the beginning has made a lot of this possible.

New Technology

As we reflect on the fact that we are at last coming out of the Covid Pandemic (according to Government), it is reasonable to look back at the fact that our last period of face-to-face selection took place with Round 15 in October 2019. So, with the interview process which will be carried out in the next few weeks, it will mean we will have carried out five rounds of interviews on Zoom. It is not ideal but has meant that we’ve been able to harness the emerging technology to advantage and continued to make good progress.

Our last round of interviews took place on October 25th and 26th 2002 and the following is a summary of where we’ve got to…

…Round 19 was remarkable from the standpoint that it took us to the North of Scotland for the first time identifying the fact that our message is spreading.

Our scholars always come from a broad base of interests and include those who wanted help with leadership skills and those who wished to develop new businesses or extend those already started.   

Jane Moodie – From Sutherland in the North of Scotland came to us with a request for funding to help her to get started in providing services to the sheep and cattle farmers. She also wanted a mentor to guide her through the intricacies of setting up and running a business.

In the event we provided her with a technical mentor to help her with her scanning business, Bob Blanden has operated such a business for some 20 years and Rod McKenzie has been a good contact in the North of Scotland for some 40 years. Suffice to say Jane is well on her way to building a good business providing a much needed service to sheep and cattle farmers in the North of Scotland.

Joe Hargreaves – who has come to us for help from Caithness to set up a business in sheep dairying is also moving in the right direction. On the technical front he is being helped by a young farmer from Anglesey who we helped with his embryonic sheep dairying business some three years ago (Round 15, October 2019). Through the wonders of zoom they’ve been able to exchange information to the extent that Joe is making good progress and seeing his business getting good traction and becoming established. Rod McKenzie is acting as business Mentor for Joe as well as for Jane Moodie and Rod has reported well on the development of both scholars.

Staying with Scotland, Lucy Mitchell, the vice chairman of the National Federation of Scottish YFC’s came to us for help to finance her course in Leadership from the Worshipful Company of Farmers and the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester. She was also keen to have a mentor who could help her with leadership skills.Our Trustee George Lyon agreed to be her mentor and Trustees agreed that he would be the ideal person and it was felt Lucy will prove to be a worthwhile pupil much in the same way as James Speers did in Northern Ireland. The mentoring would start after Lucy had completed her course.   

Paul White came to HPF for assistance in developing a small farming business based on relatively small outputs to satisfy local demand. John Geldard, who has mentored several previous people has undertaken to Mentor Paul and steady progress is being made.

Richard Oglesbey, a young farmer from South Yorkshire came to us for help in setting up a beef cattle producing unit. This project is now moving forward and we are delighted to say he is being mentored by Duncan Nellis from Northumberland.

Sophie Corderoy is a young lady who wishes to grow her current small flock of Kerry Hill sheep a 500 ewe flock of Kerry’s as well as providing specialist services for other sheep farmers on the Cotswolds. Sophie had provided us with a referee in the name of Mrs Patricia Dart and trustees had requested that I should get in touch with her. It transpired that Patricia Dart knew of the Henry Plumb Foundation and was also Immediate Past Master of The Worshipful Company of Butchers. An enthusiastic and knowledgeable supporter of Sophie, Patricia explained that she was an individual who in her view, with the right help would do very well.  Yann Le Du, the former Manager of the Grassland Research Institute at Hurley has become her Mentor and Sophie is making good progress.

Tom Dracup is another individual who Trustees felt could make a long term positive contribution to the industry. His father, John Dracup, has been known to me personally for many years and Tom has been making good career progress within the NFU and AHDB. Trustees expressed the thought that he would benefit from talking to someone with an interest in food and farming and knowledge of global trade. 

Tom Jackson is a young man from the North East who needed help to get through the WCF/RAU leadership course. He had applied to HPF for some financial help to attend the course and for a mentor to help him with leadership and management. We discussed the provision of a mentor and I said I would approach a young friend on the East Northumberland border near Hexham. Jim Lamb, a graduate of RAU, from Nunwick near Hexham has taken up his mentoring duties and I’m given to understand that good progress is being made.

Breedr App

Say goodbye to paperwork – simply log all your births, weights, movements and meds straight into our easy phone app, and Breedr will help keep your farm compliant and running smoothly. Plus weigh your cattle in 10 seconds with Crush Mode and our predictive growth tools will help you produce cattle with better margins and less waste, helping you build a commercially sustainable future for your beef business.

To find out more click here

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