Harbro customers win big at food and farming awards.

A trio of Harbro customers win prestigious titles as the food and farming awards season kicks off for another year. Their success highlights Harbro’s propensity to collaborate with high-performing farmers and how their advice can further help them develop their businesses.

Craig and Claire Grant walked away with the Mixed Farmer of the Year and overall Farmer of the Year at the Farmers Weekly Awards, held on the 5th of October in London.? The award follows their winning Young Farmer of the Year in 2011. The Grant’s diversified egg, beef, sheep, and arable enterprise has experienced significant growth due to their attention to detail and adoption of innovative practices.

Craig and Claire were the first in the UK to adopt a long-term split feeding system, a practice which Harbro developed over ten years ago. The system utilises their homegrown cereals and pulses, all serviced by the Harbro Tropper mobile mill and mix.

“Split feeding had been tried in the 1960s but without success,” says Doug Steele, pig and poultry sales manager at Harbro. “The aim of split feeding is to produce better shell quality. The hens eat the protein they need during the morning and calcium in the afternoon.

“Craig and Claire heard about it in a producer's group meeting and decided to give it a go. Harbro has serviced their business with mill and mix for a long time, so we have supported them on this journey.”

The Grants are the largest contract producer for Farmlay Eggs, who recently won the chilled supplier of the year at the Spar Scotland Awards. This is the latest in several awards, with Farmlay having previously won Farmers Weekly Poultry Farmer of the Year and Egg Packer of the Year at the National Egg and Poultry Awards.

Based north of Aberdeen and run by the Chapman family, Farmlay has doubled its packing business in the last five years and now packs 5 to 5.5 million eggs weekly. These are produced in-house and through a network of 24 local producers.

“Harbro has provided Farmlay with all of its feed requirements for over ten years,” says Doug. “We work in close partnership with one another. Farmlay uses homegrown cereals that are milled at their packing station using a Harbro Tropper.

“We have grown our businesses alongside one another. As Farmlay has grown, so has Harbro as we scale to meet their needs.”

Karen and Stephen Thompson scooped the Pig Farmer of the Year award at The Yorkshire Post Rural Awards. The judges admired their animals' health and business diversification, supplying local cafes, restaurants, and delis with quality pork under their Moss Valley Fine Meat brand.

The Thompsons have a mixed farm in South Yorkshire. They have 200 sows, taking all their animals to finish, and the cereals grown on their farm are fed to their pigs. The relationship with Harbro began following a wet harvest, leaving them with wet cereals they needed help incorporating into their feed.

“I am delighted that Karen and Stephen won Pig Farmer of the Year,” says Allison Elliott, pig and poultry nutritionist at Harbro. “They are a hardworking family who run a productive farm that is mindful of its community and environment.”

“Harbro has supported them with home mill and mix for some time, and I know they appreciate how we help them.”

“We have close relationships with all our customers, and it’s fantastic to see them being recognised for their hard work and achievements,” says Harbro sales and marketing director Hannah Legg. “Customer success is what matters most to us, and it is gratifying to be able to support all the winners through our nutritional advice, feed, and services.

“Our team advising farmers is second to none, as is our product range and mill and mix service. We work with many high-performing livestock farmers, so we expect to celebrate similar success with new and existing customers in the future.”