CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL FINALISTS & WINNERS!
Producer of the Year
Bridge House Farm
This is worthy recognition of what this tech savvy Northamptonshire nucleus breeding unit has achieved. It sells its carefully bred animals across the UK, Europe and beyond, including China and Africa. As well as its targeted use of technology and data, the family-run business attributes much of its success to its motivated and well-trained staff team – the bedrock of any successful business.
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Indoor Producer of the Year
Bridge House Farm
The Northamptonshire high health, 900-sow nucleus breeding unit is one of the country’s most tech savvy pig farms. It was among the first pig units in the world to use EID tags, with every piglet individually tracked from birth, improving data accuracy to 100%. This is just one of the many things that make it a very worthy winner!
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Outdoor Producer of the Year
Horton Farms
Congratulations to this 1,000-sow BQP outdoor breeding unit, run by John and Isabelle Leader, in Norfolk. It recently converted to the five-week weaning system and has resolved the issues this presented for its vaccination programme with new software that successfully predicts vaccine volumes. The business attributes much of its success to the quality and longevity of its staff, which has given it strength, stability and security – and certainly impressed our illustrious judges!
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Chris Brant Award
Sam Godfrey
David Black Award
Hugh Crabtree
Finisher of the Year
Paul Howland, MP & PM Howland
Paul, a previous winner, has come out top again in this category, a sure sign of his consistency over the years! He runs a 700-acre farm and wean-to-finish operation in Suffolk, producing pigs for BQP. The farm recorded an FCR of 2.31 between January 2022 and April 2023, alongside an ADLG of 893g. Successful initiatives this year include trialling a camera on the top of the feed bin for a more picture feed intake.
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Herd Productivity Award
Fred Allen, Allen Farms (Coddington)
Fred Allen and his team run in Nottinghamshire have increased their herd to 850 sows and moved from outdoor to indoor farrowing, with some great results, including an average of more than 29 pigs weaned per sow over the past year and an FCR of 2.4. Fred has engrained a thorough approach and a culture of continued improvement among the staff at this forward-looking business.
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Innovation of the Year
EIP / Pig Regen (NI)
Congratulations to our winners! Their PRRS (pronounced purrs!) Area Regional Control Programme is a truly innovative cross-industry initiative in Northern Ireland to tackle this damaging pig disease. With a focus on vaccination and biosecurity, the results speak for themselves – around half the farms that were positive for PRRS at the start of the project were negative or stable by the end of it.
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Marketing Initiative of the Year
Heck! Food
Heck! They’ve only gone and won. Heck Food is a family-owned business based in North Yorkshire, accounting for 60% of premium-branded UK sausage sales, supplying every major retailer in the UK. They market their goods in their own way – including TV adverts support its ‘Show ‘em What You’re Made Of’ campaign featuring its own staff dancing around HECK HQ.
NPA Allied Industry Member of the Year
Ceva Animal Health
This was the only award tonight decided by a public vote of NPA members and Pig World readers – congratulations to Ceva Animal Health, which has six members on its UK pig team, supporting technical service offered to pig vets and producers. Its Forceris product has been a success and the Ceva Lung Program is a valuable support service available to producers. The industry certainly seems to like what they do!
Pedigree Breeder of the Year
Lisa Hodgson, The Woolyback Herd
The BPA judges were truly impressed with the amount of time, energy and dedication Lisa has put into, not just her own herd, but the Mangalitza breed generally. She can frequently be seen promoting her pigs and pork in the media with high profile celebrity support and is a shining example of what can be achieved with hard work, ambition, ingenuity and resilience.
Stockperson of the Year
Christopher Chaney, North Farm Livestock
The stockperson is an absolutely key figure on any pig farm – this year’s winner, Chris, has worked at North Farm Livestock in Suffolk for five years, spending the last four as manager of the company’s gilt mating unit (GMU). He does a fantastic job in maintaining the biosecurity and health of the gilts, while also maximising their breeding potential.
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Sustainable Farming Award
Lincolnshire Pork Co
The inaugural winner of the award introduced this year to recognise the great work pig businesses are doing in the name of sustainability, the Lincolnshire Pork Company, owns two 750-sow breeding units. It has recently incorporated rye into the cropping plan for more sustainable pig diets, while the farm is 155% self-sufficient in electricity. It has also made steps to reduce ammonia emissions. It is a true champion in this field.
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Trainee of the Year
Rebecca Marshall, Bridge House Farm
Bridge House Farm’s Rebecca is a great example of the benefits of effective training on pig farms. As a result of all the training she has done, says her boss, she can be trusted to do virtually every task on farm, demonstrating great attention to detail and she is now starting to transfer these same standards to others.
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Unit Manager of the Year
James Ross, FL Pigs
James manages FL Pigs’ Dyke Farm – a 1,200-sow farrow-to-wean outdoor unit, in Lincolnshire. Its most recent figures show the unit produced 28 pigs weaned/sow/year. James has focused heavily on sizing sows at weaning and then helping those lagging behind to catch up. He shares KPI’s with the team, helping to drive it forward towards shared goals.
Young Farm Vet of the Year
Tom Hill, The George Veterinary Group
As always, we celebrate our vitally important vets tonight and this year’s winner, Tom, from the George Veterinary Group, covers much of the practice’s nursery finisher work and is also the responsible vet for several independent indoor and outdoor farrow-to-finish units. Over the last two years, he has developed a keen interest in the environmental conditions he encounters on pig units.
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Young Pig Farmer of the Year
Oliver Killgallon, White Rose Farms - Brambles Farm
Another future pig industry star, Oliver started at Brambles Farm, a 3,000-sow indoor unit in Norfolk as a stockperson in 2020, before being quickly promoted to assistant manager and then to manager last year. He was a key figure in implementing the farm’s new free farrowing system and has shared his learnings effectively with his colleagues.
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