Farmers Weekly Awards 2024: Pig Farmer of the Year

James Ross of BQP Pigs, Lincolnshire, is the 2024 Farmers Weekly Pig Farmer of the Year.

Despite not hailing from a farming background, Somerset-born James Ross hasn’t let that stem his enthusiasm for the industry.

See also: Farmers Weekly 2024 Awards: Pig Farmer of the Year finalists

During his time at Cannington College, Bridgwater, James found his passion for pigs working at a local finishing unit at the weekend, and headed off to the US to gain more experience.

After learning his trade at an outdoor pig farm in Iowa, James worked on a new unit in Dorset, before setting up what has today become a 1,750-sow outdoor breeding unit in Lincolnshire, where he is farm manager.

The herd is split across two units: Elms Farm, established in 2018, and Dyke Farm founded in 2021.

The farms run on a two-week batch, five-week weaning system, producing weaned pigs for BQP. Target weaning weight has increased from 8kg to 9kg, with James now aiming towards 10kg.

Dyke Farm acts as a multiplier herd, producing its own replacement gilts using single sire Landrace semen, and F1’s for Elms Farm using large white semen.

Biosecurity

Each unit is run entirely separately from each other, with its own staff and machinery building into the overall biosecurity picture.

Despite always having good biosecurity, the approach has been ramped up over the past year following a devastating porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) breakout in January 2023.

Although this had a huge impact on the business, James said this was a big learning curve and an opportunity to double down on management.

As a result, production is now better than pre-PRRS levels.

Thorough record-keeping is in place at the farm, which James says is integral to maintaining high standards and production.

At the core of this is a staff WhatsApp group to ensure everyone is aware of the tasks to be completed, and what other staff members are doing, on a daily basis.

Opportunities

To minimise the impact of pigs on the soil, James establishes grass leys before re-siting pigs and leaves grass margins around the edges of the fields, which enhances and preserves soil structure.

Wildflower strips have also been planted to provide opportunities for pollinators.

In a sector where staff recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges, James takes a refreshing approach and, as a result, has eight long-term employees across the two sites.

Off-farm, he says regular team building events such as comedy nights and cinema trips are vital for the cohesion of the team.

He has a passion for bringing in people from outside the industry and offers very comprehensive training – both on and off the farm – to make new staff feel valued and invested in.

“I have a passion for training and guiding the next generation of farmers, and leading them into the industry,” says James.

“It can be very rewarding to take people who have never worked on farms before and train them up [to be] top level stockman and machinery operators.

“Yes, it is time consuming – and requires a lot of patience – but for me, this is all worth it. Nothing would be possible without their hard work.”