For twelve years, the British Farming Awards has shone a light on the best in British Farming. During this annual event, Britain's farming industry comes together to celebrate the achievements of its contemporaries.

The 2024 Farm Worker of the Year finalists have been selected because of their unparalleled commitment to the farm, whether that be in the form of time and effort, attention to detail, or their innovative approach to adopting new practices to ensure the farm business runs efficiently and effectively. Our 2024 finalists demonstrate an exceptional understanding of the farm business, and through their self-motivation, have gone above and beyond to contribute to their respective farm enterprises.

Proudly introducing the 2024 Farm Worker of the Year Finalists – Sponsored by Isuzu

Ernie Richards – S R Morris & Son

Ernie Richards has been working for the Morris Family at Wernoog, Clyro, Powys for eight years. As a new entrant farmer Ernie has had the exciting opportunity to work closely with The Morris's, stating, "between us we work closely on a daily basis to ensure smooth operation of the farming enterprise. I am very fortunate to be in a position where I can undertake management decisions, and also manage my own daily tasks, whilst having the opportunity to be a new entrant farmer."

Ernie has always been passionate about farming, working hard to secure a wide range or achievements and qualifications in the industry, including securing an Agriculture with Animal Science degree from Aberystwyth University. He is a member of various steering groups and initiatives in the industry including Agricultural Mental Health charity 'We Are Farming Minds' and the Farmer Time initiative, aiming to educate children about farming and bridge the gap between the public and British agriculture. 

The farm, a 140ha upland farm is home to a closed flock of 1000 Pedigree Lleyn Ewes annually producing up to 350 purebred breeding yearlings which are marketed online, and finishing all entire ram lambs via deadweight to Farmers Fresh for maximum return. Ernie implements a reseeding system over 15-20 acres, annually sowing a break crop of swedes, feeding the ewes before lambing, assisting the average scanning percentage of 175%.

The farm doesn't use contractors, apart from sheering and scanning sheep, therefore Ernie has learned to undertake all machinery operations on the farm and maintains as much machinery as possible, including all field operations for establishing new leys, forage making and pasture maintenance, including fencing and building repairs. This year he has joined the Lleyn Sheep Society Breed Development Committee and has been a speaker at the Royal Three Counties Show in the Future of Farming Theatre.

Ernie ensures the business is sustainable, producing high quality, healthy sheep. He does this by running pure pedigree to reduce imported disease burdens. Breeding replacements and selecting the ewe flock is based on notable traits and performance meaning hereditary problems are reduced.

Hannah Byers – Duncan J Ord

Hannah has been farming at Linkeylaw, Northumberland, for 5 years acting as Shepherdess for Duncan Ord and his herd of EasyCare ewes and replacements.

The farm comprises of 130 head suckler herd, 1800 EasyCare ewes and 550 replacements, 18,000 laying hens with the eggs sold privately across the north east and Scottish boarders. The farm also has an arable side which grows feeds for the cattle and hens. The farm consists of Duncan and his three sons who run different elements of the farm, with Hannah taking responsibility for the herd of sheep. EasyCareTM is a revolutionary breed of sheep which requires minimal veterinary care and offers excellent meat yields and lambing ratios.

Having studied agriculture at Harper Adams university, Hannah went on to New Zealand to learn about their system of paddock grazing. Upon her return, she wanted to implement this system on the farm. Utilising paddock grazing has enabled her to reduce the amount of fertiliser used as this system allows the field time to grow between rotations. This clean grazing system also resulted in the reduction of wormer required for ewes and lambs as the fields are clean and the immunity to wormers is reduced. The grazing system has helped eradicate lameness within the flock, less than 1% of the flock will be lame which reduces labour costs and time. The system has also aided condition scoring, increasing tupping success and reducing the percentage of empty ewes from 2.3% to 1.2%.

Since Hannah's arrival on the farm she has implemented a loss leading sheep programme, improving sheep health, lambing percentage and subsequently increasing profits. Introducing new blood lines into the flock through performance recorded tups has led to an easier lambing time, enabling the flock to be lambed outside by Hannah. Her use of blood and stool sampling of fat lambs has meant she can treat lambs for Coxi and worms before they have lost any condition, and find shortages of cobalt so they are injected with a smart shot, meaning lambs are finishing earlier and prices are increased.

Graham Tibbot – S&K Halsall

Holme Farm at Summerstone Estate, North Yorkshire, consists of rough grazing, improved pastures and hay meadow restoration areas, alongside heather moorland which covers approximately half of the land. Graham Tibbot initially joined the Estate as its veterinary surgeon, however, having seen the vast scope for improvement, Graham undertook a career change and began managing the Farm.

The stock on the farm consists of Pedigree Belted Galloway cattle and Swaledale sheep. Graham's veterinary background has helped him with all routine animal husbandry, including calf tagging, regular weighing, foot trimming, and bolussing with the addition of veterinary procedures such as pregnancy scanning or minor surgery.

Reviewing the flock health initially, led to halving their numbers and maintaining a stronger flock. Three years later and he is achieving industry leading figures for lamb losses of liveborn lambs without antibiotic intervention. Initiating the Footvax regime helped control lameness in the flock, early detection and treatment of lameness quickly reduced cases from around 15% to 3% in three months. The estate suffers from mineral deficiencies, with both sheep and cows having had low levels of Selenium and Iodine. After instigating a mineral bolus program, homebred hill sheep reached a scanning percentage of 163% from 115%.

Graham reduced the number of cattle on the estate from 150 to 100 as they were overgrazing the land and damaging the productivity of the soil. The past poor performance of the cattle led to 20 month old cows being sold at 360kg, this weight is now achieved at 11 months, with 18 month old Belted Galloway Steers being sold at 480kg. He has improved fertility of the cows and analysed silage data to increase calf growth with 25% less feed brought in. Due to the growth increase, the age at first calving is down from 42 months to 29, with an aim to get to 2 years old. On average, cows calving younger produce faster growing calves in their first year. Herd health has improved substantially, with Graham's worst ten cows producing calves only 20% lighter than his best ten, two years ago, that gap was 40%.

A focus on grassland, better winter management of silage and careful stocking of ewes and lambs has brought silaging forward by 3 weeks. The thicker sward has seen an increase in wildlife habitat and the success of barn owl chicks has followed- the 4 nest boxes on the Estate produced 20 chicks between them in 2023.

Andy Lambert – Hellifield Highland Fold

Andy Lambert has been assisting Robert and Wendy Phillip at Hellifield Highland Fold for several years. The farm breeds pedigree Highland cattle and replacement heifers on a grassfed production system which supplies Waitrose at Christmas. The farm breeds pedigree bulls that are successfully hired out to highland folds for breeding, with offspring being brought back into the farm to ensure a constant supply of beef throughout the year. Environmentally, the cattle conservation graze moorland to aid the management of different grasses, ensuring the wildlife remains diverse and healthy. His herd of Swaledale ewes also supply the meat for high-end restaurants around the UK.

Andy has undertaken training courses, such as artificial insemination and foot trimming giving him a better understanding on breeding and testing bulls for fertility and treating any animals with lameness or who need a routine trim. Alongside attending veterinary meetings to better understand the health and wellbeing of the animals on the farm.

Andy's job became increasingly more important when, in 2020, Robert was diagnosed with cancer and subsequently underwent surgery, reducing his input on the farm. Andy took on the day-to-day decision making, commenting; "my role on the farm became even more important, making daily decisions for his business on my own, and looking after the business like it was my own."

Andy took full control of the farm in 2024 when Robert sadly passed away. He helped the family sort the tenant agreement, assisted the landlord with the farm sale and continued Robert's highland cattle business and legacy in his own right.

Taking place on October 17 at The VOX in Birmingham, the event will welcome industry professionals from across the country to celebrate British agriculture and the successes it has had this year.

Get your tickets here to celebrate with the finalists at The British Farming Awards: https://www.britishfarmingawards.co.uk/britishfarmingawards/en/page/table-packages