Elisabeth, Will and James Messenger, along with herd manager Amy Wilson from The Howes Farm, Calthwaite, Cumbria, have won the British Grassland Society Grassland Farmer of the Year competition for 2026.

The announcement was made at an Awards Evening held at the Kilmorey Arms Hotel, Kilkeel in Northern Ireland last week (21 October 2026), jointly hosted by BGS and Ulster Grassland Society.

 The competition is supported by Germinal, Nufarm and Yara. The Messengers won the trophy which they keep for a year, a cheque for £500 and they will be part of the judging team in 2027.

 The Messenger family has farmed at The Howes since 1963, with Richard and Elisabeth taking full control of the dairy enterprise in 2010. They won the Cumbria Grassland Forage competition earlier this year.

 Having bravely fought MND, Richard sadly passed away in the spring, but it was his wish the family put themselves forward into the regional and national rounds of the competition. Elisabeth now manages the farm with her 19 year old son Will along with Amy.

 The farm covers 243 hectares (ha), with 170 ha owned. The herd consists of 500 three-way cross cows – Holstein/Fleckvieh/Norwegian Red, producing 9,000 litres per cow/year, with 4,000 litres coming from forage.

 In the past six years, the herd has transitioned from a year-round to an autumn block calving system. The winter diet is grass silage with some wholecrop, plus custom dairy blend feeding for maintenance + 28 litres out of parlour. Grazing starts in late March for cows and early April for youngstock, with paddock grazing and some pre-mowing.

 The Messengers take part in the First Milk/Nestle regenerative farming programme and are winners of a Regeneration Award.

Runners- up

The runners-up in the competition were Gwyn Evans, Dyffryn Arth, Aberystwyth from the Mid Cardigan Grassland Society and Kevin Lawrie of Myremill Farm, Maybole, Ayr from the South West of Scotland Grassland Society.

 The Evans family runs a grass-based dairy farm in West Wales, comprising 188.5ha of grassland, including 115.7ha owned land and 72.8ha of tenanted land used for youngstock grazing and silage production.

 The soil is primarily peat and clay loam, supporting a grazing system focussed on perennial ryegrass and white clover, with herbal leys to enhance soil health, forage diversity and farm resilience. Three hundred cows produce an average yield of 5,249 litres of milk a year with 3,941 litres coming from grazed grass. High quality silage supports cows during low grass availability periods.

 Kevin Lawrie's farm runs to 141.6ha of owned land and 80.9ha of rented land. The herd consists of 360 cows, evenly split between Holstein and Ayrshire breeds. The average yield is 11.125 litres with 4,992 litres coming from forage.

 Over the past year the decision has been taken to invest in robotic milking. Cows are housed year round due to Ayrshire's variable weather and fed a home-mixed Total Mixed ration (TMR). Forage maize is a key diet component. Grassland is intensively managed with silage production targeting four high quality cuts a year.

Difficult decision

Head judge, Cheshire beef producer Graham Parks, said it was a difficult decision to award the top prize this year because all three farms scored so highly.

 All three were praised by the judging team of Philp Cosgrave (Yara), William Fleming (Germinal), Brent Gibbon (Nufarm), with last year's winner James Henderson, for their technical grassland management, stockmanship and business openness. In particular, the progress made by all three farms over the past ten years has been impressive.

 "In the end, we could not fault the Messenger's delivery of excellent grassland management and animal health and welfare, while successfully contributing towards profitable and sustainable farming practices," said Graham.

 "They scored almost full marks in the Overall Impression category, which looks at use of resources, business resilience, staff management and development and wider participation with their community. Well done to them!"