Trevor Warren always wanted to farm in his own right. His dream became reality when he took on a Cheshire East County Council tenancy with his family in March 2019.
It took Trevor Warren many years of applying for farm tenancies, saving money and building up cow numbers, while working as a herdsman in the south-east of England, before he was successful in obtaining a county council farm tenancy.
Now Mr Warren, together with his wife May and family, are almost three years into a 15-year tenancy of the 45-hectare (112-acre) Greenbank Farm, in Alvanley, Cheshire.
While they both acknowledge their journey has been hard, they would encourage others to do the same.
Mr Warren says: Anyone taking on a tenancy knows they will not be in for an easy ride, but if you want your own business in farming, then it is achievable. I have always wanted my own farm and despite some knock-backs I was not going to give up.
First year
Mrs Warren agrees and says the first year of the tenancy was the hardest with just the two of them running the farm to begin with.
Mr Warrens son, Oli, now works with them full-time and this is very much a family affair with Mr and Mrs Warrens two children, six-year-old Hope and 18-month-old Bear, already showing a keen interest in farming, along with Mr Warrens children, Jude (11), Cleo (12) and grown-up sons, Jack and Sonny.
The couple have a background in farming, with Mrs Warren attending agricultural college and meeting Mr Warren through their interest in showing cattle.
Mr Warrens love of cows and business sense was instilled in him by his parents, with his mother owning a small holding and his father working with well-known herds, including Twizzlefoot.
After successfully applying for Greenbank Farm, following six unsuccessful applications for other tenancies, the couple moved up to Cheshire in March 2019. They came with four double-decker loads of pedigree Holstein cows, which they had kept at a farm in Dover where they had both been working.
Mr Warren says: I worked at the farm for more that 14 years and May was part of the calf rearing and milking team there. We kept our cows there and had a formal agreement whereby the farm owner rented my milking cows from me and I paid for the heifer rearing.
Cow numbers now stand at 135 cows, which are registered under the Hennikers prefix, but the Warrens are aiming to build the herd up to 150 and want to move from twice-a-day milking to three-times-a-day to maximise the milking potential.
The cows are currently giving an average annual yield of 10,000 litres at 4.38% fat and 3.41% protein.
Mr Warren explains the cows were previously being milked three-times-a-day, when housed in the south-east, but in order to get established at Greenbank Farm, the decision was made to go with twice-a-day milking.
Mr Warren says: Before we add in an extra milking we want to build up herd numbers to help justify the extra labour cost that will be required.
Set-up
For the last couple of years, the Warrens have been working hard to set the farm up.
The parlour is a 10:20 Fullwood Swing Over, which was already in situ when the Warrens took on the farm. It has been updated with the installation of auto ID using equipment bought second-hand.
Adjustments have also been made to the cubicles, including the installation of neck rails and brisket tubes to help with cow positioning and there has been investment in water harvesting equipment, land drainage and re-seeding.
Mr Warren says: When we first came here I wanted to re-seed everything, but we needed the forage straightaway so had to leave it.
I came from a farm where the cows were fully housed and grassland was in an arable rotation. I did not fully appreciate the importance of re-seedin, but from carrying out some re-seeding here I can now see just how valuable this is.
This year, 16 hectares (40 acres) have been re-seeded. Mr Warren says, going forward, any ground that has grown maize for three years will be re-seeded and older leys put into maize.
As well as longer-term grass mixes, Mr Warren has carried out a spring re-seed with a festulolium grass mix with vetch and clover for clamp and bale silage.
He says: It had one light application of fertiliser to get it started and from then on just had some slurry. With the price of fertiliser, we need to be thinking about nitrogen fixing crops and this has performed well this year.
As well as improving the farm and farmland, the Warrens are also focusing on investing in their herds genetics, something which is vital for the future of their business.
He says: As part of the business plan which we presented to the council, we highlighted the income that would come from sales of pedigree stock, semen and embryos.
These sales are a combination of private sales driven by social media and through consignments at auctions, such as the Spotlight Sale at Sedgemoor and the Shrewsbury Highlights sale.
Hennikers Sires
The family also runs the Hennikers Sires business to market semen from the herd.
Mr Warren says he appreciates the commercial farmer who is aiming to buy cows to slot straight into the herd, but says he is also aiming to breed elite animals which suit his herd and will be suitable for showing and are of interest to other breeders.
I believe that if you are going to rear a calf then it may as well be one with a top pedigree as it costs the same to rear them as it does to rear any calf.
Investments
Investments have been made into a number of influential cow families, including a daughter of RF Golwyn Hailey EX97 and a granddaughter of Decrausaz Iron OKalibre EX97, bought from the German Masters Sale.
These were bought before the Warrens had taken on the tenancy.
The purchases meant they had to sell some machinery which had been bought with the intention of being used when a farm came up for rent.
Mr Warren says: When we moved here we had to then start buying machinery, but by that time we had taken embryos from them and had calves on the ground. In the end the investment paid off.
Mr Warren says the money generated from embryo sales is dependent on the pedigree backing it up and the cost of carrying out the embryo transfer (ET) work.
To help offset this, he is trained in ET work and flushing, meaning he can do all of the herds own embryo work. In the future he also plans to offer this service to other farmers.
Showing
When it comes to showing cattle, Mrs Warren says as well as being a good shop window for their cattle, it is also something the family enjoy doing.
She says: This year we went to the Royal Cheshire Show for the first time, where we won the reserve dairy inter-breed with Hennikers Nolhanna.
Nolhanna was purchased as an embryo and is a daughter of RF Goldwyn Hailey and by MS Atlees Sht Aftershock.
One of the original cow familys at Hennikers is the Sky Hopes and Hennikers Awesome Sky Hope 2, was honourable mention at the Royal Cheshire. Her daughter, a red calf - Hennikers Rager Sky Hope - has also qualified for this years All Breeds All Britain Calf Show.
Looking head, there are plans to put concrete sleeper tracks in to help cows access paddocks and the building work for a 140ft by 40ft shed will soon be completed, which will be used to house the milking herd.
For the first winter it will be a loose-housed straw yard and then next summer cubicles will be added.
The Warrens have a clear long-term plan for the remainder of their 15-year tenancy.
Mr Warren says: The plan is to hold a production sale of elite animals every five years. The first sale will help us reduce our debt and borrowing, the second will generate money and the third will be our final dispersal sale.
And for anybody else looking to take on a farm tenancy, the Warrens would encourage them to never stop following their dream.
Mr Warren says: I had been a herd manager and worked as a dairyman for a long time, but setting up a farm from zero was definitely the hardest thing I have done. So expect it to be hard, but do not let that put you off.
Farm facts
- Farm facts
- - The herd contains a number of Jersey and all are descendants of the one cow, Hennikers Jude Milky EX92, which Mr Warren bought for his son Sonny
- Milk is sold to Meadow Foods
- 8 hectares (20 acres) is rented from a neighbour
- Sexed semen is used on most of the herd. Any cows not destined to breed replacements are used as recipients for pure-bred Beef Shorthorn embryos
- Contractors carry out maize harvesting and slurry spreading.
- Silage making is carried out in-house using a forage wagon.
- In this years Staffordshire herd competition, Hennikers Holsteins won trophies for the best female family with their Hailey animals and best home-bred production cow with Hennikers Montross Honora.
- Cows are fed a total mixed rationall year round based on grass, maize and lucerne. They have access to paddock grazing during the summer and are fed to yield in the parlour.
