Our national livestock board is made up of elected regional livestock board chairmen.
We passionately believe that British farmers produce meat of the highest quality and welfare standards and will continue to champion the cause of the British livestock farmer.
We are committed to ensuring a profitable and sustainable sector that offers encouragement to the next generation to enter the industry.
We believe the key to a profitable and sustainable industry is a fair return for what farmers produce and a price that enables farmers to invest with confidence in the future of red meat production.
We want to see an efficiently functioning and transparent supply chain and aim to build relationships with all parts of the chain including the customer to deliver this goal.
We are committed to facing the challenge of climate change and will promote the environmental benefits of UK livestock production and ensure that informed and balanced debate takes place on the role of livestock in climate change.
We are committed to tackling diseases that impact directly on herd/flock performance and reduce profitability across sectors. Bovine TB is one such disease that can have a devastating financial impact on our members' ability to trade. Therefore bovine TB remains our highest priority and we will continue to work on a comprehensive eradication programme that includes measures to tackle the disease in wildlife.
Who's on the board?
Chairman - Charles Sercombe
Charles tenant farms in partnership with his wife, Helen, just outside Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. He has three young children. Although the farm is mixed with dairy, beef and arable enterprises, Charles has a particular interest in the sheep sector and as well as running a commercial flock he has also been involved with the pedigree world for a number of years.
Vice chairman - Bill Mellor
Bill joined the NFU 1996 and has been an active member ever since, having worked his way through the branch, county and regional system. He now represents the North West on the national livestock board. He farms 120 acres of grassland on the urban fringes of Greater Manchester and takes advantage of being close to the urban masses and local abattoirs. This enables him to sell home-produced boxed beef and lamb direct to consumers off the farm and via local butchers. Bill also produces
pedigree Simmental cattle.
South West – Andy Foot
Details to follow.
North East – Hans Porkson
Hans is a tenant SDA grass farmer on the National Trust's Wallington Estate, running both a commercial and pedigree sheep flock. Prior to farming in his own right, Hans was a dairy farm manager and spent nearly 20 years in agricultural education at Kirkley Hall in Northumberland. He obtained a tenancy on the National Trust Wallington Estate in 1990 and concentrated on producing performance recorded rams and quality suckler calves. Having recently dispersed his cows, he purchased some high-indexed Texels and now has the highest genetically rated flock recorded by Signet in the UK.
West Midlands – Tim Jones
Details to follow
South East – Howard Bates
Howard farms in partnership with his wife in Kent, six miles east of Rye. An eighth-generation farmer and grazier, Howard runs his closed flock of Romney Marsh sheep on grassland, all designated SSSI and managed under HLS. All livestock are sold through the auction market at Ashford. Howard, 50, returned to the family farm in 1984 after a commission in the Royal Navy and some sheep shearing and travelling in New Zealand. He and Yvonne have three children.
East Anglia – Ian Frood
Ian farms with his family on a mixed tenanted farm in Essex. The main enterprise is a suckler herd of 110 cows running with Simmental bulls which are grazed on the Essex Coast in an environmentally sensitive area. All the progeny are taken through to finishing on a forage and home mix diet, bulls finishing at 13 months of age and heifers at 15 to 18 months. The cereal enterprise of 450 acres is an equal split between feed barley and milling wheat. All the arable area is in the ELS environmental scheme.
Wales (NFU Cymru) – Peter Davies
Peter and wife Jill are upland farmers running both sheep and beef enterprises in the Swansea valley in South Wales. The sheep enterprise is centered on a flock of Welsh Mule ewes while the cattle side of things involves rearing calves and selling to the store trade. As well as marketing through the local auction market, Peter also supplies lamb direct to local butcheries in the Swansea area. He has been involved with the NFU for eight years and has held a number of county and national roles. Peter is passionate about livestock farming and wants to see a profitable and attractive industry in order to encourage the next generation.
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