The National Livestock Board is made up of elected regional livestock board chairmen.
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NFU Livestock Board objectives and aims:
- 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 aim to reverse the declining production base of our industry and to do this we must have profitable and sustainable farming enterprises.
- We believe the key to a profitable and sustainable industry is a fair return for what farmers produce. We want to see gradual and steady price increase 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 aims to build relationships with all parts of the chain including the customer to deliver this goal.
- We remain remains committed to limiting unnecessary regulation and cost in the industry and we are also lobbying for clear and coherent country of origin labelling so consumers can make informed choices.
- 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 also committed to looking at how the industry can reduce its environmental footprint via the red meat roadmap.
- We will continue to prepare for the disease challenges that face the UK; whether it is the resurgence of bluetongue or other exotic disease that threatens the nation’s livestock, therefore we will continue to support measures that maintain and protect our disease free status.
- We are committed to tackling endemic disease that impact directly on herd / flock performance and reduce profitability across sectors. TB is one such disease that can have a devastating financial impact on businesses ability to trade. Therefore bovine TB remains our highest priority and we will continue to press for a comprehensive eradication programme that includes measures to tackle the disease in wildlife.
Chairman - Alistair Mackintosh
Alistair farms in partnership with his wife on the West coast of Cumbria running beef, sheep and arable enterprises. The farm is divided between two units, one lowland and one within the SDA. He runs 1,200 mule breeding ewes and a 140 cow Limousin cross Suckler herd.
He sells finished and store stock through the local auction market. The farm also grows between 50 and 120 acres of grain which is used to feed back to livestock on the farm. He is married to Angela and has two sons, Alistair and Cameron. While both are still at school they take a keen interest in the farm. Alistair, 49, began his involvement with the NFU at a local level some 25 years ago and has served in most positions at a branch and county level before being elected to the NFU Livestock Board two years ago.
Vice Chairman and South West – John Hore
John farms near Bristol. He started with dairy, beef and sheep on 220 acres, which gradually increased to 450 acres. The dairy cows were sold some five years ago when beef and sheep numbers were increased. Prior to farming, John attended Seale Hayne Agricultural College - attaining a National Diploma in Agriculture and a Diploma in Farm Management. He was employed for 15 years by ICI, initially in animal nutrition then moved on to become assistant farm manager in North Riding/Durham, followed by nine years as a farm manager on Teesside (2,600 acres,1,000 acres of arable, 350 suckler cows, 1200 ewes). He obtained the tenancy on the farm near Bristol in 1983. John is married to Yvonne and has two children.
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, ending up managing the ANCA Sheep Course. 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. His main aim on the Livestock Board is to ensure that farmers have a sustainable future with a profit level which reflects their investment in the industry.
West Midlands – Bryan Wilson
Bryan farms in partnership with his wife Carole in Stafford, running beef and sheep. The farm is divided between two units, one in Staffordshire and the other in Shropshire, running 180 suckler cows, three quarters of them pedigree Limousin and British blues. They also produce stock bulls, export bulls, finish all cattle and buy in E/U grade heifers for finishing, supplying butcher outlets. Bryan and Carole have two daughters – Harriet, 18, and Sammie, 16, both of whom have a keen interest in livestock and specialise in showing the cattle at a high level. Bryan is 46 and began involvement with the NFU at local branch level around 20 years ago. He says he reached the position of West Midlands Livestock Chairman by default!
North West - 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, and now represents the North West region 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. As well as selling meat, Bill also produces pedigree Simmental cattle which are sold to various cattle breeders throughout the UK. Bill has increased farms margins by diversifying into horse liveries and haylage production. He is married with two daughters, the eldest having a keen interest in animal science and the youngest doing GCSE’s. Both are very active in Cheshire young farmers.
East Midlands – Charles Sercombe
Charles farms a tenancy in partnership with his wife, Helen, just outside Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, along with his 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.
South East – Howard Bates
Howard farms in partnership with his wife on the Romney Marsh in Kent, six miles east of Rye on the south east coast. 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 is married to Yvonne and they have three children.
East Anglia – Ian Frood
Ian farms with his family on a mixed tenanted farm in Essex, located between the urban and industrial fringe. 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. Being situated on the urban fringe, diversification is important; hay and straw production for horses together with DIY livery is combined with some local contracting and storage. Retailing of home produced meat is also a feature of the business, but due to escalating costs this is being scaled back.
Wales (NFU Cymru) – Peter Davies
Peter, in partnership with his wife, Jill, is an upland farmer 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 and this is an area he would like to expand on in the coming years. He has been involved with the NFU for the past eight years and has held a number of county and national roles including county chairman, county treasurer and county president, as well as Welsh national livestock chairman. Peter is passionate about livestock farming and wants to see a profitable and attractive industry in order to encourage the next generation.