Farmer Profiles

Chris Awdry

Chris is one of our beef farmers involved in the Tesco Sustainable Beef Project. He has a mixed beef and arable farm in Wiltshire where he rears and finishes up to 200 head of beef for Tesco through Southern Counties Fresh Foods. Chris has a suckler herd of 250 head of mixed breed cows and uses a Blonde Aquitaine bull to produce good confirmation steers and heifers. Chris also operates a large machinery contracting operation which works well with some arable share farming agreements he has with local farmers. He believes that the future of the farm is to be as efficient as possible by spreading overhead costs and to reduce the cost of production in rearing and finishing the cattle. The contracting business allows him to spread his costs and have up to date machinery and a supply of cereals and straw that are used for his beef enterprise.

The beef suckler herd calve in the spring and turned out in late April on to the river meadows where they have access to plenty of grass. A crop of grass and maize silage is cut and ensiled for winter feeding and the remainder of the feed ration is from his arable enterprises. He uses a total mixed ration system to ensure the cows and the finishing cattle have exactly the right level of nutrition and feed costs are kept to a minimum. The suckler herd work well in his system as they look after their own progeny in the summer when he is busy cereal harvesting.

Chris has signed up to a herd health planning initiative which is funded by Tesco,  and in partnership with Southern Counties, Westpoint Veterinary group and his local vet practice to improve the health status of his herd and reduce production costs further. He has been a supplier to Southern Counties for more than 10 years and benefits from the feedback he receives from the producers club.