Chris Awdry

Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Turning up at Chris Awdry’s yard, you can see it’s the middle of silly season. A rake is in the workshop, a line of brand new high-spec trailers are fully serviced and ready to go and there’s a buzz of activity. Chris is neatly dressed, but you can see that he’s been up since the crack of dawn.

Having grown up on a dairy farm, Chris went to Lackham College and upon finishing his course in 1980, started helping a local contractor out with foraging with the farms’ own trailed forager.

From there, he gradually took on more and more acreage and in 1988, the first self-propelled forager was purchased. This marked a turning point for the business, which now has 250 customers and spans from Frome across to Salisbury and from Yeovil up to Swindon.

To enable him to remember every job that comes in, he uses the voice recorder on his mobile phone, which he downloads at the end of each day into his diary. He doesn’t believe in leaving the little jobs, either. “When we can fit in the odd 50 acres here and there we will – those customers are just as important,” he says. Testament to the quality of the job that Chris does, the business has never lost a customer to another contractor.

The closeness of this team is obvious, and the whole workforce was shaken by the death of a colleague due to skin cancer last year. A memorial fund-raising event was held with the help of the entire workforce.

Training is also very important, with each member of staff fully ticketed to drive the machinery they are put on. A student is taken on each year from Lackham for further development.

The time hasn’t come for him to hang up his driving gloves just yet, either. “I believe it’s still important for me to stay conversent with every machine and I like to fill in for anyone who wants to finish early.”

As well as the contracting side of the business, the Awdrys also run 300 head of suckler cows, giving them first-hand experience of how forage quality impacts on farmers’ bottom lines. Due to running a farm, the Awdrys are also well-versed in environmental legislation and are currently in Organic entry-level and varying degrees of stewardship schemes on the contract farmed land. Water courses are carefully managed, particularly on the OELS escarpment located on the farm. Flora and fauna surveys are also carried out regularly.

During quieter times, staff are employed on farm-building projects and digging out slurry pits for customers. Although the business is primarily dedicated to core farming, Chris sees this as the cement between the blocks as well as something a little different for staff to get their teeth into. Across the business, there are 11 full-time staff and during peak times this can grow up to 20, including Chris and his two sons. One son is responsible for the day-to-day management of the suckler herd and the other is involved in the contracting side.

Each tractor has an A4 diary to record fuel use, acreage and customer, with the details filled in by the drivers daily.

“It’s important that the driver gets the tractor he likes driving,” he says, adding that their preference also extends to purchasing decisions. In 2003, Chris saw the opportunity to expand the forage side of the business into arable, and won several farm contracts. With the help of arable manager, Martin Smart, the business has expanded to take on more contract farming, growing the acreage up to 3,000 acres. This was helped by some farming businesses deciding to pool resources and opt for getting a contractor in to carry out the work, enabling Chris to build up a fleet of combines as well as two Claas 950 Jaguars for the foraging side of the business.

The judges liked

• Staff management central to business

• Well-maintained and modern machinery

• Accurate handle on costs

• Strong environmental conscience

Collaboration with other contractors

Business facts

• 7,000 acres of first-cut silaging

•3,000 acres of arable contract farming

5,000 acres of combining (including the contract farming)

• Muck spreading/slurry injection

• Contract spraying

• 300 head of suckler cows

2011 Farmers Weekly Awards