Farmers Weekly Awards 2025: Dairy Farmer of the Year

John and Nicola Young of Jenkin Cragg Farm, Kendal in Cumbria are the winners of Farmers Weekly Awards 2025 Dairy Farmer of the Year.

A well-bred herd selected for milk yield, health and fertility is driving production at Jenkin Cragg Farm, Kendal, where John and Nicola Young’s cows produce an annual average of 13,480 litres.

That exceptional production is thanks to a combination of cow type, accommodation, nutrition and attention to detail.

See also: FW Awards: Meet the 2025 Dairy Farmer of the Year finalists

“We have always used the best genomic bulls and, the better you feed the cow, the more comfort you give her, yield will follow,” says John.

Foot health and milk constituents are also traits factored into sire choice.

Milk yields play a key part in profitability, as an annual output of 6.9m litres/year from 523 cows dilutes fixed costs.

It was a comment made by the farm vet during pregnancy scanning that concentrated their focus on production – stating theirs was the lowest yielding herd in his practice.

“I thought ‘I’m not having that’, and that was it,” John recalls.

Grit and resolve

The trait of never shying away from a challenge was set at just 16 when his father died, leaving John and his 17-year-old brother with a farm to run, as their mother had passed away some years earlier.

Neighbouring farms were exiting dairying, but the brothers wanted to give it a go and grow the herd from 80 cows, running the business through trustees for 11 years until their youngest brother turned 18.

The family made remarkable progress in the intervening years.

They have since navigated a partnership split that’s exceptionally amicable, as John’s brothers left the business but continue to work on the farm.

“I’m really proud of that – how many families could do that and still get on well?’’ says John.

Further business growth and innovation now focuses on succession with the couple’s sons, James and Matthew, now farming with them.

Production

The Youngs keep total cost of production low by running a “tight ship”, so any milk price increase immediately augments net margin.

Exceptional fertility is aided by a split voluntary service waiting period, introduced to counter the 23% pregnancy rate in cows producing more than 50 litres.

Those high yielders have a voluntary waiting period of 80 days, compared with 60 days for cows producing less than 50 litres; this change has added only one day to the 384-day calving interval.

Average rate for pregnancy is now 31.9%, 79.3% for insemination, and 43% for conception – impressive figures given that sexed semen is used in 90% of inseminations.

The challenges John experienced during his early years of farming have served him and Nicola well.

“When you start off with no money, it sets you up for life. It has made us determined to make as much as we can, to go as far as we can, as quickly as we can,” he says.

There is little doubt they will do that, with a new storage shed for straights to be able to cut feed costs, planning consent in progress for a 74kW anaerobic digestion plant, and opportunities for increasing acreage.

The other finalists:

• Dan Lovatt, New Grange Farm, Staffordshire
• Gary and Jess Yeomans, Pant Farm, Abergavenny