Farmer Focus: Farm visits inspire major workspace upgrade
Rob McGregor © Jason Bye The best moment of the summer has been finally moving into our much-anticipated office cabin.
It’s a lot more than just an office: we now have a very comfortable soft-furnished meeting and eating room with an adjacent galley kitchen that even boasts a well-stocked biscuit barrel (I’m not sure how long they will last).
In addition, there is a dry goods storeroom where we keep first aid kits, personal protective equipment, all our tagging and vaccinating equipment, captive bolt euthanasia kit, pregnancy scanning device and the inevitable bank of plug-in chargers that seem to be essential to make things work these days.
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A little nearer to the entrance, to facilitate ease of delivery, we have a pharmacy room where vaccines, antibiotics, medicines and boar semen are stored in appropriate secure, temperature-controlled and recorded cabinets.
The private office room with desk space for two has views across the yard, so comings and goings can be observed.
And in the hallway, we have hand-washing facilities with running hot water (well, it’s 2024, after all).
Did I mention the washing machine and tumble dryer space? Needless to say, work boots come off at the door and a caretaker rota is already in place.
OK, I might be overselling the wonders of all these great facilities just a little.
But the fact is on so many farms (including ours until recently) they don’t always exist, or what is provided falls way below what should be in place to make our working environment safe, efficient and appealing.
It does all require investment, but the value it brings to the business I think outweighs that twice over, and the impression it makes of the farm is powerful.
My inspiration to improve our personnel facilities at LSB came from the Farmers Weekly Awards judging visits I made to meet the farm managers of Woburn Estates and AJ & CI Snell.
They both demonstrated what could be achieved in an agricultural environment, and I must thank my employers for supporting the project back home, especial Robert B, who has put in a great deal of thought and effort while using his endless practical skills to get us stylishly upgraded.