Farmers Weekly Awards 2026: Pig Farmer of the Year

The management team at North Farm Livestock are running a highly efficient pig farming business. A huge focus is placed on the welfare of all animals and people involved, as well as the sustainability of the environment and local economy.

See also: 5 ways to keep disease out of outdoor pig herds

Every element of their approach balances productivity and profit, with zero compromise on their long-term impact and success. This enables them to forge strong, long-term relationships, allowing the family business to grow.

A walk around some of their units during one of this year’s scorching heatwaves made it clear how comfortable and happy the pigs were. Investment in accommodation and infrastructure, such as clean-water drinkers, is clearly paying off.

Productivity

Last year, North Farm Livestock committed to trebling the size of its business.

By spring 2027, they will have 13,500 sows on their outdoor breeding farms, and the number of free-range finishing farms will increase from 27 to 44, developing farms across Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire.

With this expansion underway, performance figures remain strong and improving, with more than 29 pigs a sow a year on average and weaning an average of 12.14 piglets.

The structure of their farms, with breeding or finishing managers overseeing clusters of units, allows the necessary attention to detail to make continuous improvements.

This contributes to their low antibiotics use, with wean-to-finish usage at 15.7 mg/kg and breeding unit usage about 0.3-1.2mg/kg.

While looking to wean high numbers, the aim is to wean a strong piglet to go onto one of their finishing farms. Growth rates on the finishing side see an average daily liveweight gain of 820g and feed conversion ratio of 2.39.

Forward-thinking approach

The leadership team are open to ideas and show a constant willingness to improve.

With a well-managed succession plan, the older and younger generations of the family are driving growth together, surrounding themselves with the experts who can help them achieve that.

They are environmentally conscious, using renewables where possible and testing muck and soil to evaluate the environmental impact of outdoor pigs.

They are trialling how buffer strips can minimise any run-off on units with different topographies and planting different grazing mixes.

Investing in technology includes using digital systems for management, trialling hardware for on-farm decision making and investigating how artificial intelligence could help with forecasting in areas such as feed purchasing.

Staff are nurtured, with a focus on bringing people up through the business. Managers are empowered to make decisions for their own units, using the Radical Candor communication approach in their leadership.

Where they rent land, the team see themselves as a proactive partner. Landowners testify to their contribution to their own farm’s profitability and the benefit they have seen in subsequent arable crops and biodiversity.

What the judges say

North Farm Livestock have built a model where they are pig farming at scale, with incredibly high performance and welfare standards. They know their market, they constantly adapt and improve, and they have created a business where people want to work.