Farmers Weekly Awards 2026: Sheep Farmer of the Year

Ben Hughes has transformed a 350-ewe enterprise that relied on set stocking, and bought-in feed, into a 1,200-head flock with lambs finished on forage and commanding a 40p/kg premium.

On top of that, he contract-shepherds flocks of 800 Lleyns and 420 Romney/Highlanders on share-farming agreements and finishes an additional 3,500 lambs for other customers.

See also: FW Awards: Meet the 2026 Sheep Farmer of the Year finalists

For Ben, the opportunity to shepherd the Robinson Farm Partnership’s flock at Grove Farm, near Alresford, offered potential far beyond 350 ewes.

In 2022, he sat down with Ben Robinson (whose family business also includes Hattingley Valley Wines) and proposed a strategy for growth.

It was the start of a great working relationship: last winter, 7,500 sheep were grazing behind electric fencing across Hampshire and into Dorset.

Reliability and communication skills

Working with about 30 landowners, Ben’s sheep graze in summer on drought-resilient herbal leys and wildflower mixes and in winter on cover crops, forage crops and dairy grass.

It’s often as important for pasture to be clean as it is nutritious, he says, especially for finishing lambs.

Running a complex system successfully relies on organisational skills and attention to detail.

For Ben, reliability and good communication skills are also key. “I go round all the arable farmers at harvest – they’ve got the combine on autosteer so it’s a good time to look at cropping plans and plan for winter grazing. Gradually, I complete the jigsaw,” he says.

To help logistics, Ben and under-shepherd Nathan Parker run three mobile sheep handling systems.

A frame built to hold the weigh crate on the back of the handling system cuts journey times for monthly weighing of lambs. And racking fitted on the back of the buggy to hold 80ha worth of fencing kit further improves their efficiency.

Cost control and performance

Ben’s previous role managing a large dairy operation saw him rearing a lot of heifers. From this experience, he reckons a shearling has the same requirements as a heifer, to ensure optimum performance.

“You want a good-quality animal, good nutrition and no checks on growth,” he says.

To this end, home-bred North Country Mule cross Texel ewe lambs are kept for breeding if they weigh more than 42kg at tupping and are “sound in all respects”.

He is continually checking costs and looking for ways to improve profitability. For example, ewes housed for lambing are now fed clamp silage rather than baled, saving £6,972 a year (based on 1,250 bales costed at £12.50 each, excluding labour and plastic wrap).

Ben is rightly proud of pushing the sheep enterprise to where it is now. By careful planning, collaborating with other farmers and monitoring performance, he’s developed a successful system that matches the resources available – and is keen to grow it further.

What the judges say

Ben has channelled his drive and ambition to develop a low-cost, profitable system that matches the resources available, and he is continually looking at ways to improve flock performance. With this much commitment, there’s nothing to hold him back.