LKL Services to Agriculture

A timely solution for a tricky problem

Contract rearing heifers off-farm has allowed Cumbrian producer Mark Shadwick to focus on his cows and increase numbers to 320, producing three million litres a year.

Sending dry cows away would be the next logical step, he says, and allow him to comfortably increase performance with his current team of four staff by adding another 15% milking cows.

Yet just a year ago, Mark was in despair because his dedicated herdsman of 15 years had left. "I didn't think I could get anyone else as conscientious and responsible, particularly when I advertised in the local paper and had no replies. It's getting more difficult to attract good staff, even in a livestock area." he explains.

Knowing someone locally who had used LKL, Mark got in touch. Not only do they run a pool of relief staff, they also recruit on behalf of farmers. For Mark, they used their experience to write a specific advert for a full-time herdsman.

"I wanted someone who I could trust to do the milking, take responsibility for record-keeping and tasks such as heat detection and AI, and occupy a house on the farm."

After placing the advert in a national farming paper, LKL screened applicants to make a short-list for Mark to interview. "We took on Stephen Harrison last December and got where we wanted to be with our herd expansion. He's responsible, conscientious and pays attention to detail, which is necessary with a large herd of high yielding cows."

He adds that a weight of responsibility has been lifted as LKL can help deal with any staff or management issues, and regional manager Ian Lindsay is always on hand to help both parties. "It's a more comfortable position for both Stephen and myself."

Stephen is self-employed, as are the three other staff on the unit. Mark says that as a result, he has learned to be more flexible about working arrangements - as long as the work gets done. "With a high calibre herdsman, I've got no worries that the job will be done. I'm happy I made the decision to go to LKL and would do so again."