  |
Hello my name is Andrew Shillington from Caledon, Co. Armagh. I farm at home with my father, David. We have 50 Suckler cows and we finish all the calves. We also grow around 110 acres of cereals and operate a contracting business as well. Both Dad and I spend a lot of time on the contracting side of the business – we cut and bale silage, plough and plant with a one-pass operation, spray and spread slurry. I completed the Part-time NVQ Level II Award in Livestock production in 2001. This was based in a local centre in Banbridge where I went one day a week for 18 months. I then went to the part-time NVQ Beef course based at Greenmount for two more years. While I was doing these courses I also attended other training on A.I., telescopic handler, operating a sprayer and 360o digger operation. All of these have been a great benefit to me at home. We try to provide a good service to our customers, and are willing to try out new techniques and adopting the most modern approaches when we can. Our slurry spreader is equipped with a trailing shoe applicator which allows us to apply slurry, especially pig slurry, to grass swards with the minimum of contamination. The one-pass seeder allows us to get a lot of work done when the weather allows – very important this year. I really enjoy farming at home. However I really appreciate the training I received through Greenmount. It has allowed us to develop or business and make us viable in these difficult times.
|
