Family steps up to keep dairy farm thriving after sudden death of beloved husband and father

He died in his sleep in January 2022, aged 42, leaving behind his wife Hannah and two children Olivia, seven, and Giles, aged four.

Despite never having worked on the farm full-time before suddenly having to step in, Hannah strived to keep the farm thriving and tried to balance her time between the business and her two children.

She said: "I was a farmer's daughter and I worked at a vets in Bridgnorth for 17 years. I did help my husband a little bit on the farm, but in no way like it is now.

"It's been horrendous and we have just been trying to get through it as best we can."

Hannah said she could not have continued with the operation of the farm without support from her family, her friends, industry reproduction management specialists and the local community.

She particularly wanted to thank her father Neil, who had been shadowing Graham on the farm for 10 months prior to his death; her mother-in-law Hazel; staff member, Scotty, for stepping up and offering a reliable helping hand with the herd; and family friend Jack Jones, a student at Reaseheath College.

"I met Graham through Young Farmers and if I had just been a normal person in a village, I might not have known my neighbour and had that support network, both family and community – everyone really supported us.

"I'm so thankful for them because without that I don't know where I would be.

"Graham had gone really far with it [the farm] and the easier option would have been to sell, but I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to feel like a part of Graham would go as well.

"There was no option of selling the cows, we had to keep going so we kept going – and if you sold the herd you can't just get it back, that takes years.

"I just thought we have got to keep it ticking over, so my time then was divided between house, running the business and trying to do as much as I could in the daytime and then at night any paperwork I had I would just try and do that."

Hannah said there are now three people doing the work that Graham did on his own - and she admitted she often wonders how he did it.

Back when the farm was operated by Graham’s father, they worked on an all-year-calving system, using Friesian and British Friesian genetics.

During Graham’s time running the herd himself, he changed their breeding decisions and began working with a three-way-cross, including Holstein, Fleckvieh and Norwegian Red genetics, on an autumn block calving schedule.

The family have been customers of Genus ABS – bovine genetics company – for more than 17 years and have used the Reproductive Management System (RMS) for more than 10 years due to Graham’s desire of growing his cow numbers.

They have 260 animals plus 86 replacements.

Since Graham's death, Hannah has been working closely with the RMS team to make improvements regarding the maiden heifers.

Together with her breeding advisor Geraint Windsor, they stripped the Yorkshire boarding from the sheds with a hammer to allow for daylight, in an attempt to mimic the spring season.

They also worked to keep the heifers on a tight schedule, whereby they are up at 4am, are fed, and are then left ready for specialist, Becca, to examine them.

This strategy appears to be working as 76.8 per cent of the herd is pregnant with an average Days in Milk at first breeding of 59 days.

When discussing the support she received from RMS, Hannah added: “For me, after the year we've had, knowing that Becca turns up and just takes control of it is great.

“If we did not have RMS here in that situation, I don't know what I'd have done, it would have been really hard. Becca is definitely our key, not only as a specialist but she’s become a friend here.

“She has been a really good support to me and the children and to the whole team.”