| Livestock
Englefield Estate’s herd manager Terry Perkins on what
Since Englefield Estate’s herd manager, Terry Perkins retired from dairy farming eight years ago to rear the Estate’s pedigree
Fran McElhone about what it takes to rear such a spectacular group.
ithin months of
establishing
Englefield Estate’s
inaugural herd of
Hereford beef
cattle in 2009,
herd manager Terry Perkins
became a force to be reckoned
with on the show circuit; his first
show saw his first bull win first in
his class.
W
Terry regards his herd as
friends, if not family, and many
are named after members of the
Benyon family
Now 73, Terry has spent his life
dedicated to farming; his
childhood years were spent
helping out his dairy farmer father,
and in 1970, a 26-year-old Terry
became the herd manager at
Mayridge Farm within the
Englefield Estate, which has been
owned by the Benyon family since
the 16th century.
In 2008, a plea from the boss to
stay on and establish a herd of
Herefords, proved an irresistible
proposition for the man who’s
calling in life, and passion for
farming were far stronger than his
need for a lie in.
Terry travelled all over the
country to find his prime animals
to form the foundation of the herd,
surveying 13 herds in two days. In
early 2009 he brought together 35
Herefords, including his first bull
called Exterminator, who come
autumn, had made his show debut
and won champion in his class.
Terry’s never come away empty
handed ever since.
“Years ago, I used to show dairy
cows so I thought I knew what I
was looking for,” he says. “But it
26 | Farming Monthly | April 2018
was a completely new project,
dairy is completely different, you
almost have to start all over
again,” he explains. “But a very
good friend of mine who reared
Herefords explained to me what I
should be looking for, and I
seemed to have picked the right
ones. The only thing I’d do
differently is to have selected
animals without horns due to
complications that can arise later
on.”
More than 70 per cent of the
Estate is farm land. Englefield
Home Farms comprises 2,000
acres for livestock and arable
farming. The prize winning herd,
which now has 190 members,
includes 70 cows and all the
followers including heifers, bulls,
bullocks, steers, and 65 calves.
The move to beef cattle meant a
slightly later start in the morning
for Terry who was up at 4am with
the dairy contingent. With the
Herefords he’s up around 6am.
“I still absolutely love them all,”
he says. “During calving season,
my last visit will still be around
8pm or 9pm, when I’ll make sure
all the calves are behaving
themselves, and everyone’s
settled.”
Terry regards his herd as
friends, if not family, and many are
named after members of the
Benyon family. He can recognise
each of them from their looks and
personalities, which he says are all
quite distinct. Can he really
recognise them all?
“Oh yes, I remember all their
names and can identify them all by
the way they act,” he assures me.
Currently, he’s got a lot of
‘Catherines’, whose names are
proceeded with a number, so he
has Catherine one to 20 at the
moment.
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk