| Livestock
Englefield Estate Herd Manager Terry Perkins and Englefield Estate
Tenant Farmer Simon Strang
it takes to rear an award-winning herd year after year
Hereford cattle herd, he’s never come away from a show without a rosette. As show season gets under way again, he speaks to
“They’re beautiful animals,” he
says. “But they’ve got a funny old
streak in them, they’re hard work if
they don’t want to do something,
you have to tell them to stop
mucking about, and they give up
as soon as you’ve cornered them!”
He must have a favourite? “Oh
no, I don’t think I have a favourite,”
he adds. “Only when we’re
winning shows!”
Terry and his team select 18 of
his prime specimens for the show
season early in the new year;
seven to show, plus a cohort of
reserves. Once they’ve become
used to their halters, Terry will give
them a few lessons in obedience
and how to walk the walk.
“Obviously they play up a bit and
pull you around,” he says. “But
within weeks they’ll walk with you
like Labradors,” Terry says.
“They’re more intelligent than
people give them credit for.”
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
Terry swears by linseed oil to
add that extra sheen to the
animals’ coats, which he says
require precisely the right amount
of blow drying. “I’ll start giving
them wash and blow dries, twice a
week, I don’t do it too early
because they get dandruff,” Terry
adds. “They absolutely love being
fussed over,” he continues. “When
you’re getting ready to go to a
show, they’ll push you around
because they want to get
groomed, they think it’s super.”
Terry’s first show is the Surrey
County Show in May. This year he
plans to show at five shows
including the Royal Three
Counties Show, the Buck County
Show, the Romsey Show and the
Berkshire County Show in
September rounding off the
season. Terry tends to go to the
shows where he thinks the most
interest might be.
“They’re my shop window,” he
says, adding that he sold around
£20,000 worth of cattle following
the Berkshire County Show last
year.
The walls of his office,
resplendent with rosettes and
certificates, are a testament to
Terry’s devotion and genuine love
for his cattle. “I haven’t the faintest
idea how many we’ve got,” he
says. “300-odd maybe. One of the
lads who works for me insists o n
putting the certificates up too, we’ll
be hanging them on top of each
other soon.
“Our animals are getting better
and better every time,” he adds.
“But I don’t think I’ll ever know
everything there is to know, I’m
learning all the time.”
For the last five years, Terry has
helped train Berkshire Agriculture
College students at the farm. This,
he says has been a highlight of his
Terry swears by linseed oil to
add that extra sheen to the
animals’ coats, which he says
require precisely the right
amount of blow drying
more recent career. And somehow,
he manages to find the time to run
his own gardening business.
So what’s the secret to his
success? “I think it’s attention to
detail,” he ponders. “And you get
to know the judges, and what they
like.”
I suggest to Terry it could also
be down to his genuine care for
what he does. “Oh yes,” he adds
modestly. “You’ve really got to love
what you’re doing. I just wanted
something to do when I retired,
and it just took off. If I had my life
all over again, I wouldn’t do it any
differently. It’s a way of life.”
April 2018 | Farming Monthly | 27