The Farmers Mart Dec/Jan 2015 - Issue 37 | Page 42

TIM GIBSON LTD Making you think about how you dairy farm! Chris Berry talks with award-winning Tim Gibson of Crakehall. Think robotic milking particularly in Yorkshire and the north of England and you’d be hard pressed to come up with any other name than Tim Gibson. After a decade of sales, installation and maintenance of a leading brand of robotic milkers he has now become the go-to man for help and advice on all models, including everything from installation to usage and supplying parts. He knows them inside out and has no less than three on his 200-cow dairy operation at Hunters Hill Farm just outside picturesque Crakehall near Bedale. As well as his 360 acre part-rented and part-owned farming enterprise, Tim is now working as a consultant and as a master trainer with specialist company, Cow Signals, a collaborative business owned between a number of Dutch vet companies. He has also been picking up awards. In the past year he has won three for his automated feeding system including one he won recently called the Farm Inventions Award which he particularly prizes. Tim has been involved with the management of the family farm since he was just 16 when his father, David was diagnosed with leukaemia. “All I wanted to do was get through college as quickly as I could so that I could get back home and start taking over the reins. Dad passed away when I was 25 and since then the farm has been run with me in partnership with my mother, Denny. My grandfather, John Francis Gibson came here in the late 1940s when it was just 68 acres. Dad built up the farm acreage by buying neighbouring land and we have added to that since. When I took over we had about 100 cows and 100 acres. Since then - and with dairy farms needing to grow ** See our new website and webshop ** www.tim-gibson.com Tel: 01677 424284 / Hunters Hill Farm, Crakehall, Bedale, North Yorkshire, DL8 1LA 42 Dec/Jan 2015 FarmersMart To read more, visit www.farmers-mart.co.uk