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Oadby , originally with its existing parlour before putting in two brand-new Waikatos and now milk 650 cows there .’
Evolution Farming has since expanded even further and now includes farming operations in Cheshire , Norfolk and more recently in Lancashire . It ’ s as though they are collecting counties .
‘ One of Charlie ’ s clients had been the Cholmondeley Estate with land in Norfolk and Cheshire . We took on the management of Houghton Hall , between Fakenham and King ’ s Lynn , a 4000-acre traditional mixed estate with arable , beef and sheep . It is 100 per cent organic , something I was familiar with as that ’ s how we had originally set up at Thornhill Hall Farm when I ’ d come back from college . We started managing the farm at Norfolk when out of the blue the opportunity came up to look after the estate in Cheshire too .’ ‘ We mentioned that if they were looking to farm in-hand , as they were changing from being mainly a tenanted estate , that we managed dairy farms . The Cholmondeley business is predominantly Jersey cows as that ’ s what the owners wanted , but the rest are largely Holstein Friesian X Jersey cows . We hadn ’ t milked any cows at Norfolk until after we started milking in Cheshire .’
Consequently , the Evolution Farming dairy average is way down on a Holstein herd . The Leicestershire-based herd at Oadby averages around 5000 litres per cow . Tom isn ’ t concerned about this because of their dairy farming system , which relies on cows walking to grass .
‘ If you ’ re into high yield you are also into high costs . We try to retain profit by having simple systems and really efficient use of labour . What it means is that our team can have a decent working life , but not as intense all year round and we don ’ t have to replace our herd at 20 per cent a year .’
In October 2019 another tenant on the Cholmondeley estate gave up his tenancy , while staying in his farmhouse , and Evolution took it on as their next dairy farm ; lately they have taken on a tenancy in Lancashire at Brindle near Chorley where a dairy farmer is emigrating to Australia . It will only be a small herd of 200 cows , but it takes
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them to 2700 dairy cows over seven dairy farming operations and sees them now looking after around 8500 acres .
Ironically , the scale they have now reached has meant that Tom has had to go back into the buying of farm machinery .
‘ We now do the vast majority of our own tractor work in hand ,’ says Tom . ‘ One of the main reasons behind the award we recently won for dairy innovation was that in January 2016 there were only four people working in the business and now today there are 45 and as anyone will tell you cows are relatively straightforward but people ? Some are , and some are not .’
‘ A year ago we started getting stuck into a systems-based approach which would mean anyone walking on to the farm would have the A to Z of what we need to record , why , how to treat the cows , how we move them around and basically anything to do with animal health and welfare recording .’
Health and safety , and wellbeing is at the heart of every employee ’ s job description too , just as much as cow welfare from grazing to breeding and herd improvement ; calving , heifers , milk quality and nutrients .
Charlie says : ‘ The big thing for myself and Tom is to spend time with our managers and then have them and us install that same culture we have throughout the team . We want everyone to enjoy coming to work and perform to their greatest potential .’
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‘ Offering career progression is important and we know that many have aspirations which we are then able to help with in offering management positions and / or the opportunity to buy in to the business . We are creating a path for development as an individual by taking on more dairy operations ourselves . The big thing for us is that people run the farms the way we want them run and being good with their teams . It ’ s that greater scale we have here that brings that about . People always perform better if they have a stake in the business .’
‘ We invest a serious amount of time and effort into our managers and meet them every month . We want the same culture as ourselves .’
Team spirit and peer competition are two of their hallmarks . This year has proved difficult in keeping that culture through
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Covid-19 restrictions but they are managing it .
‘ It ’ s the biggest single issue we ’ ve had since March . We have Zoom meetings , which are good , but that culture of ‘ play hard , work hard ’ and all come together for a big company bash is out of the window this year . Under normal circumstances January would be the time of our awards night held at the local sports club near to Thornhill . It is the annual Evolution night out when Arla and some of our top clients attend and we host our own farm awards for Most Improved and Best Farm . If you ’ re at the bottom one year , you will push yourself the next because you don ’ t want to be there , even if you ’ ve done well in your own way . Peer group pressure is a good thing .’
Evolution now has a fleet of farm machinery from forage wagons to tractors because of
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its scale . Tom has reassessed the number of farms they now say will be their limit to taking on .
‘ I used to say 10 , but since we ’ re nearly there maybe I should change that to 20 , with maybe some nearer to us in Yorkshire if they come up , but what we both say is that the morning one of us wakes up and says ‘ no more ’ that will do . The critical thing is having guys that want to keep moving forward with us .’
Carbon control and improved soil health through sequestering the carbon via growing organic matter is a big thing for Tom and Charlie . They are firm believers in cows in fields eating grass and being fed silage inside .
‘ People expect to see cows outside and I suspect with the current push for organic matter and healthier soils we will start to see even more of that in future . Now that ’ s a positive evolution .’
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