ÎÞÂ붯»­

Pig Unit team secure National Pig Awards Herd Productivity Award 2024

Posted 9 December

The award-winning Pig Unit team at ÎÞÂ붯»­ have added another trophy to their cabinet after securing the National Pig Awards Herd Productivity Award 2024.

Pig and Poultry Sector Manager Matt Swaine and his team picked up the award at this year’s ceremony, .

The award is the fourth time in half a decade that the team’s work has been recognised – having picked up the same trophy in 2022, seen Matt named Stockperson of the Year in 2021, and winning both Indoor Producer and overall Producer of the Year in 2019.

Speaking after this year’s award, Matt said: “It is a great honour to win the National Pig Awards Herd Productivity award for the second time - and it is all down to the dedication of the team and the common goal we share to succeed and to make the unit the best we can.

“It is a massive boost to staff morale and to be recognised nationally shows how much hard work goes into the pig unit.

“I am enormously proud of all the pig unit team for all their hard work, which makes the unit thrive and succeed to the high level of performance they are achieving.

“I should also mention that the sows do work extremely hard for us too - the performance from the sows is remarkable and increasing year on year.”

The 230-sow unit is not only a commercial production facility on the Harper Adams – but is also used for teaching, research and demonstration, working both with external companies for training and CPD, and with students across a range of Harper Adams courses.

Matt added: “Students can get involved in the pig unit by signing up for the farm skills sessions, working alongside unit staff - students can feed sows, process piglets, take part in pregnancy scanning, vaccinating, weighing, and weaning.

“All of these sessions are always very much in demand with really good feedback from students.

“We have HRP studies throughout the year, guiding the students with their trials, we also do lots of tutorials covering animal health, reproduction, environment and behaviour, and general pig tours.”

A ÎÞÂ붯»­ alumna was among the other award winners at this year’s National Pic Awards.

Toni Bagguley, pictured right above, was named Trainee of the Year for her work with high-welfare farming business, British Quality Pigs. Her first encounter with the company was while studying for her BSc (Hons) Agriculture degree at Harper Adams.

Talking in 2022 about her decision to switch degrees, she explained how she had initially wanted to become a lawyer – but the realised that agriculture was her calling.

She added: “My Dad has worked with pigs all his life and managed an outdoor breeding unit for just over 25 years – but except for the odd visit, he kept me quite separate from it.

“My plan was to be a lawyer originally – but after I did some work on the farm, I realised I enjoyed it a lot more.

“So I dropped out of my law course and I applied to Harper Adams instead.

“I had always wanted to work outdoors, but I didn’t realise how much I loved it until I did it. I always knew I liked Agriculture – but I hadn’t realised you could do a degree in it or how important that degree could be.”

While at Harper Adams, Toni secured a year-long placement with the company via a Pilgrim's Agriculture (BQP) Scholarship, before returning there after graduation – and then being named Trainee of the Year 2024.