Why Cheryl would be an effective mentor

  • Bio-chemist Cheryl farms a beef finishing enterprise with her husband near Bangor on Dee. Cheryl has excellent time management skills and juggles the demands of helping out with day-to-day farming activities alongside their award winning diversification business Agri-cation CIC. Her responsibilities include the day to day running of the farm; leading and managing staff, training and assessing, maintaining animal welfare standards; farm inspections, monitoring nutrition, as well as administrative tasks. 

  • An automated calf rearing system was set up in June 2019.   This system has the capacity to rear up to 120 calves in one batch and has improved the business cashflow, profitability, and reduced manual handling and labour.  EID software is used to manage the performance of the cattle. 

  • Passionate about educating children and the public about the agricultural industry, Cheryl and her husband set up a diversification business called Agri-cation CIC, this helps bridge the gap between rural and urban lifestyles educating on food production from seed to plate.  This business supports children and young adults with additional learning needs, school refusers, the unemployed and people within the Justice system.  This works with other organisations such as LEAF education, Country Trust, and local authority to provide a excellent educational platform for those that attend. 

  • Cheryl has knowledge in operational excellence, health and safety, COSHH assessments, farm inspections and business planning. 

  • Cheryl is keen to share her knowledge and experience to help others within the agricultural industry to drive their businesses forward. 

Current farm business

  • 30 acres owns, 112 acres rented
  • 200 beef cattle
  • 400 calves reared annually 

Qualifications/achievements/experience

  • 2006: BSc in Biochemistry, University of Liverpool
  • 2017: Various training courses including Managing your Cash Flow, Business Planning & Development and Financial Recording of VAT, Lantra
  • 2017: Member of the Red Tractor Scheme
  • 2017: Winner of the Learner of the Year Award, Lantra
  • 2019: Winner of the Farm Innovator Award, Lantra
  • 2022: CMI level 7 in Management and Leadership and Sustainable Business Growth, Cardiff University
  • 2024: F Jones Initiative - winner
  • 2024: British Farming Awards - winner for small to medium diversification of the year
     

 

Tips for business success:

1) Invest in knowledge and do not be afraid to ask questions however trivial you think it may be, this will best benefit your business.

2) If somethings not working fix it, don’t struggle on doing it the same way.

3) Embrace new ideas, you never know - they might change things for the better. 

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