Higher Trevallett Farm
Andrew and Jayne Jones live at Higher Trevallett Farm, near Launceston. Andrew and his father, Roger, farm 450 acres growing grass, fodder beet and cereals and keep up to 500 beef cattle.
Before coming to actnow, Andrew used to do cattle registrations by post - a laborious process that involved manually filling in the cattle passports and posting them to the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS). They had an old PC, but no internet connection and most of their records and accounts were hand written.
After contacting actnow to connect to broadband, they were visited by actnow's dedicated agricultural advisor and received help and advice on which IT products would help their farm, along with funding towards a PC, a laser barcode scanner and farming specific software.
Andrew says:
“Being able to access the BCMS website and use the laser barcode scanner is fantastic. We can access all our cattle records online and organise and manage them from there. The scanner eliminates the risk of entering the wrong numbers. If you get passport detail wrong by mistake, you risk a penalty, so the scanner stops that worry and makes the whole process smoother - we can update movements much faster now.
“We find the Internet a superb source of reference when looking to replace any vehicle or machinery. I now automatically go on-line to source and sell, e-mailing photos of our equipment taken with our digital camera, also purchased through actnow. The Defra, Fabbl and weather forecasting websites are easily available for instant up-to-date information.”
Jayne says:
“As with most family farming situations these days, labour is stretched and time valuable. We had limited computer knowledge, however we found the application process and the equipment purchased simple to use. We are delighted with the funding that actnow gave us towards our broadband connection and IT equipment. We would not have made the investment without the support from actnow.
“Not only has this helped to move our business forward, but the whole family has benefited - the Internet will be a tremendous source of home work reference for the children, but for now, Harvey (6), and Oscar (4) recommend the “Cbeebies” website for fun and games!”
