Folly Farm
Folly Farm is a 185 acre dairy and beef farm which has been run by the James family since 1964.
Patricia James, who deals with cattle passport applications, says “With our old dial up internet connection, it could take me a long time to do a batch of passports. The pages sometimes took ages to load up. Since we have had broadband, it rarely takes me ten minutes. I don’t know how we managed without it.”
Charles James commented “I have been able to make significant savings by purchasing supplies online from firms in other parts of the country. It is also very useful to be able to quickly access information on anything from new product developments to the latest milk quota prices. With broadband, the connection is permanently on, so with just one quick trip to the computer I can buy what I need or check something out.”
Folly Farm have a number of rare breeds in both their dairy and beef herds. They have found the Internet an invaluable resource for finding out about the various breed societies and details of other breeders around the country.
The farm’s use of email has also increased substantially since broadband was installed.
“Now we can just glance at the computer to see if there is any email instead of having to specifically dial in. If I have the option, I tend to email people instead of phoning them nowadays. That way they can respond at their leisure and I don’t have to second guess when they might be able to answer the phone.”
