Show Notes
Tim Cotterill is a very busy man. So much so that rather than the cab of his Bateman we almost required a Flux Capacitor to catch up with him.
Alongside his day job as product specialist for a well-known machinery manufacturer, Tim is responsible for spraying duties on his family’s North Warwickshire arable farm. The business predominantly grow potatoes plus winter feed wheat, oilseed rape and peas on rotation.
Balancing full-time employment with spraying duties provides its own set of challenges, especially when weather windows are fleeting. It is during these times that Tim leans into the sage advice given to him by his grandfather of ‘always staying in control’.
Ask Tim where he would go spraying if presented with a final day in the cab, he would choose a block of land called ‘Cocked Hat’. Things become tricky though when choosing who would join him, which basically means his entire family, taking us nicely back to that advice and staying in control.
So, what’s the soundtrack to Tim’s life? His choice is driven partly by the timing of our chat (England were yet to be knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina) and memories of being ferried home from school in his dad’s Land Cruiser listening to: ‘Little Miss Pipedream’ by the Wombats. By the looks of it, Tim Cotterill is already living the dream.
More from Spraying Alive
In this episode of Spraying Alive we join Joe Skipper of W J Skipper. In addition to working in the haulage side of the business, Joe is lead sprayer operator for the family’s farm in Staffordshire.
We join Morgan Senior of M J Senior Agri Contractors for a chat in the cab. Morgan contract sprays for a number of businesses across Somerset and into neighbouring Dorset.
Sean Postlethwaite of Ryton Fields Farm joins us for this episode. Situated in Ryton on Dunsmore on the outskirts of Coventry, Sean runs the family business which grows predominantly potatoes along with milling wheat, winter oilseed rape and maize.
We share the cab with Peter Wilkinson of Lodge Farm Contracting. Situated in Hertfordshire, Peter farms 800 acres of arable crops and contract sprays for a number of farms within a 30 mile radius.
We sit next to Wayne Rose, lead sprayer operator at Guiting Manor Farms. Situated in the Cotswolds, the business grows milling wheat, winter and spring barley for malting along with break crops of oilseed rape and hemp for fibre. Stubble turnips are also grown to feed sheep over the winter.