Show Notes
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.
You might say that Joe was destined to work in the family business. After setting up the haulage enterprise, it was Joe’s grandfather who decided farming would be a good idea. Back then it was cattle, nowadays the farm is focussed solely on arable.
Joe would say his greatest challenge is keeping on top of jobs. The pressures of hauling aggregates to batching plants alongside maintaining a healthy arable business affords very little time off. However, you won’t find Joe complaining.
Ask Joe what piece of advice he’s been given that has remained and his answer will be clear. If you’re going to do a job then do it properly, it costs just as much to do a bad job as a good one.
If Joe were given one final day to go spraying he would choose his largest field, which is literally over the road from the farm. But who would join him? The answer is nobody, Joe would opt for solitude. Which just goes to prove, when you’re driving a Bateman what more could you ask for…
More from Spraying Alive
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.
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.