Getting to know Tony Bayles

I was the first in the family to have any connection with agriculture, but was bitten by the bug at a very early age, driving tractors at age 11 and milking cows from age 7 – pigs came later.

I studied agriculture at Askham Bryan college, successfully completing an OND specialising in pig production, and then spent the next five years developing my stockman and management skills in various locations throughout the UK.

I specialised in the breeding side of things, learning about breeding stock selection and export standards, ultrasound backfat measurement, and the use of breeding analysis programmes, and I managed several commercial units before joining Dalgety Livestock as a livestock manager.

At Dalgety I was responsible for 4,000 sows and progeny, was a line manager to three field technicians for the North of England and Scotland, and had budgetary responsibility. I was also the line manager for a 5,000-pig place commercial finishing unit using co-products from the chocolate and catering industries – the only pig farm I knew that smelt sweet!

When Dalgety made the decision to cease pig production, I moved on to a life in sales and account management with BOCM Pauls, an animal feed company. Here I worked with large accounts on the east side of the Pennines, developing relationships with farmers, staff, vets, and associated industries to ensure the best service for my customers. My production background and experience enabled me to also assist in knowledge transfer with other colleagues.

During this period of my career, we went through the heart-breaking foot and mouth disease outbreak. I spent a considerable amount of time liaising with Defra, vets, farmers, and allied industry to help farmers handle animal movements, food deliveries and livestock haulage. I hope we never have to go through such a period again, and it is why I am so passionate about biosecurity and disease control.

Following my time in the commercial world, I decided to farm on my own as a contracted producer for DRS Pigs Ltd., starting with 700 sows producing 7 kg weaners from an indoor unit in County Durham. Me being me, we did it the hard way and brought outdoor sows inside as the lease on the land had expired; so it was a case of moving the animals to us or culling them. We had some interesting challenges, but with patience and care we ended up being DRS’s most profitable unit. Sadly, the company was placed into administration and the herd was bought by the Easey family. We continued to farm for them until tenancy issues forced us to destock and move to Norfolk; here we took on another existing herd for Easey Pigs Ltd.

The business continued until a corporate buyout by a large producer who specialised in outdoor sows. This meant we had to destock and leave the site, as we were unable to find either finance or another supplier.

When the AHDB position came along, I saw it as an opportunity to pass on all that I have learnt over the years to benefit levy payers, both small and large alike. I look forward to establishing relationships with BPA members and other small-scale producers over the coming months, along with many of the larger producers in the north of England – please feel free to contact me to discuss pig matters or ideas about how to promote the industry.