R2Kast - People in Food and Farming/All In

By Wallace CurrieScience Natural Sciences

R2Kast - People in Food and Farming/All In episodes

August 04, 2023 R2Kast 125 - Holly Atkinson of Cups on Cows talks palaeontology, veterinary and rearing 200 dairy heifers.
Holly, not from a farming background as a youngster had a fascination with fossils and saw a future in the sector however younger teenage years saw her direction change and the goal was set as being a vet. She chased the dream and caught it after years of weekend, holiday and uni dedication she was qualified.
Holly worked at a few practises and loved the role, almost too much really taking the job home with her, a nice evening read for Holly would be a nice disease case to research. Focussing both on large animal and small she got a comprehensive coverage of business acumen and various species.
During her time as a vet one farmer in particular, Adam asked her on a date, a boundary Holly questioned breaking at first, fast forward to today and they have 2 kids and run an organic 700 cow Friesian x Jersey herd where Holly is in charge of heifer replacements from calves.
She now posts on instagram to promote the sector and show what happens on the ground on farm as Cups.On.Cows!

Enjoy!
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1 hr 8 min
July 31, 2023 R2Kast 124 - Will Evans talks agricultural communication, being Oxford Farming Conference chair and Ryan Reynolds
From very near Wrexham, Will Evans laid the foundations for people like myself who have found themselves in the agricultural podcasting game. Having the struggles of having to record a Skype call to a landline it's fair to say he had it much harder than we have these days.
Will keeps himself busy running the home farm alongside his wife and father, being chair of the OFC, writes for Farmer's Weekly and much more...oh and did I mention that he has 4 girls to look after as well!...4 future employees? Will's wife Sarah has started a very successful diversification in the form of home grown veg boxes being sold direct and indirect in the local area.
Will was also one of the people on the pitch at that famous pitch invasion vs Notts County a few months back with Wrexham! Some story!
This is a discussion with a man I could learn a lot from as could you! I know I'll be doing what I can to be at the OFC next year.
Enjoy
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1 hr 13 min
July 28, 2023 R2Kast 123 - Matt Styles talks his unorthodox route into farming, entrepreneurship and mental health
Matt, otherwise known as thehonestfarmer_ was originally from a farm and found himself following the route of working in drama. One day, in the middle of summer in a script read in a black room he decided that was no longer for him and a change was needed. I did make sure to ask him if he felt the same way stuck in a filed in December but you'll have to listen to find the answer.Matt, went to Easton College and felt like farming was his future, fast forward a few years to now where Matt is 29 works essentially full time on an arable farm, contract keeps stock over winter on said farm, runs his own flock and shears in his 'spare' time. He talks of his journey to be at one with his own mental health over the years, the struggles and the realisation of the power of actually talking about it.This, much like episode 99 with Neil Basset is a chat between two guys and we both proper open up and that to me is precious!Enjoy!
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1 hr 33 min
July 24, 2023 R2Kast 122 - Duncan Pickering on rugby, injuries and deployment in Iraq as well as his future intentions with the police.
On an exchange Ed and his brother, Tom hosted Duncan and one other from Australia and after a few days together Ed and Duncan became good mates even though they live have the world away from each other. This was their first chat for longer than the odd Snapchat and what a chat it was between the three of them!
Duncan, who it turns out comes from a farm of around 110000 acres but that wasn't the topic of discussion for todays chat!
We were here to chat about the reality of Iraqi deployment, domestic employment and more. I don't want to give much away, I'll leave that to you to listen!

Enjoy!
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1 hr 35 min
July 21, 2023 R2Kast 121 - Vince of Picks Ups For Peace talks his career in the sector, Ukraine and the role PUFP plays in the war.
Sometimes you hit record and can't believe how much someone has done - this is one of them! I simply thought we'd talk pick ups for peace but I found Vince to be one of the most interesting people I have ever spoken to, an inventor, a businessmen, a philanthropist and I think maybe a genius.
He has developed precision tech for ag, he has travelled the world and helped many and now he finds himself involved in an initiative that helps the front line in Ukraine backed by his connection in that his wife is Ukrainian. Listen to the pod to hear the nicest meet cute!
Great story by a great person promoting a phenomenal initiative that I have no signed up for as a driver and will be sure to be on the next mission that time allows for heading to Ukraine.
Enjoy!
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1 hr 11 min
July 14, 2023 R2Kast 120 - Damian Barson on being a new entrant at 50 and buying the most expensive unseen dog
Damian, who has worked in finance, sales and owned businesses in those sectors too has had one constant in his life, training dogs.At 16 he took on his first client and has never looked back…fast forward 30 odd years and he found himself pacing around the room as he paid the world record fee for a dog he hadn’t seen in person! Oh did I mention the dogs he trained were exclusively gun dogs and the dog he broke the world record with was a sheep dog?At 50 Damian made the plunge to be a new entrant farmer, now almost 2 years on he is selling up and moving to a county away from what has been home his whole life! We talk mental health, the impacts, both positive and negative of farming and much more…also a bit of whisky chat that I pretended to understand 😂Enjoy!
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1 hr 42 min
July 10, 2023 R2Kast 119 - Grant and Jaclyn of GJCoaching talk young farmers, meeting at the Highland, PT'ing and West Fittest Farmer
Grant and Jacalyn both from farms were in Avondale and Mauchline YF' respectively. At a young age they met at the Highland Show and in Grants words he was in the car home with his mum asking 'can you get a bus to Tarbolton?' - a proper meet cute, eh?They have set up as PT's under the name GJCoaching and hope one day to have a gym on their farm so they don't have to rent the one they currently do in Hamilton.Both compete at fitness competitions and have even competed at the Hyrax world championships against some Love Island competitors..much to Jacalyn happiness...and for that matter Grant's dismay! He did win the farmers carry though so it's a win really!Both play an active role at Grants farm and are involved in Young Farmers which has lead them to create the first Fittest Farmer for SAYFC members in the west region with intentions of making it national in the future.This is just a bit of craic and three people taking the piss out of each other...a personal favourite is during the love island chat I should go on to which Grant says "Oh here comes the camera man onto set"...we can't all look like Greek gods, Grant! Or maybe you can...sign up to GJCoaching now!Enjoy!
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1 hr 16 min
July 07, 2023 R2Kast 118 - Iona Murray on the farming education to school pupils, growing up on a farm, primary teaching and more
Iona, from a farm in Muirkirk always loved the farm as a kid but as a youngster probably didn't see it in her future!

As she left school her intention was to go into physiotherapy but a last minute change of mind realised who she liked about that potential job was the paediatric side and therefore changed her field of study to primary teaching.

Iona completed her degree at the Dumfries campus of University of Glasgow and flew off to New Zealand for a short break.

On her return she saw a job opening at Dumfries House in Cumnock and now heads up a team as part of the Farming and Rural Skills team there!

Iona tells her story which is fuelled by a strong passion for telling the story of farming to the future of the nation.

Great chat with food, farming and...swans of all things! You'll have to listen to why!

Enjoy
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56 min
July 03, 2023 R2Kast 117 - Sophie Bell on contract rearing heifers, veterinary pharmaceuticals, Instagram and more
Today we welcome someone who I have followed probably since before the podcast started Sophie Bell from county Cavan has played a key role in taking the home farm from a conventional suckler system that proved clunky around the full time jobs she and her family have to a contract rearing unit.Starting with dairy beef they gave transitioned into contract rearing heifers!On top of this Sophie has a devout following on Instagram and personally I absolutely love her TikTok’s 😂As mentioned she does also have time for a full time job and Sophie, after her degree start d as a veterinary pharmaceutical tester…that took me about 6 attempts to spell correctly! Enjoy!
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42 min
June 30, 2023 R2Kast 116 - Erin McNaught on uni, sheepdogs, NFU Young Ambassadors and being a British champion!
Halfway through this podcast I ask Erin’s age, she’s 20 and what’s she’s done in that time is insane!!She has won the British young handler with her sheepdog, Moxy as well as the one man and her dog duo at 15 and 16 respectively! She’s been a student and young farmer NFU ambassador which taught her a lot and in a very Kaleb Cooper-esque moment let her go to London and ride a train!Oh also Erin runs her home farm of 350 ewes and a dairy calf rearing unit!The farm is where the original sheep dog trial in 1873 occurred! How cool is that?!Enjoy!!
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56 min