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“School and studying in general is something I have never found natural or overly enjoyable. I always found myself having to work harder than my peers to keep up.
“Waiting for my GCSE grades, it was generally accepted that I was going to leave school at 16 and do my stint at Greenmount Agricultural College.
“But by the time the big day came, I had decided I wanted to go further down the route of a more academic education and did A-Levels. But if I was being honest, the decision was more 10% academic and 90% a mixture of the fact that I had a lot of good friends already there, rugby and fancying some of the girls (list is in no particular order).”
College
“After A-Levels, I was destined for agricultural college. This time I had applied for Harper Adams in England. But again, when the big day arrived, I went for my second choice and headed to Glasgow to study business management. This went against my grain, as my passion has always been with farming. But with a small number of acres at home, from a young age I knew that there would have to be a business behind the farm.”
After graduating
“Since coming home from university, I enrolled in as many short courses at Greenmount as I possibly could. I also sat agri-based exams such as AMTRA, which give me the qualifications to sell animal medicines.”
Starting up a business
“I now run a medium-sized farm supplies business. It is growing annually and I now export to nine countries across the world, including Canada, Germany, Spain and Italy.
“I am passionate about products that help farmers move away from their reliance on antibiotics. I try to focus on innovative ways to help farmers do this, whether it be rearing calves or milking cows.
“The jigsaw of education, both academic and hands-on at our farm at home, along with guidance from my father, has moulded my career. I am very lucky to say that I absolutely love doing what I do.”
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