My name is Emily Bristol and I’ve been dairy farming in my own right since September 2012 alongside my husband Giles. We currently milk 140 autumn-calving cows on a Staffordshire County Farms estate.

We run a simple, grass-based system in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The holding is a 56ha block of good loamy soils, capable of growing in excess of 13t/ha.

My passion for agriculture started when I was 16 and had to go on a school work experience trip, so I chose a week on a local sheep and beef farm.

Farming is not in my family; my parents worked in the police force and nursing. I was the only person in my all girl secondary school to leave and study agriculture.

Growing up, we had horses and I was always an ‘‘outside’’ kind of girl who loved working with animals.

A lot of people questioned my sanity but agriculture offered me everything I was looking for in a career.

I studied a national diploma in agriculture in Plumpton College, East Sussex. This gave me a broad knowledge across the whole industry and the many different enterprises. I worked at as a farm business secretary for two years, then latterly studied a BSc (Hons) Agriculture at Harper Adams University.

First tenancy

The day I started my final year at Harper Adams, my husband and I took on our first ever tenancy. This was a 25ha dairy starter holding, which enabled us to fulfil our dreams and get a start on the farming ladder.

We started with nothing other than six cows and whatever we were given from friends and family.

Over time, we slowly purchased cheap cows and set up a flying herd to make sure everything on the unit was maximising turnover.

Working off-farm

When we started in 2012, we were both working off farm to generate as much money as possible.

Then, in April 2016, we took on a progression tenancy of 140 acres within the current estate. This has enabled us to both work at home, grow cow numbers and start to rear our own replacements.

We calve the cows in a 12-week block starting on 1 August. All of our milk is sold to a local cheesemaker Joseph Heler. The milk profile suits the contract but we still use the grazing mentality of keeping cows at grass for profitable milk production.

We have 140 cows and 90 replacements and are using Irish genetics to create a mid-sized fertile cow capable of high solids. This year, we have served to Candy, Anton, Ronaldo and Elmo.

We’ve always wanted a very simple system as we believe this is the most profitable. We graze our cows for nine months of the year and the cows are milked through a 15:30 swingover parlour with access grass silage in self feed clamps.

We operate a simple machinery fleet of one machine, a Weidemann 1350, with a scraper, bucket and grab and utilise contractors for all other duties.

Our position in the country means we are able to capitalise on food waste products to keep our concentrate prices low. We use bread waste, potatoes and chip waste alongside a protein blend. We are aiming to feed 1.2t of concentrate and achieve around 5,800l at 4.6% butterfat and 3.5% protein.

We have clearly defined goals inside and outside of agriculture, but our focus is to grow and move to a larger holding to continue with our profitable business.