Farming and contracting: “I’ve been growing malting barley, winter oats and fodder beet for many years on 100ac of mostly rented land. I also run a contracting business doing all the machinery work, from ploughing, sowing, spraying and harvesting cereals and beet. We also do some mowing, tedding, baling and wrapping of silage and hay.”

Growing beet: “I grow 27ac of beet, wash it and sell it to local farmers. It suits me in the winter. I have regular customers every year. This year was the earliest year I ever finished with the beet. It’s gone a month. There was big demand for it this year. There was no problem selling it. People were finishing cattle after Christmas.”

Fertiliser: “I’ve winter barley and winter oats in. The oats are for Flahavan’s. I was lucky I have fertiliser bought and got the compound out on the winter barley and the winter oats. I spread 10-10-20 on the winter crops.”

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Planting spring barley: “The last few days stopped me. A couple of days here and it will be fine again. I plough ahead of the sower. The spring barley goes in after the beet. It’s dry land. It would be a bit sticky after beet but it won’t take long to dry.”

Vintage combine: “I have a Claas Senator 70 combine. It’s a 10ft cut and its 42 years old. I’ll keep it rolling for another few years.”

Dairygold malting barley winner: “I am delighted to accept this award and I suppose it goes to show that a 42-year-old Claas Senator and a vintage man driving it can still do the job.”