East Anglian pig farmers celebrate National Pig Awards wins

West Norfolk farming firm R&C Mellor won the 2024 Outdoor Pig Producer of the Year title at the National Pig Awards, having previously won the Overall Pig Producer of the Year award in 2017 and the Herd Productivity Award in 2020 and 2021.

Richard and Charlotte Mellor run Grange Farm, a 1,150-sow unit near King's Lynn and have recently acquired Warren Farm, a 1,200-sow unit a few miles away. Both supply five-week weaned piglets into BQP finishing farms.

They average around 28 pigs per sow per year and have made "huge strides in improving water quality on the farm" to boost pigs' health and production, as well as improving biosecurity.

Pig World editor Alistair Driver, one of the judges, said it was "a consistently good pig unit", adding: "Judges were impressed by the unit's excellent production figures, alongside its efforts to improve water quality for the pigs and the innovative portable wheel wash station they have developed to improve biosecurity."

Con-Tented Products, based at Littleport, near Ely, won the NPA Allied Industry Member of the Year Award at the National Pig Awards (Image: National Pig Awards) Meanwhile, Con-Tented Products, based at Littleport, near Ely, won the NPA Allied Industry Member of the Year Award - the only prize decided by a public vote.

The outdoor pig equipment company, owned by Techneat Engineering, designs and manufactures innovative products including the Aardvark and Armadillo outdoor farrowing huts.

Norfolk pig farmer Rob McGregor is a key member of Techneat’s development team, and several of Con-Tented's products have been trialled at farms which he manages near Fakenham.

They include "Clarkson’s Ring", a piglet-saving innovation which featured on the TV series Clarkson's Farm.

Celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson picked up the Innovation of the Year Award for the steel hoop, developed by Con-Tented Products, which fits inside farrowing huts to provide piglets with a safe corridor and prevent them being trapped and crushed by their mother.

The judges said the innovation has the potential to make "a real long-term difference to outdoor pig production".

Other East Anglian award winners included pig industry stalwart Howard Revell, who was handed the 2024 David Black Award for devoting nearly four decades to the sector to "help improve welfare of livestock and inspire others working in the British pig industry".

Mr Revell, of Woodbridge in Suffolk, who was pig production director at BQP/Pilgrim's UK at Stradbroke, near Eye, from 2018 until his retirement in 2024, said he was "extremely humbled" to receive the award.

Howard Revell won the prestigious David Black Award at the 2024 National Pig Awards (Image: AHDB)