County Antrim’s John Tate has been named Pig Farmer of the Year in the Farming Life Danske Bank Agricultural Awards in Northern Ireland.
Mr Tate, who farms near Lisburn, also took the title in 2012.
The judges commented on the impressive physical and financial benchmarking performance of Mr Tate’s breeding pig herd, as well as his attention to detail and plans for a new fattening unit.
Mr Tate’s WinPig figures for the six months ending September 2013 include 31.1 pigs/sow/year from an average born alive/litter (sows and glts) of 14.1. His non-productive days figure is 9.9
The runner-up award went to Robert Henderson who farms at Kilkeel, County Down.