“Better than a BAFTA,” was how Jeremy Clarkson described winning the Innovation of the Year Award at last week’s National Pig Awards.
Clarkson’s Farm won the award for the Clarkson’s Ring, which was developed with Rob McGregor and Jamie MacDonald, from ark manufacturer Con-Tented Products, as seen on the hit Amazon TV series.
The original idea came from Jeremy, after seeing large numbers of piglets crushed in the early litters when they introduced Oxford Sandy & Black sows onto the farm.
“I owe the award to Rob and Jamie at Con-Tented Products, because, with the best will in the world, I’d been dreaming up this idea of making pigloos safer, and they’d sort of been working simultaneously on that idea,” Jeremy told Pig World interviewer Simon King, immediately after picking up the trophy at the ceremony in London.
“We were losing a lot of piglets, which was actually because we were new to the game. We lost 28% of the piglets and we lost the sow as well, and it was very upsetting. It was just a horrible time, but we’re getting used to it. Lisa and I are getting a lot more stoic now.”
The idea of a ring to protect piglets within a pig ark has been tried before, decades ago, but made little or no difference. However, the extra space in Con-Tented’s largest arks, enabled by improved insulation, combined with their circular shape, mean Clarkson’s Rings have been far more successful than their predecessors.
The easy-to-install rings have helped bring about a big reduction in piglet mortality at Diddly Squat Farm in subsequent litters, with the exception of one particular ‘terrible mother’, while Rob reported a halving of mortality across 30 litters at his commercial outdoor unit where they have been used.
There has been interest among other commercial farms, with 35 rings about to be shipped to Australia.
The ring was up against BQP’s clean water system, which now provides data on water use to BQP producers, and a mobile vehicle washer, developed and made by R&C Mellor to improve biosecurity, in the Innovation category, which is sponsored by Ceva Animal Health.
The judges agreed, based on how it has performed so far, that the innovation has the potential to make a real long-term difference to mortality rates in outdoor pig production.
‘We love having them’
Jermemy’s delight at receiving the award was clear. “I’ve never won a BAFTA, or even been nominated for a BAFTA, and now I’ve got a National Pig Award. Genuinely, and I’m not even kidding. It’s brilliant,” he said.
Britain’s most famous – and controversial – farmer, who was accompanied to the ceremony by his partner, Lisa, and brought his film crew along with him, reiterated his love of pigs.
“The herd continues to grow; it’s just getting bigger and bigger – and we do love having them,” said Jeremy, who, the following morning, played a prominent role in the London farmer rally in protest at the Budget.
“We’ve got to work out how to stop them eating the trees that Gerald planted 60 years ago – they’re removing the bark at an alarming rate, so we may have to move them.
“We do have a problem with the breed, and I’m told by our butcher and the pub chef that the meat from an Oxford Sandy & Black is not brilliant, which I find quite hurtful, so we’ve got to look into that. I’ve been told to look for Gloucestershire Old Spots, which the chef wants for the pub.
“Again, I don’t know why, but it’s all part of the learning process, and it’s a fascinating world. Lisa and I like the pigs more than all the other animals on the farm.”