David owns a small farm outside of Hexham in Northumberland where he raises sheep and other livestock. As the farm does not provide enough income on its own, David also works part time as a computer programmer and his wife manages their holiday rental cottage. David's responsibilities on the farm vary with the seasons, requiring frequent checks on the animals for things like lambing season. He works on the farm from 7:30am to 4pm each day and also fits in his computer programming work in the evenings.

1. Farmer David only works part time as a farmer as his farm
does not provide enough income to live off. He is
also a part time computer programmer and he owns
a holiday rental cottage which his wife manages.
David looks after the animals on his farm, feeds
them and keeps a regular watch on them. He sell
them for meat or their produce - wool and eggs. He
doesn’t keep milk producing cows. He has to look
after his land which he keeps the animals on and
make repairs to fences and barns. His job varies
depending on the time of year. At lambing time he
looks in the barn every 2-3 hours but only checks
the sheep once aday at other times of year.
Know and understand how to look after animals
and the land.
Good numeracy skills
Good DIY skills so you can paint, mend fences,
machinery and barns.
Business skills to manage the farm and the
buying and selling of stock.
Driving skills to drive trucks and tractors.
Gets up at 7.30 and works until about 4 in-between
feeding and tending to the animals and farm he fits
in his computer programming and works on this in
the evenings.
Taught a lot of farming skills from his Father as it is a
family owned farm. David stayed at school until 18
years old and did Environmental Studies at
Agricultural College.
David owns a farm outside of Hexham in Northumberland.
£15, 000 (€18,377) and £5000 Government funding.
These are his earnings from farming.
Clothes - Wellies, warm coat, hat and gloves in
the winter. Old clothes you don’t mind getting
dirty.
Tools – tractor, truck and trailer, manure
spreader, wheelbarrow and hand carts.
Fencing tools, saw, hammer, nails, hose,
torch, knife, buckets.
He thinks his job is wonderful and loves working
outdoors. It can be hard to make enough money
from farming and he wouldn’t be a farmer if it
hadn’t been in his family and the farm passed
down to him. The hours are long especially in the
spring and you are responsible for so many
things that you need to be organised.
He feels his job is well respected particularly as his is
a Community Hotel and bar. Times are very tough in
the industry and he only sees things getting worse.
Health and safety and training demands are
increasing. The internet means that anyone can
have a say about his business and he can be judged
on this.