With over 20 years experience creating innovative corporate communications programmes for clients ranging from Panasonic and Sanofi to The Countryside Agency, a new Member of the Guild, Carole Youngs, is now writing and producing programmes and feature articles about small-scale livestock farming and its place in UK agriculture.
“The foot and mouth disease debacle of 2001 raised my awareness of just how many smallholders there are in the UK,” she says. “I want to explore both the joys and challenges of smallholding, as well as focussing on the incredible variety of their enterprises.”
The desire to provide an as near natural lifestyle as possible for her two horses led to the acquisition of a flock of pedigree Hampshire Down sheep, with the intention of cross-grazing and reducing the worm burden for both species.
“Livestock husbandry and land management both embrace centuries old knowledge, combined with the most cutting edge scientific research, and this is what I want to help communicate,” says Carole. “The difference that actively managing livestock to the highest health and welfare standards can make is something every farmer, large or small, can aspire to.”
The creation of The Smallholder Series of DVDs was a natural progression, combining Carole’s scriptwriting and video production skills with practical livestock demonstrations.
“This venture has expanded horizons,” she says. “We’ve worked with some of the leading experts and vets in the country to help make information on best practice available to everyone in their own home!”
An invitation from fellow Member of the Guild, Liz Wright, to contribute articles on sheep health and welfare to Smallholder magazine, and subsequently to her new title, Sheep, Goats & Alpacas, has been a great opportunity to focus on specific livestock issues.
“I’m learning something new every day, and I make sure I start every new project from the position of assuming I know little and have a lot to discover,” says Carole. “I’m so pleased to be involved in an industry that faces huge challenges ahead. Agriculture is now attracting some of the brightest and best new entrants, with plenty of ideas and energy to meet that challenge.”
Note: Contact details for all new Members and Friends of the Guild can be found by using the website search facility to locate records in the eAlert Archive.
