Charity Silage Marathon Raises Nearly £1000
Herefordshire College of Technology National Diploma in Agriculture students, who are based at the Holme Lacy campus, approached staff with an idea to raise money for charity in a rather unusual way. The industrious group, comprising 14 students, decided to take responsibility for harvesting the College farm’s first cut silage, a task that very few students would experience at college. In addition to putting their practical skills to good use, the students carefully planned the event, arranged their own advertising and publicity, had T-shirts printed and drummed up a lot of support.
Contacting Alexander and Duncan, machinery suppliers from Leominster, and JF-STOLL (UK) Limited, the students gained assistance from these generous companies who kindly loaned machinery including four John Deere tractors and a forage harvester respectively.
In nine hours, spread across two days, over 50 acres were cut and nearly £1000 has been raised for Acorns Children’s Hospice and RABI – Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.
“The students can be proud of themselves, it was a fantastic idea and went really well - a superb team effort. The only help that staff have given was with supervising the operation in the field and assisting with the collection of sponsorship,” said Agriculture Team Leader, Charlotte Gibb.
Farm Manager, Dan Seaborne, was also very pleased with the results “the students drove large machinery that they would not normally use, gaining excellent experience. Added to that, they got our first cut of silage completed on time and in dry weather, they did a great job.”
We would like to thank Alexander and Duncan and JF-STOLL for loaning the machinery and all the individuals who have sponsored the students and helped to make this event such a great success.
