Two brothers from Cheshire are among the four finalists competing for the Zoetis / British Poultry Council Trainee of the Year Award.
The award, which recognises talent, enthusiasm and commitment to training, is sponsored by Zoetis and organised in conjunction with the British Poultry Council and the magazine Poultry World. The winner, who will receive a £2000 training grant, will be announced at the BPC annual awards presentation event at the House of Commons on December 2.
The finalists are Joseph and Sam Jones who work for Aviagen Turkeys in Cheshire, zoology graduate Aaron McKenna who is with Moy Park in Lincolnshire and Emma Mingo who returned from work on farms in New Zealand to manage free-range poultry in Devon.
Joseph Jones, who works on the Aviagen turkey breeder farm at Cranage, has already gained one honour this year – winning the Young Apprentice of the Year Award from the training provider Poultec. He would use the Zoetis grant to study for a business management qualification at his local South Cheshire college.
His older brother, Sam Jones first entered for the award in 2012 when on the Aviagen management trainee programme and has now progressed to manage grandparent farms. He is on a distance learning HNC course in poultry production with Scotland’s Rural College and would consider moving on to a degree in poultry science.
On gaining his degree Aaron McKenna opted for a graduate management programme with Moy Park rather than transfer to veterinary medicine and has gained experience in hatchery and laboratory work as well as on the farm. Now based at Anwick, he is seeking to study poultry in depth through a post-graduate course with the Royal Veterinary College.
Emma Mingo has worked in various farming roles in the UK and New Zealand over the past ten years, took up a stockman’s job for free-range and organic broilers a year ago and immediately impressed her employer Thomas Browne at Newton St Cyres, near Exeter. She would like to use the grant for a poultry business management course at Harper Adams University. .
The finalists were chosen by a judging panel comprising Philip Clarke, editor of Poultry World; Tony Grainger, Zoetis poultry product manager, and Richard Griffiths, BPC senior executive officer.
