Sarah Jenkinson

My husband and i and 2 of my grown up children farm 470 acres mixed been sheep and arable on 2 farms for the past 20 years. We are currently based near Penrith but also have a farm at Ponsonby in West Cumbria and divide our time between both sites.

We run 900 ewes, 60 Suckler cattle, a calf rearing enterprise which has a through put of approximately 100 calves each year most of which are finished fat along side out suckler calves, and we retain 10-12 heifers each year to supplement the suckler herd.

I do all the day to day farm paperwork and accounts as well as being experienced in managing grants such as Farming Equipment and Technology fund, Animal Health and Welfare grants, Capital grants Stewardship applications, farm business planning and until recently BPS applications for my own farms, other local farmers and family members.

I am currently studying part time for a degree in Environmental Science and Geography with the Open University.

During my time at DEFRA i was initially responsible for setting up and running a new cattle identification enforcement section and the newly opened British Cattle Movement Service. This required me to divide my time between working with DEFRA policy and legal in London and York.

As enforcement lead i also liaised with Trading Standards, State Veterinary Service, and the Police and attend court as a DEFRA policy 'expert witness' as and when any enforcement cases came to trial. I was also guest speaker and trainer for trading standards enforcement training days relating to cattle identification training and policy.

I was also able to access courses at the civil service college to gain qualifications in Advanced Law, and training in expert witness courses.

My first managerial job after university was to manage a staff of 20 milk recorders and a customer base of approx 200 dairy farms in Cumbria, ranging from Carlisle to Barrow.

My role was to recruit and train new milk recorders and refresh training for existing staff as a new online system was introduced. I also provided advice and training for the NMR customers and was the first point of contact for any issues or queries regarding interpretating the data provided to them from the monthly milk recordings to assisting with any IT queries.

This was a working from home position with regular trips to offices based in Harrogate and Chippenham.