Having previously held operational roles in the poultry primary breeding sector, including five years as Head of Operations for high generation stock, I transitioned to more commercially focused positions in animal feed products, before moving to the ruminant industry where I spent time in senior roles within consultancy and animal genetics. My passion remains in the agricultural sector, and I am excited to be starting this adventure at ABN, working alongside our customers and key partners to support our industry
Raised in South Africa, I moved to London in 2000 where I completed my degree and worked at various Investment companies.
My career at ABF began in 2012, joining British Sugar before moving to Germains, then returning to British Sugar after having been at 2 Agriculture. I am very excited about joining ABN as Commercial Director and look forward to working with all the teams, delivering high quality feed and exceptional services to our customers.
I believe that by working together with our industry partners, we can continue to sustainably deliver products and services in order to support the future of farming and agriculture.
When not at work, I will often be out with my daughter and our horses enjoying a ride in the surrounding countryside, or looking after one of the many animals that we have!
Originally from Wiltshire I moved to Orkney with my Mum & Dad later moving to Yorkshire and settling in Northallerton with my Husband & two girls Rachael & Hazel. I have worked for ABN since January 1992 and held a varying number of roles during my time in the business, including several years at Sullivan’s trading Birds.
Out of work my hobbies include swimming, walking, watching live music, watching the Moto GP and shopping with my girls enjoying a cheeky cocktail when we stop for Lunch.
Originally, I joined ABN in 1996 after graduating from Scottish Agricultural College. Once I had completed my training in East Anglia, I relocated back over the Scottish border, to support our growth in poultry feed. Following a period out of the business, I am now in my second spell with ABN bringing home with me a wide range of knowledge gained throughout my career.
My father built his Broiler chicken farm in 1965, at which point the chickens were nearly as tall as me! After graduating from Harper Adams as one of the first group of students to gain a BSc in Agricultural technology, I started work at Devon Crest Poultry. Here I worked in roles such as field management, chick placement and kill planning and transport planning. I also wrote all the production technical manuals when all that stuff started to become fashionable. When Devon Crest closed, I moved to Lloyd Maunder in a similar role and helped put all the producers through NVQ level 3. In 2012 I joined ABN looking after Poultry producers in the South West.
I Live in Exmouth with Alexis and Jacob and we have a naughty Border terrier called Sunny.
Raised in Bedfordshire, I could often be found outdoors and surrounded by animals. Without a plan, I followed my passion, working in both the equine and ruminant industries for a short time after completing my degree in Bioveterinary Science at Harper Adams in 2015.
Deciding I needed a new challenge, I joined AB Agri on their QA Nutrition graduate scheme in 2016, subsequently progressing through a number of roles in the QA function and latterly within People and Performance. Moving into the Commercial Team, I am most looking forward to collaborating and spending time with customers and building my network across the industry.
Outside of work, my family keeps me entertained! I can be found either transporting my twins, James and Ellie, to one of thier various hobbies/ interests/ playdates, out walking the dogs, or catching up with friends.
My career began in the logistics sector, and over the last ten years I have gained experience in planning, sales and the supply chain. It was when my role moved more towards the agriculture industry that my interest grew. Moving to ABN in May, I am looking forward to using my skills in a different way, learning all about the poultry sector and everything it has to offer.
When not at work, I like to keep fit either in the gym, playing tennis, or getting out on walks.
Raised in the Scottish Borders, I have been surrounded by agriculture and countryside my entire life. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Rural Business Management from the Scottish Rural University College, Edinburgh in 2018, I joined Glenrath Farms, working within their recently established liquid egg processing factory. Since taking on my role as account manager for Sportsman in 2020, I have moved across to the ABN Poultry team, where I continue to enjoy getting out and about, meeting new customers and building relationships across the industry.
Outside of work I enjoy staying fit and active playing rugby for my home town club, Peebles Rugby Club, where I have progressed through from school into the senior first XV set up. Off the rugby pitch you can find me in the countryside, enjoying the occasional round of golf, on long walks with my black Labrador Nero and socialising with family and friends.
I grew up in South London, moving to Peterborough when I was 10. In 2009 I joined ABN as an administrator and have had various roles since, including Adminstration Team Manager.
I live in a village just outside Pontefract with my 2 Greyhounds. I enjoy going to the theatre, eating out with friends and family, especially my grandson, and can be found most weekends exploring the local countryside with the dogs.
After gaining a BSc in Agriculture and MSc in animal nutrition, I worked on pig units before starting my career in the animal feed industry back in 1994. I have been with ABN since 1997 working in both the pig and poultry and game teams during my time. More recently I can be found managing the ABN pig and Sportsman Game Feeds commercial teams and their day to day activity.
Passionate about farming and food production, I still spend much of my time talking to customers, gaining valuable feedback about ABN ‘s performance and ensuring that we continue to add value to our customers businesses.
Growing up in Oxfordshire, I always loved animals and the outdoors, so I considered pursuing veterinary medicine. However, during work experience on a range of local farms I found I had much more of a passion for Agriculture. I was intrigued by the way farms balance economic viability with animal and environmental welfare, and so applied for an Agriculture and Farm Business Management course at Harper Adams University.
During my placement year I gained a Pig Industry Scholarship. I spent the year working on farm with ABN customers and with the commercial and customer support teams. This prompted me to focus my final year studies on the current challenges facing the UK pig industry - I wrote my dissertation on the use of in-feed organic acids in the context of changing zinc oxide legislation and antibiotic reduction. Having completed my degree, I am delighted to return to ABN as an Account Manager in the pig team.
At home, I like to make the most of the scenic running routes and of course the country pubs! I enjoy visiting friends around the country and returning to Ireland to see my family.
Growing up in the Essex countryside, I have always had a love for animals and the outdoors, working as a volunteer at a local veterinary practice then moving on to Colchester Zoo as a Zoo Keeper in the Tiger Team, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My love for animals is what lead me to study Animal Management with Livestock Production at Writtle University College, graduating in 2018 with a BSc (Hons) Degree.
After graduating, the urge to travel called and my love for animals grew, volunteering at a raptor rehabilitation centre in Alabama during my travels through America. On my return, I decided that my real passion lay within the agriculture sector. Following on from my roles at Volac International and W & H Marriages & Sons, I am excited to be starting a new chapter at ABN as an Account Manager in the pig team.
Away from work, my passion is breeding and showing quality poultry and I enjoy walks in the countryside.
After gaining a BSc in Biological Sciences and working on a 1000 sow unit in Warwickshire, I completed a PhD on infectious diseases in pigs. This was funded by the levy board, then BPEX, who I went on to work for for a number of years. I worked on a broad range of on farm and cross industry technical projects aimed at improving competitiveness and efficiency.
Working with a wide range of pig producers I became passionate about applying new techniques and knowledge on to farm, especially in measuring the impact of optimally applied nutrition and feeding, mixed with practical on farm practices.
My first role within the feed sector was with ForFarmers as their Pig Technical Advisor and then with DSM as Swine Species Expert. I enjoy supporting pig producers in getting the best out of their feed and their pigs, working collaboratively within key account teams to get the best outcomes
I live in Warwickshire with my partner, our son and two dogs. I have an interest in training young horses and am a keen walker and skier.
After leaving Harper Adams, I joined RHM in East Anglia in 1972, which subsequently was acquired by Dalgety, where the focus was the supply of pig diets from mills at Bury St Edmunds & Walsingham.
With the demise of Dalgety, the business then became part of ABN where for the last 15 years, I have been responsible for the company interface, with most of the major UK pig producers.
Interests outside of the farming industry include my 3 steam engines, which I used to give 1930's stone crushing and road making demonstrations with my family at East Anglian vintage rallies.
My interests in agriculture and animals started from a young age, growing up surrounded by livestock in the Yorkshire countryside. This is what lead me to study Animal Science at Newcastle University where I was able to use their fantastic Pig Unit at Cockle Park Farm in many of my assignments.
After graduating in 2021, I spent two years working as a nutritionist in the equine feed industry. Completing my Diploma in Pig Nutrition inspired me to pursue a career in the pig feed industry. I am excited to be starting a new chapter at ABN as an Account Manager in the pig team, and I am very much looking forward to meeting customers and going out on farms.
Outside of work you can find me running and walking with the dog, baking, and visiting my friends across the country.
Starting my career at Bryan College I gained practical experience as a Stockman on both indoor and outdoor units. I then spent the following years as the Unit Manager at Leeds University Farms, giving me a real in site into trial work and research. I have spent much of my career in the pig industry, joining AB Agri in 2009, and now Lead Account Manager for the pig team, supporting the commercial team. I really enjoy meeting with customers, walking their pig units and seeing the different things our customers are doing. Going onto our customers farms, we discover new methods and new ideas which you wouldn’t experience over the phone and I love passing on these ideas to other customers.
Away from work I am an avid fisherman and gardener. I live in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire with my wife and daughter.
I may not have grown up on a farm, but agriculture has always been a part of my life. My passion for farming stems from helping my grandad with his small flock of sheep, particularly during lambing season - a hands-on experience I thoroughly enjoy. Currently, I’m in my third year at Harper Adams University, studying Animal Health and Welfare. I am excited to build a career in the animal nutrition sector after completing my degree. When I’m not studying, you’ll often find me at the stables with my horse or spending quality time outdoors with my two dogs.
After gaining a BSc in Agriculture and MSc in animal nutrition, I worked on pig units before starting my career in the animal feed industry back in 1994. I have been with ABN since 1997 working in both the pig and poultry and game teams during my time. More recently I can be found managing the ABN pig and Sportsman Game Feeds commercial teams and their day to day activity.
Passionate about farming and food production, I still spend much of my time talking to customers, gaining valuable feedback about ABN ‘s performance and ensuring that we continue to add value to our customers businesses.
Growing up in a farming family, my interest in agriculture was evident from the start. Having worked mainly in the pig sector, I began my career with ABN as a Junior account manager on the pig team, progressing quickly to Account manager, I was responsible for large accounts in the North.
I moved away from ABN briefly, exploring alternative career paths, before returning this year to the Sportsman Game Team. During my time away I realised I really missed the feed sector, working with farmers and getting the best out of production. I enjoy meeting new and existing customers in the fields, exploring and learning about the new and different practices they are using on their farms.
Outside of work you can find me on the hockey pitch or in the Lake District with my wife and spaniel.
Coming from a farming family I have always loved putting my wellies on, going outside and getting stuck in. Growing up, I could be found beating in the winter or out in the field picking off potatoes during the summer months.
My love for the outdoors has remained throughout my career, with roles at Foster Refrigeration, Sealskinz & Norfolk Leisure and more recently working as a Farm Secretary at Heygate Farms in Swaffham covering all aspects of arable farming. I am excited to be starting my new role as account manager at Sportsman Game Feeds, looking after customers in the East and learning more about the breeding and rearing side of the game industry.
In my free time I am a keen gardener, with a great passion in growing plants and can often be found pottering in my garden. I love staying active, either going for long walks in the countryside, trying new fitness classes or most likely, playing netball for Thetford Netball Club.
Born in Somerset to a family who enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing, I have been involved in farming and field sports all my life. A love of the outdoors influenced my decision to study Agricultural Economics at Reading University and subsequently has lead to my career in agricultural sales. My passion really lies in selling game feed, so when the opportunity arose to pursue a career with Sportsman I jumped at the chance! I love getting out and about, working with all those involved in the game rearing and shooting industry and getting to know you my customers.
In my spare time I enjoy the occasional round of golf as well as clay shooting. Along with my wife of 30 years, we are fortunate to be members in our local shoot syndicate where we enjoy both the shooting and picking up during the season.
Coming from a farming family, I have always been around agriculture and the countryside. Originally from near Peterborough, growing up on the families arable, cattle and sheep farm, I now live near Ipswich on my husbands mixed farm.
After graduating from the University of Reading with a BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture in 2012, I joined the ABN customer service team in Peterborough. In 2016 I relocated to Suffolk, where I then took up the role of National Game Support based at Bury St Edmunds.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my baby daughter, family and friends. I still have an active role on the farm, helping out when needed, and like to keep fit by playing hockey for Sudbury ladies 1st team. I enjoying the occasional day beating and country walks with our 2 working cocker spaniels and border collie.
Graduating from the University of Lincoln in 2016, with a Bsc (Hons) in Health and Social Care I have since built a strong customer service background within both retail and business to business sectors.
New to the Sportsman team in 2021, I began my career at ABN in 2018 as part of the Commercial Support team based in Peterborough. In 2019 I successfully took on the role of ‘Game Lead’ for the 2020 season, providing a pivotal point of contact for the commercial team as well as offering training and ongoing support to the customer services team.
Outside of work I spend most of my free time supporting my partner with the running of an arable farm, playing an active part in the running of the farm shoot, where I really enjoy socialising and meeting new people on shoot days. When not on the farm, you are likely to find me taking long walks through the countryside with my two dogs, Duke and Beau or going out to my favourite restaurants to enjoy a refreshing G&T (or two!) and some delicious food!
I gained my PhD from Nottingham University under the guidance of Julian Wiseman and the late Des Cole. I began my commercial life in 1986 when I joined SCA, specialising in the development of piglet diets before moving to Dalgety Agriculture Ltd five years later as Technical Manager for pigs.
I am currently ABN’s Senior Pig Nutritionist and am involved in the provision of technical support and the development of pig products primarily for the UK.
After gaining a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology at the University of Southampton, I completed my MSc in Animal Nutrition at the University of Nottingham, focusing on pig nutrition. In 2015, I joined AB Agri on the commercial nutrition graduate scheme where I worked in the monogastric technical team for ABN. Since joining ABN, I have completed a part-time PhD at the University of Leeds where my research investigated the effect of new generation prebiotics on grower pig performance and gut health.
In my current role as ABN’s pig nutritionist, I am involved in the provision of technical support and the development of pig products for the UK market. I greatly enjoy working within the ever-developing pig sector and seeking solutions to optimise pig efficiency and health.
On graduating from Nottingham University in 1995, I joined Cherry Valley Farms in a Technical and Nutrition development role. Over the next 21 years, my role progressed and evolved to encompass the responsibility of commercial breeding, hatching and growing for the commercial duck business as well as nutrition for the both the commercial and genetic duck breeding businesses. In 2016 I joined the ABN poultry nutrition team with responsibilities for product development and nutritional technical support in the UK. In 2018, I was promoted to Senior Nutritionist, overseeing the poultry nutrition team .
When not at work, I am a keen cook, gardener and hobby beekeeper.
I came to ABN as a poultry nutritionist in August 2019 after completing my PhD at Harper Adams University. I am currently working with the nutrition team and am involved in the provision of technical support to various poultry accounts and development of new products.
Away from the office I enjoy spending time with my boys and going out for long walks with my family. I love to watch cricket whenever possible and follow both the England and Pakistan cricket teams.
Joining ABN as Monogastric nutritionist in June 2024, I am pleased to be a part of such a fun, fantastic and supportive team at ABN. I believe in finding solutions for commercial challenges by aligning genetic advancement with nutritional strategies that also deliver on mitigating the environmental impact of animal production. Happy birds and happy customers mean success all around!
I joined the ABN poultry nutrition team in 2016, after undertaking my PhD in poultry nutrition with SRUC and the University of Glasgow. My PhD, which looked at super-dosing of phytase was part sponsored by AB Vista, a sister company of ABN, and is very relevant to my role as a poultry nutritionist. I am involved in all areas of poultry nutrition, primarily focusing on broilers, game birds, organic production and R&D.
Each element of compound feed production requires expert knowledge and specific skills to ensure our feed is manufactured to exacting quality and safety standards. ABN employee over 30 engineers across our mill sites, who are instrumental to keeping our mills and our business running smoothly.
We caught up with Alex, our maintenance engineer based at our Fridaythorpe site, to take us through a day in the life of an ABN engineer.
Joining ABN back in April 2021, Alex has been in engineering now for over 15 years.
“My background is in fabrication and welding, starting out at college and leading on to completing my apprenticeship. Over the years I have worked for multiple fabrication companies in both the UK and Australia”.
Joining ABN
“When I returned from Australia, I was working for a company that did a lot of work with ABN and consequently was approached by ABN about a permeant vacancy on the engineering team. I had no experience of working through a business that was a mill, only the odd bit of contracting.
“With the promise to upskill me to an electrical engineer via an apprenticeship scheme, I jumped at the chance and have been here ever since.
“Other attractions were that the money was good, and the shifts were shorter. I was used to working 12-hour days, but at ABN shifts are 8 hours, with the opportunity for overtime and on call work. So, there are lots of opportunities to make your wages up, but it isn’t expected of you to have to work long shifts which I liked. The training has been great and as well as my electrical apprenticeship I have also had boiler training and completed ISOH courses and have enjoyed learning a lot of new things.
“When I arrived, they had pre-ordered my boots, overalls, work phone and laptop – everything was ready for me. The onboarding process was really good, and everyone was friendly, I was treated very well so can’t complain”.
My Role
“I love that fact that my role is so varied, you aren’t just stuck doing the same things day in, day out. Mechanical and electrical breakdowns happen, and although breakdowns aren’t great for the company, I do enjoy the challenge of finding problems and fixing them. Coupled with different mechanical and electrical projects for when things aren’t working correctly or need improving, as engineers we are also involved in fabrication projects where we are given free rein to design and come up with ideas. These projects are checked before we go ahead, but I enjoy the chance to think, apply my skills, and problem solve.
“The biggest challenge in this role is the environment, it’s a bit dusty and dirty, which can be a bit of a shock if you come from a clean environment. Some of the kit is old and it can be a bit of a task to keep on top of it, but there is nothing that I hate about my role.
Sourcing stock parts can be frustrating, but I know it’s not possible to stock everything. On the flipside, you are given the right PPE, there are showers and good facilities, so you are looked after. ABN do their best to manage the dust and we are given spaces where you can eat lunch and get away from the dust and dirt which makes a big difference.
Interested in becoming an engineer
“If I could give anyone thinking about a career as an engineer one tip it would be to build good relationships with your manager and the other people in your team. They will all have tips and tricks about how to do each job as they have been there a long time. So always ask for advice as in my experience everyone is really good and always happy to help. ABN has a great training programme and offers the support for you to develop and do things that interest you if you show willing and apply yourself.”
Dr Laura Faller is one of a team of ABN Poultry Nutritionists, and lead for Broiler Nutrition.
She joined the team in 2016 after undertaking her PhD in poultry nutrition with SRUC and the University of Glasgow, which looked at super-dosing of phytase.
It is important for ABN to work with customers to help tackle the challenges faced by the industry, and Laura does just that - looking at the ways in which ABN can improve products to support bird health and productivity, and understand and develop products to meet the needs of customers.
Laura is involved in all areas of poultry nutrition, primarily focussing on broilers, game birds, organic production and R&D. Trial work is a key part of Laura’s role, and she has recently been involved in broiler trials exploring feeding butyrate and alternative proteins in broiler diets.
Elsewhere, Laura has been looking at the importance of getting chicks off to a good start, undertaking trial work to explore the solutions available to broiler producers, including reviewing the aminoa acid balance of ABN feeds and early feeding programmes.
Laura is also involved in trials for game birds for the Sportsman Game Feeds brand, including work on the benefit of feeding fibre, plus further trials over the past two seasons which have looked into feeding probiotics to game birds to reduce antibiotic use. More Sportsman breeder trials are due to start soon, focussing on the key aims to support egg production and chick viability.
“Conducting trials allows us to have confidence in what we’re promoting and advising to customers, ensuring it’s safe and can provide a tangible benefit for customers to have confidence in,” explains Laura.
“It also allows us to stand out from competitors, and give evidence-based solutions.”