As part of our regular series of profiles on the region's Young Farmers' Club (YFC) members, BOB EVANS says a diverse range of farming experiences has given him a sense of professional independence.

Eastern Daily Press: Bob Evans, Norfolk Young FarmersBob Evans, Norfolk Young Farmers (Image: Norfolk Young Farmers)

I live and work on my family's livestock farm in West Harling, in south Norfolk.

We have 165 stabiliser cows, as well as bulls and retained calves from previous years. The calves we don't keep for our own use are either sold as breeding stock or to a local estate as stores. We also have a flock of 1,500 ewes, the majority of which are Lleyns, again selling excess lambs as breeding stock and fattening the stores.

My interests have mainly been in the mechanical side of agriculture, which has meant I spend most of my time driving tractors and operating farm machinery.

After getting my tractor driving licence when I was 16, I spent two of my summer holidays working for a farmer/contractor near Diss where I lived on site. This allowed me to develop a lot of independence, which I feel would have been very hard to achieve at this age in an industry other than agriculture.

I really enjoyed these summers – they definitely felt like more of a holiday than work, and I got to make some great friends and had a lot of fun.

After finishing my A-levels last year, I started a full-time job for a large arable farm and haulier in Wymondham. I lived in a house owned by the farm which led to a steep learning curve discovering that food doesn't just appear in the fridge and the washing machine doesn't turn itself on.

This job was also for the busy harvest period during summer. I would definitely recommend this sort of job to anyone with tractor-driving experience.

The skills learned and the money saved from this job will also be valuable while I am at university, as I have been accepted by Harper Adams to study Agriculture with Mechanisation. After university I plan to pursue my career in agriculture and hopefully take on the family farm.

After finishing my job in Wymondham I came back to working at home because I hadn't spent any significant amount of time working with animals and it is such a large segment within agriculture. It will also help me in my studies as I will be able to relate to what I am reading in a text book.

Being a member of Diss Young Farmers has been important to me, even more so when you are in a full time farming job. It is nice to have a reason to finish early and go and see like-minded friends who are often in the same situation.

PROFILE:

Name: Bob Evans

Age: 19

Occupation: Farmer

YFC Club: Diss

How long have you been a YFC member?: 3 years

Diss YFC meets at Burston Pavilion, Tucks Mill, on Wednesday evenings. For more details contact the county office on 01603 731307.