At 27 years of age Joe Delves with his wife Becky must be amongst the youngest to be farming within the area. In 2005 Joe took over responsibility from his father Andy, farming 230 acres of tenanted and owned land at Burnt House Farm, Horam in East Sussex. This being the third generation of the Delves farming family. It was back in 1947 when Grandfather Ron met Joyce, a land girl out of London who he later married, at this time the herd consisted of eight cows. As expected circumstances have changed with the herd now at 187, increasing to 250 in the very near future.

Employing one full time and two part time staff and with the assistance of wife Becky, Joe needed to make the best use of labour available and cut down on time spent on the more labour intensive chores. An area to concentrate on was the feed preparation and feeding of the dairy herd.

Using a horizontally augered diet feeder the mixing of rations seemed to take an enormous amount of what seemed wasted time. After consultation with Harper and Eade’s Ian McLeod and Shelbourne Reynolds technical area sales manager Ian Taylor Balls, a demonstration was arranged with the Power Mix Express.

After a very successful demo the decision to replace the horizontally augered machine with a vertical augered tub machine was made. Since purchasing the machine Joe has not looked back. He commented "A very worthwhile investment, Shelbourne Reynolds have produced a brilliant machine with the ‘Express’. We just can’t feed it in fast enough, it simply copes with anything, clamp silage, large round & square bales of hay & silage, straw & concentrates. It mixes as fast as I can load it. The result being a fluffier superbly mixed ration in a very short time. In fact we have reduced the operation time by 50% from that of our previous machine".

The central auger both chops, mixes and lifts the ration ingredients up the centre of the mixer moving to the outside then drawn back to the base to begin the cycle again, resulting in an efficient and uniform mix. Blades fitted to the auger make short work chopping bales and roots. The hydraulically operated wide discharge doors, with good visibility from the tractor seat allow the feed to be evenly distributed either to troughs or direct to the floor. The compact ability & versatility of the 7’7’’ wide machine prove to be ideal around the feed passages within the buildings. The tough well built machine with its low maintenance will result in low cost with good residual value.

With Joe’s enthusiasm and youthful approach, passion and commitment to farming we are sure he will be successful in his agricultural business. The care and fondness he shows to his livestock can only be commendable.