Farm Smart: How a Cornwall farming couple manage to spend more time with their family.

Kate and Kevin Hoare are full-time dairy farmers in Tideford, South-East Cornwall. They have run their own farm business since January 2018. The couple took on Trenance Farm from Cornwall County Council. They built the dairy enterprise by transferring Kate’s father’s Arla contract and moving 30 milkers across.

Today, the farm milks around 100 British Friesian cows. A large share of the herd is made up of first-calving heifers. Alongside the dairy herd, they also keep their beef calves and sell them on as store cattle.

Kate and Kevin farm in partnership while raising three children. Their system is built around milk production, family life, and long-term investment in the business.

A family-run dairy built for efficiency

Kate mainly looks after the stock. Kevin focuses on tractors and fieldwork. The farm covers 134 acres at home, with extra rented ground nearby for youngstock, silage, and hay.

They also employ a part-time worker to cover four milkings each week. That support gives them more flexibility and creates valuable time away from the parlour.

Since arriving at Trenance Farm, the couple has made major infrastructure improvements. They installed a borehole to reduce water costs. They also fenced the external boundaries and added grazing water systems. Other upgrades include a new dry cow shed, a workshop, hard standing areas, and new clamps for silage and maize.

Investing in sustainability on farm

One of the most innovative changes at Trenance has been the installation of a biomethane slurry lagoon. The project was developed in partnership with Cornwall Council and the Cornish company Bennamanns.

This enclosed system captures methane from slurry and converts it into liquid gas. That helps improve the environmental performance of the farm. It also creates future opportunities for fuel use on-site and extra farm income.

The lagoon also supports better slurry management. At the same time, it fits the family’s wider goal of reducing fertiliser use and improving the efficiency of the dairy system.

Improving dairy farm management UK with Herdwatch

Before Herdwatch, Kate and Kevin spent hours in the evenings buried in paperwork. They were constantly trying to stay on top of records and inspection prep. One night, Kate searched online for a better solution. She Googled a dairy farm management app and quickly realised Herdwatch was the right fit.

Since then, Herdwatch has become a core management tool on the farm. The couple uses it every day for medicines, calf registration, movements, breeding, vet work, and reports.

Faster vet visits and better day-to-day decisions

For Kate, one of the biggest benefits is having the right information instantly available on her phone. This is especially helpful during vet visits and daily decision-making.

During their fortnightly vet visits, she records fertility issues, scans, calving details, treatments, and health notes there and then. As a result, nothing gets lost and nothing has to be rewritten later.

Medicine records, births, and movements in one place

Kate now scans medicines into the app as soon as they arrive. That keeps everything accurate and ready to use. The app also tracks withdrawal periods automatically, so the couple can manage milk safely after treatments.

She also records calf births and cattle movements on the spot. That reduces confusion and removes the risk of mixing up important details later.

At any point, they can look up a full cow history in seconds. That includes birth details, calving issues, treatments, weights, and movements.

Less stress around inspections

Herdwatch has also made inspections much easier. Kate no longer has to sort through piles of paper at the last minute. Instead, she pulls the reports she needs from the app in seconds and sends them straight on.

The same benefit applies to Arla compliance and wider farm assurance requirements. Everything stays together in one place, and the records are always easy to access.

Getting evenings back as a family

For Kate and Kevin, one of the biggest wins is not just better paperwork. It is also getting their time back. By recording jobs during the day, they no longer spend evenings and weekends catching up in the kitchen.

That extra time makes a real difference. It gives them more space for horses, shooting, family routines, and time to properly switch off at the end of the day.

You can read more real farmer stories on our farm case studies page.