Spreading the ideas around

Andrew Garnett enjoys watching people work. That's because this Cheshire farmer's son is busy dreaming up ways to help them do their chores quicker and more efficiently.

The ability came to be used in 1996 when, as a student at agricultural college in Penrith, he had to design an agricultural implement.

His father suggested something to make laying bedding for cows easier. The result was the AG Dispenser, a machine that automatically distributes bedding material into cattle cubicles.

Mr Garnett intended the machine to serve just the 500-acre family farm near Knutsford. But news got out and orders came in.

Fortunately, his college tutors had insisted he take out patent cover. Today, his company - Garnett Farms Engineering - can barely keep up with demand.

About 300 machines were sold this season and the family business is looking to expand overseas.

"I've got so much to do," he says. "It's really taken over our lives."

The dispensers are designed to spread a range of materials - such as sand, lime, paper pulp and sawdust, shavings, chopped straw and shredded paper. Mr Garnett has also invented similar machines for the poultry industry.

The equipment consists of a steel bucket with an agitator, a belt, a slide and bearings mounted on the back of a tractor or the front end of a loader or handler.

The bucket fills and discharges bedding to a distance of 8ft from either side. Mr Garnett's machine has replaced long stretches of back-breaking work involving barrows and shovels.

What would normally take two men four hours of hard labour now takes one man and a tractor about 30 minutes.

"You do a demonstration and people are laughing - because they can see it's going to save them so much time, effort and materials - cutting costs from up to £27 a year per cow to £18 a year per cow."

But Mr Garnett is not resting on his laurels. Sports and leisure or ganisations are keen to use the dispenser. And he plans to design equipment for the food production industry: "We've got some cracking ideas coming up this year."

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