About
Established in September 2018 Gro-Agri Ltd is a business designed to support Dairy farmers through a whole farm management approach.
A likeminded team who each focus around the nutrition of the dairy cow, complimenting each other by having sets of individual skills to fully support every farm requirement. As a collective we consider the calf, the heifer, the transition cow, and the dairy cow.
A core understanding that a cows health must be paramount first and foremost to then allow the cow to meet their full potential.
Foresight to understand that each farm business is different and has unique business needs and goals, be they profit, sustainability, performance, lifestyle, or a combination of these.
Communication is key to understanding these requirements, only then can the plans of the business be drawn out and worked towards.
Core values
- Integrity
- Dependability
- Customer Commitment
meet the team
Clayton Barber
Clayton comes from a long line of Cheshire Dairy farmers and has enjoyed working with cows all his life. Following his time at Reaseheath studying Dairy Herd Management, he set up and ran his own professional Hoof Care specialist business. Foot and Mouth brought about a career change whereby he started to give nutritional and business advice to his customers.
He then made the full time change and joined a National Ruminant business and quickly became a senior member of the commercial team. In the last few years, he was the Head of northern business operations for another National business whilst also running another business unit in the south of England. He gained great understanding in all commercial aspects of running big business units, whilst also maintaining his on-farm support specialising in Nutrition and maximising farm profitability.
Over 7 years a CowSignals Master trainer (CowSignals, HoofSignals, YoungstockSignals, FertilitySignals).
In 2018 Clayton joined his co-director Tom in setting up their own business Gro-Agri.
Tom Hough
Tom was born on his families Dairy and Sheep farm in Lancashire. He studied BSc Agriculture and Animal Science at Harper Adams between 1994 and 1998, coming away with a 1st Class Honours.
His first role in the industry was as a Dairy Consultant, then spent the next 18 years with some of the largest Ruminant Feed Businesses in the UK, undertaking varying roles from Cattle Specialists, to Regional Technical Manager, through to heading up the Technical departments for 2 of the UK’s leading National Feed companies. He has huge experience in on-farm customer support, milling formulations, product development, laboratory management, UFAS and working as an integral part of a national ruminant business.
Over 7 years a CowSignals Master trainer (CowSignals, HoofSignals, YoungstockSignals, FertilitySignals), he has organised and run over 50 CowSignals courses.
In 2018 Tom joined his co-director Clayton in setting up their own business Gro-Agri.
Rachel Smithyman
Rachel graduated from The University of Nottingham in 2008 with a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science.
Since 2010 Rachel has worked within the Technical Team for 2 of the UK’s leading National Feed companies before joining Gro-Agri in July 2023 as a Technical Analyst. She has an in-depth understanding of ruminant compound formulation, product development and on-farm rationing, with a specialist interest in calf nutrition and youngstock management. Rachel has been a CowSignals Master trainer (CowSignals, HoofSignals, YoungstockSignals, FertilitySignals) since 2013 and became ROMS accredited in September 2023.
