We recently held two training courses on our farm for our staff, plus myself and my son, a full telehandler course. This was organised through North Wilts Training Group, of which we are members.

Our trainer, Ricky Bourne, was an excellent example of a trainer. He listened to the needs of the staff and ran each of the two courses differently depending on needs.

Whilst telehandler training is a requirement under health and safety and insurance, the benefits of a good training course were exemplified from this, as we all learnt how to drive the machine more efficiently, reduce wear and tear on these machines, which are expensive to maintain, reduce chances of damage to the machine by simple things like offsetting the steering when clearing out along feed fence and basic maintenance, all of which makes for a better driver experience.

The other big advantage of any training course is the ability to spend time with your staff, in a different environment, away from the day to day job, where we all have an opportunity to learn more about each other, how we learn and our approach to the job.

I am pleased to say that as the “owner operator” I didn’t score the lowest score and we all passed the test!