Rex Paterson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rex Munro Paterson OBE (1902 in London – 1978 in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
) was an English agricultural pioneer whose extensive business and meticulous record keeping enabled him to carry out research and development in
dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...
systems on a scale that would have been beyond most research institutions.


Biography

The son of a clergyman, he was educated at
Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...
and spent only a short time at
Wye College bio sciences -> social sciences -> business school Pictures of OLT, Old Hall,Cloister, Parlour --> The College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, commonly known as Wye College, was an education and research institution in the village of Wye ...
. He spent some time learning technical drawing in the office of his uncle
Alliott Verdon Roe Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS (26 April 1877 – 4 January 1958) was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company. After experimenting with model aeroplanes, he made flight tr ...
, the aviation pioneer, before leaving to farm in Canada. The economic climate was not favourable and he returned to England, grateful that he could afford the fare. He rented a farm in
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, where he depended considerably on
rabbiting Rabbiting (also rabbit hunting and cottontail hunting) is the sport of hunting rabbits. It often involves using ferrets or dogs to track or chase the prey. There are various methods used in capturing the rabbit, including trapping and shooting. D ...
to make a living. A move to the free-draining
chalk downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
of
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
enabled him to start milking cows using the system developed by
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
dairy farmer Arthur Hosier. The cows were kept out all year and milked in "bails", or mobile milking parlours, which offered a very cheap way of starting up a dairy herd. Paterson started milking with a bail in 1928 (milking the cows himself) and built up a farming empire which came to include up to 10,000 acres (40 km²) (in 1943), and 4,000 dairy cows (in the early 1970s). He became a well-known (if controversial) figure in British agriculture. His entrepreneurial drive and evident success, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, contrasted strongly with the generally depressed state of British farming, and made him a source of inspiration to younger innovative farmers in the 1950s and 1960s. He showed that large scale farming, using modern technology, was both possible and profitable under British conditions. He was appointed OBE in 1964 for services to agriculture and in 1965 was awarded the
Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in T ...
National Award for Services to United Kingdom Agriculture.


Labour management

Paterson took a different approach to the labour problems which had troubled other farmers. He did not set up large herds, typically his herds had 40–60 cows (this increased to around 80 in the 1960s). This meant that the herd could be looked after by a single stockman, who was given considerable responsibility. In 1965 Paterson set out his principles for labour management: * create the best possible working conditions; * isolate the stockman and his unit, "so that he has the maximum opportunity to show his ability" and to "see how his results compare with others working under similar conditions"; * "encourage an employee to accept as much responsibility as possible" * "give the opportunity to increase earnings by bonus payments"; * "give them the opportunity to act as if they were self-employed, and the freedom to use their own initiative within the framework of the general policy". Paterson was an innovator in the development of management systems and the organisation of labour as well as in the use of technology. He offered his workers greater responsibility and motivated them by bonus payments, at a time when other farmers were trying to solve problems through stricter management control.


Inventions


Management tools

Paterson invented a simple milk graph, in which a calculation of potential milk production, using a system he had developed from his study of herd results over the years, was compared to actual production for each herd. He also developed a system of measuring grass output which he called the Cow Day System.


Taskers-Paterson Buckrake

He was a pioneer in the making of
silage Silage () is a type of fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of acidification. It can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants (cud-chewing animals). The fermentation and storage p ...
in Britain and to enable this he designed the Buckrake and the Muckrake, which exploited the hydraulic three-point linkage invented by
Harry Ferguson Henry George "Harry" Ferguson (4 November 188425 October 1960) was a British mechanic and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern agricultural tractor and its three point linkage system, for being the first person ...
. This was manufactured by the firm o
Taskers
of
Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...
.


Taskers-Paterson Fertispread

A trailed spreader which used the constant speed of a hydraulic motor to spread, at a constant width, fertiliser metered by a chain driven from a land wheel.


Business philosophy

He once said he "was never afraid to question the reasons for commonly accepted practices. We would find ways of measuring everything which occurred. As our business developed, we found that many things in farming followed unexpected, but clearly defined patterns. This particularly related to the influence of men and feeds on milk yields."


References

* An Archive of papers concerning the life and business of Rex Paterson is held a
The Museum of English Rural Life
at the
University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

Grant,Oliver ''University of Oxford Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History, Number 27, Dec. 1998, "The Diffusion of the Herringbone Parlour: A case study in the history of Agricultural technology ''"

The Agricultural History Review, Vol 44 (1) 1996, pp 63–87 "Silage in Britain 1880–1990: The Delayed Adoption of an Innovation"
*
Crichton, C. (1979)"REX PATERSON, AN APPRECIATION.Grass & Forage Science" 34(4)
*
Paterson, Rex (1960)"GRASSLAND AND SOIL FERTILITY FROM A FARMER'S POINT OF VIEW", Grass & Forage Science 15 (1)

Paterson, Rex (1956)"THE MILK-STIMULATING VALUE OF GRASS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ANIMAL HEALTH", Grass & Forage Science 11 (2)p.93
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Rex 1902 births 1978 deaths People educated at Christ's Hospital Officers of the Order of the British Empire English agronomists Businesspeople from London 20th-century British inventors 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century agronomists