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https://ukti.blog.gov.uk/2013/06/25/an-all-round-success/

An all-round success

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Agriculture, Germany

GREAT Mini and Roundhouse The picture has attracted more than 3,000 likes on Facebook. What started as just a sensible investment has turned into a local tourist attraction. And his cows have never been happier.

No wonder Guillaume Hermans is pleased he bought British.

Last week I met the Dutch farmer who bought an English product for the cattle on his German farm - an international arrangement which seems to be benefiting everyone.

On a recent trip to the far west of Germany, I took a two hour diversion to visit, rather appropriately, what could be described as a cow village (what the Germans call a one-horse town).

And we also took along the GREAT Britain MINI to see the Roundhouse, a circular stall to house cows produced in the north of England which is environmentally friendly, promotes animal welfare and is good for the productivity of the farm.

Given there are the best part of €40bn worth of exports every year from the UK to Germany, double the BRIC countries put together, you might think it is strange to single out this one company.

But for me the Roundhouse is a good example of the sort of innovative product that British SMEs, the unsung heroes of the economy, are selling overseas.

We are a nation who still make things and what we sell to the world is more than just financial and business services from London (although we still do those things very well and very globally).

GREAT Mini with cows in German fieldRoundhouse, based in Barnard Castle - a place I've not visited since my days taking my journalism qualification in Darlington - is now looking to expand further across Europe.

It's taken a successful domestic business and is beginning to head abroad with two sales to this one farmer - he also erected a Roundhouse on his other farm in Holland - and scope for much more.

This is the sort of progress we're keen to encourage, Roundhouse is on the verge of doing wonders for owners S&A Fabrications, which will bring growth and employment to their corner of the UK.

And growth will only come when companies like this can make those first steps to selling overseas - it is a story I like to tell over and over again (and, in this case, so did regional newspapers in both countries).

And, importantly, Herr Hermans is delighted with the quality of his British product which offers a more efficient and comfortable way for him to manage his herd of British (Herefords) cows. And it costs, he says, half of what a conventional non-round stall would have done.

Once our discussion was over and he'd shown us round the circular building that has been attracting 'farm tourists' from as far away as 160km, he got in his (UK-made) Land Rover and drove off.

Thanks to this flamboyant Dutchman, British exports are clearly doing well in this corner of Germany.

Watch a video of the GREAT Mini in action below, and connect with UKTI Germany on Facebook here

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