Farmer thinks pink for charity

Sponsored rides, coaching marathons, balls and raffles are the usual methods of charity fundraising — never before has a farmer wrapped his horse haylage in pink to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Last month Bedfordshire farmer Mark Cooper spent three days wrapping 1,000 bales in pink, finally finishing late on 10 June.

Drivers on the A507 can now see a huge stack of the colourful bales in the field bordering the main road.

“Too many of our friends have been affected by breast cancer and we thought it would be a great thing to do,” Mark Cooper told H&H.

The original idea came from a farmer in New Zealand.

“I saw he had wrapped his haylage for cows in pink with the manufacturer giving a donation for each roll sold,” said Mark.

“We decided to take this a step further and make a donation from each bale sold.”

For every pink bale sold, £4 will be given to the charity and the manufacturer Volac has also made a donation.

The pink bales cost £37 instead of the usual £35, with the Coopers matching the customer’s £2 donation.

“It’s been brilliant,” said Mr Cooper, who runs the equine feed and bedding side of the farm with his wife Nicola.

The Coopers hope to raise over £4,000 for Cancer Research UK.

For more details visit www.oldmanorfarm.com or to make a donation go to: www.justgiving.com/oldmanorfarm

Ref: H&H 2 July, 2015

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