Mix and match

Have you met your match?

Muddy Matches celebrates 15 years of matching mud-loving singles this spring

Google ‘Muddy Matches’ and you may see it dubbed ‘Tinder for farmers’. But one young farmer says her experience is far from that, with traditional values, shared interests, and outlook on country life fi nding favour.

Alexis is urging her fellow young farmers to give online dating with Muddy Matches a fresh look, following a huge increase in 18-to-24-year-olds signing up after lockdown.

She joined Muddy Matches in the summer of 2020 as a way to meet new people when her normal social calendar was hit by Covid restrictions.

It’s living proof that not all online dating sites are a cattle market.

“I’ve had more people message me about cows and sheep than some of the cheesy chat up lines and other stuff you get on those other apps,” she jokes. “Some of the stuff we chat about is really agricultural, but in a good way.

“I chose Muddy Matches as I was hoping to fi nd someone who shared the same interests as me, and you fi nd that the people are a lot more genuine. You don’t come across fake profi les like on other apps.”

Alexis insists that’s the part that should appeal to fellow young farmers; a chance to match and meet with singles who ‘just get’ the lifestyle.

“I couldn’t date someone who didn’t have hay in the car. I’m happiest in wellies so I was never going to settle down with someone who didn’t know how to wrangle a chicken or lug a haybale.”

Could you fi nd your farmer on Muddy Matches?

Visit www.muddymatches.co.uk and use promo code STF40 for 40% OFF country-life dating subscriptions

WINNER, WINNER, ICE CREAM DINNER

Astudent from Harper Adams University has beaten fi ve other fi nalists and one of the highest number of entries to scoop this year's RABDF Dairy Student of the Year Award, announced at Dairy Tech 2022.

Agriculture with Farm Business Management student Max Mitchell from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, won the award after going through a rigorous application process. This included writing a 1,500-word essay on a case study prepared by Kite Consulting and delivering a presentation to a panel of judges at the Farmers' Club in London.

This year's judging panel consisted of RABDF vice-chairs Di Wastenage and Robert Craig, Mole Valley Farmers' James Hague and Chloe Cross from Kite Consulting.

Commenting on the winner, Mr Craig said: "The competition produced a very high calibre of entries making for a di cult fi nal choice. Max Mitchell from Harper Adams displayed an excellent understanding of the UK and the wider global dairy industry. He was very well prepared for his presentation in the fi nal, where he confi dently demonstrated his knowledge, answering the judges' questions clearly with well-researched reasoning and observations."

Mr Hague added: "All of the fi nalists demonstrated we have students of the highest calibre entering the industry, which is really encouraging.”