If there is one word to describe Contented Products over the past year or two, it might be ‘visible’. It’s hard to miss them.
Drive around any part of the British countryside where outdoor pigs are kept and you will spot their instantly recognisable insulated pig arks in increasing numbers.
Turn up to any major pig farming event and they will be there showcasing their range of products. Then, sit down to watch your favourite Oxfordshire-based global TV farming phenomenon and there they are, housing Jeremy Clarkson’s pigs and helping to solve his piglet mortality issues.
It has been a busy and fruitful period for the winner of the 2024 NPA Allied Industry Member of the Year, which is the only award voted for by the pig farming public.
Contented Products, owned by Techneat Engineering, has been designing and manufacturing products for the outdoor pig sector for 30 years at Littleport in Cambridgeshire.
The past few years have seen accelerated growth and new products, underpinned by hefty investment in machinery to meet the growing demand. The company has just opened a second factory.
Over nine years, it has invested about £5m, and increased staffing levels from 20 people to around 50 today, operating a double-shift system from 6am to midnight.
I met Tom Neat, Techneat’s managing director; Jamie Macdonald, production director and the company’s pig equipment specialist; and Rob McGregor, an award-winner pig farmer who has been advising the company for 10 years, at the Pilgrim’s Europe pig farming awards at the Norfolk Showground in November.
As ever, their exhibition was busy throughout, with lots of interest from farmers. When I managed to grab a word, there was only one place to start – their 15 minutes of global TV fame.
Clarkson’s Ring
It all began, Tom explained, when a ‘production company in Oxford’ approached them for four arks when pigs were introduced in series 3 of Clarkson’s Farm. “We realised they were going to a certain Diddly Squat Farm, but at that point we had no real involvement,” he said.
However, when Jeremy and the team started to see excessive losses due to his Oxford Sandy and Black sows rolling on their piglets, Jeremy had the idea of introducing a bar inside – and called on Contented to put the idea into practice.
Jamie took up the story. “So, we got approached by the producers to come up with something to save his pigs. We got a rough idea of what he wanted, and Rob and I went down, as you saw on TV, and sketched something up in front on the cameras,” he said.
Rob added: “The entire way the programme was presented, including the sequence of events, was entirely genuine, even down to the fact that when he took the call to say we had turned up, they were doing the car park. There was no interaction until the cameras were rolling. It had to be spontaneous, with no retakes.
“Jeremy came across exactly as you would hope, although probably not as you would expect. He was very genuine, fascinated by the agricultural industry and really hungry for our knowledge. He was very respectful of what we knew and he didn’t, and also really good fun.
“I actually asked him if he preferred cars or farming – and he said definitely farming. Although we did talk a lot about cars!”
A further appearance on the show followed as they delivered the pig rings – branded, creatively, as Clarkson’s Ring – which went on to win the 2025 Innovation of Year award.
It succeeded where crush bars tried decades ago in old huts didn’t, due to the extra insulation, space and shape of the Aardvark huts, contributing to noticeably reduced mortality among Diddly Squat’s pigs.
Contented has gone on to sell the rings to a number of small-scale producers and has sent a ‘decent quantity’ to Australia.
“Appearing on the programme was a gamble. It could have gone wrong, but there has been a positive response and it has benefited the business,” Rob said.
Praising the wider ‘Clarkson effect’, he added: “He has alerted a whole new audience to our struggles and our plight. He has increased awareness about supporting British produce across the whole sector and has championed what we do.
“On the farm I manage, we have people coming forward for jobs who are interested in the industry purely because of Clarkson’s Farm.”
Techneat and Contented Products
- Established in 1984, Techneat designs and manufactures a wide range of specialist products for agricultural and amenity markets over two sites in Cambridgeshire.
- It describes itself as a manufacturer of high-quality machinery and a rotomoulding specialist.
- Contented Products is one of its brand names, developing a variety of outdoor pig equipment, including plastic insulated farrowing arks, larger weaner and dry sow accommodation, Clarkson’s Ring, feeders, drinkers, a wheel wash and hurdles.
Where it started
Contented’s journey started in 1995, when it bought its first rota-moulding machine. “The business has grown since then through showing a willingness to trial and innovate to develop ideas,” Tom said.
Rob first got involved when they produced the first plastic moulded ark in 2006. “I could see the potential of it and got involved at a very early stage, bringing my knowledge of pig keeping into the business, and it has just carried on,” he said.
A study tour of Denmark in 2008, organised by Waitrose and BQP, highlighted to Tom and Jamie the potential of nipple drinkers as an alternative to troughs. They developed a product for the UK, quickly followed by a farrow feeder, with the two designed to be fitted together.
Most of the ideas brought to Contented are customer-led by farmers looking for solutions to problems they have encountered – never more the case than with its breakthrough product. The concept for the Aardvark came from Rattlerow and its boss, Adrian Lawson, in 2014.
“Rattlerow invested in the solution and we used our technology and expertise to develop it,” Tom explained. “In 2016, it won the Innovation Award at the British Pig and Poultry Fair, and we thought we might sell 500 a year. Ian Piercy came up with first big order of 120 there at the show. We have sold 20,000 more since, along with several thousand exported to Australia, New Zealand and Denmark.”
The company now has five machines, and the latest acquisitions have required it to open a second factory.
Jamie added: “As the popularity of the insulated arks grew, we invested more heavily to meet demand and add new products. In 2020, after investing in bigger machines capable of moulding products up to 6.5m long, we have produced weaner and dry sow huts, which have made a big difference.”
Insulated Aardvarks
The principle of the insulated Aardvarks, with their fully recyclable, durable, twin-skin plastic construction is that they protect the pigs in extremes of weather – something increasingly necessary in a changing climate – with space to allow sows room to manoeuvre without crushing pigs.
Rob said: “With my farm manager head on, Contented has introduced us to a whole new range of material and manufacturing methods – we would never have conceived the Aardvark as farmers. The products have provided a level of resilience to the outdoor pig sector that simply wasn’t there before. We hadn’t made a lot of progress since the war in how we house pigs outside, and this has just revolutionised it.
“We now have equipment that is performing at a much higher level and is easier to manage, store and move, which is really important, given our staffing struggles.”
Jamie added: “They certainly look smart on the farm and they are durable. We recently had a customer who pressure- washed them down after six years and they look new.”
Summing up, Tom said: “We try to ensure the products hit the right spot in terms of performance, sustainability, durability and usability, as well as from an animal welfare perspective. Looking forward, we want to continue working closely with producers and see what else we can bring to the table.”