Farming
Farming Connect advice workshop a first step in farm’s flock transition
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FARMING CONNECT’S Welsh Sheep Genetics Project (WSGP) is helping to facilitate major change in a large-scale sheep flock.
The Rhug Estate near Corwen had been running a flying flock of 3,750 North of England-type mules but is now transitioning to a closed flock of Welsh ewes.
It is using performance recorded tups to produce its own crossbred replacement ewe lambs and the type of finished lambs that the business sees as key to future profitability.
Electronic identification (EID) – based technology is playing a significant role, providing data to help manage breeding decisions while allowing the farm to close its flock and breed its own replacements.
Farm manager Emyr Owen says an advice surgery with independent sheep and beef adviser Matt Blyth, arranged and funded by the WSGP, has been integral in the decision to overhaul the whole EID performance recording system.
“That meeting with Matt was a massive help, it got the conversation going,’’ Emyr recalls. “It has been fantastic to have that support.’’
Making the switch to a Welsh ewe was in part because the breed is proven to thrive in the region in outdoor lambing systems.
Historically the lowland Rhug flock has lambed indoors from 15 March but going forward only triplet-bearing ewes will lamb indoors.
The remainder will be lambed outdoors, from the end of March to April 15, to better match the estate’s grass growth curve.
“We have an amazing shed for lambing and want to maximise live births so it is sensible to lamb triplets indoors but for the rest of the ewes it will all be done outside,’’ says Emyr.
Texel and Charollais tups were previously used but for the 2024 lambing season it was Abermax, Aberblack, Hampshire Down and Primera, all performance recorded.
Recorded Welsh rams were also purchased at the Prohill sale in 2023; these purchases were based on physical correctness and figures, and with consistency with the type of Welsh ewe the team at Rhug is aiming to produce.
The Welsh ewes were sourced from farms that are performance recording, with all three flocks part of the WSGP.
The Rhug flock has also joined the WSGP. “We are really thankful to be part of it, and buying the ewes from farms that are performance recording means we have gained a couple of years straight off the bat,’’ Emyr says.
EID is very much part of the new sheep system on the Rhug Estate.
A new weigh-head was purchased, support by a 40% grant from the Welsh Government’s Small Grants Efficiency Scheme.
“We had been using a weigh-head for the cattle for years but had nothing for sheep,’’ Emyr explains.
It is used in conjunction with a stick reader and integrated with Agriwebb software.
“The plan is to become a completely paperless business,’’ says Emyr.
Lambs are tagged at weaning and data including daily liveweight gains and slaughter weights are recorded and monitored.
The benefits of this are already being seen, says Emyr. “We have a young shepherd in charge of lambing the Welsh ewes and he has been using the stick reader to add comments about any ewes or lambs he has concerns about so that we can avoid breeding from problem animals.’
The ambition is to run the flock in three groups in an ABC system. The sheep in the A group will be those that are ‘faultless’ as they will produce the replacements for the nucleus Welsh ewe flock.
Emyr says the trait that is being most closely monitored is ewe body condition score. “BCS tells us so many things in the metric, and we can simply build protocols and key performance indicators around it.’’
In the 2024 lambing season the scanning percentage in the indoor lambing ewes averaged 185% and 160% in the outdoor lambing flock. For the Welsh ewes it was 135% but, as two thirds of these were yearlings, the goal is to increase this to 150%.
Five hundred pure bred Welsh ewe lambs will be retained this year as replacements while a big proportion of the fat lambs will be processed on-farm and sold through the Rhug Estate farm shop. The remainder will be marketed through Pilgrims, ABP or Ruthin livestock market.
Although the journey to improving flock genetics and profitability is in its early stages Emyr says his confidence in the targeted outcomes is embolden by the support received through Farming Connect and the WSGP.
“One hour workshops are such a good idea from Farming Connect, for most people an hour is all that is needed but there is more support available from other parts of the Farming Connect programme if required.’
Farming
Collaboration at the heart of new funding scheme for farmers
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THE development phase of the new Integrated Natural Resources Scheme (INRS) is open for applications until 27 September.
The INRS will enable farmers and others to work together to improve our natural resources and deliver benefits to farm and rural businesses.
A webinar has been arranged by Farming Connect on 11 September to give farmers the chance to learn more about the scheme and ask questions.
Although the scheme is separate from the Sustainable Farming Scheme it will be used to inform the collaborative element of the scheme during this interim period.
This scheme forms part of a preparatory phase of activities which may lead to collaborative projects ready to participate in the Collaboration Layer of the Sustainable Farming Scheme when it is introduced.
The scheme will provide funding for implementing nature-based solutions at the appropriate scale, targeting action and interventions to enhance and sustainably manage our natural resources.
Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: “The scheme has been developed to focus on collaborative action – enabling farmers and land managers to do something they do very well – which is working together to deliver innovative solutions. These projects will improve our natural resources in a way which delivers benefits to farm and rural businesses, rural communities, and wider societal benefits.
“We are committed to supporting farmers to produce food in a sustainable way, whilst taking action to respond to the climate emergency and to help reverse the decline in biodiversity.”
This could include projects which enhance our carbon-rich soils such as peatlands, creating and managing woodland, implementing natural flood risk management, enhancing access and public engagement, protecting landscape and historic features. Or, deliver actions to enhance priority and semi natural habitats, improving the connectivity, scale, adaptability, or diversity of semi natural habitats and our natural features, ensuring ecosystem resilience. Projects could also strengthen the resilience of Wales’ network of protected sites by working at a landscape scale to improve connectivity and condition.
Further information is available here www.gov.wales/integrated-natural-resources-scheme-rules-booklet-html
Farming
Royal Welsh Winter Fair livestock competitions schedule now available
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THE livestock competitions schedule for the 2024 Royal Welsh Winter Fair is now available online.
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society is inviting farmers, breeders and exhibitors to visit the official website – https://rwas.wales/winter-fair/competitions/ – to view the full competition details, entry requirements and key dates.
This year’s winter fair, scheduled for November 25 and 26, promises to showcase the best livestock from across the country in a festive celebration.
Pictured above: The supreme cattle champion at last year’s winter fair.
Farming
Funded Farming Connect services lightens financial burden for family farm
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INVESTING in skills training and business advice can be expensive for a family farm, but securing subsided and fully-funded Farming Connect courses and services has lightened the financial burden for a third-generation Radnorshire poultry and livestock producer.
George Wozencraft is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Abraham, and father, Malcolm, at Glanalders, Nantmel.
Beef is produced from a 30-cow suckler herd and lamb from 250 Improved Welsh and Welsh Mule ewes.
In 2011, the Wozencrafts diversified into free range egg production with a 16,000-bird system, now producing eggs for Stonegate from Clarence Court hens.
To help put the business on a firm footing for the future, George has accessed a range of Farming Connect services.
As a member of its Radnorshire business discussion group, he has been encouraged to assess all aspects of his business, including scrutinising costs.
This exercise has proved invaluable in helping him to understand which enterprises are performing the best, to inform growth and investment going forward.
To build on this, George has also completed a Farming Connect e-learning course on understanding the fundamentals to a successful business and completed a book keeping course through the Farming Connect skills programme.
Under the Farming Connect Our Farms Network, he has embarked on a project helping him to improve efficiency and bird welfare in his poultry flock, while sharing that knowledge with other producers too.
The project has seen him replacing strip lights with LED lighting to become more
self-sufficient in energy while improving bird health and welfare and reducing the farms carbon footprint.
“We are looking at our electricity costs and the savings we are making, and any improvements to bird welfare from having low intensity lighting,’’ George explains.
The results of this on-farm project, which has included input from his packer, vet and genetics supplier, will be shared with other farmers later this Autumn in an open event.
To further improve efficiency, he is also targeting home-produced nutrients to where they are needed, informed by a Nutrient Management Plan funded by Farming Connect.
Twenty soil samples were taken and, based on these results, lime has been applied to improve pH levels and reduce reliance on synthetic fertiliser.
Farming Connect has not only helped to encourage that responsible approach to soil fertility but responsible and effective use of medicine too.
Through a Farming Connect clinic involving Ddole Road Vets George says he now better understands the importance of using antibiotics only when and where they are needed.
“The clinic concentrated my mind on the value of targeting treatments, not just the benefits of reducing those to prevent resistance but reducing our costs too because if we don’t need to use antibiotics then we are saving money.’’
Farm safety and first aid are at the forefront of George’s mind with recent deaths and accidents involving fellow farmers.
To ensure that he is better informed on how to react in an emergency situation he has undertaken an emergency first aid at work course, part-funded by Farming Connect, and completed a health and safety e-learning module.
George’s wife, Kate, is a nurse but should a medical emergency arise while she is off-farm, he knew he needed to be in a position to respond.
A new addition to the family, their son, Bertie, added further significance to that.
When George looks to the future, he also appreciates that there is much knowledge he can gain from farmers who have been in the industry for longer than him.
He therefore applied to the Farming Connect mentoring service and was matched to beef and sheep producer John Yeomans.
“We wanted to improve calving and our calf growth rates and knew that John was a good role model in how to produce cattle well, I am really looking forward to working through some of our issues with him,’’ says George.
After experiencing first-hand the benefits Farming Connect services have brought to him personally and to the farm business, he encourages other farmers to tap into these too.
“I had never been someone to make the most of what is out there until recently but I am so pleased that I now am,’’ he says.
“If we don’t use these services, it might be that one day they will no longer be available to us.
“So many of them are heavily subsidised or fully funded, it just doesn’t make sense to not make full use of what is on offer.’’
Completed activity is automatically recorded on Farming Connect’s secure online data storage tool ‘Storfa Sgiliau’ and can be easily accessed at any time.
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