Wales Farmer September 2013 NEWS 9


Enterprising teams told to embrace technology


TECHNOLOGY and inno- vation have akey role to play in Wales’ profitable


lamb production systems. This wasthe message delivered


to six teams of young farmers whoare going head to head in a competition designed to test their lamb finishing skills. Members of the Farming Connect farmer enterprise com- petition teams gathered at the RoyalWelsh Showtohear an overviewofthe current lamb market. Paul Edwards, managing direc-


tor of Dunbia’sLlanybydder plant, had aseries of keymes- sages forthem. “Technology and innovation


in business is important,”hesaid. “Use the information youget


such as EID information and feedback from the abattoir on offal.” Mr Edwardsbelievedthere


were also major benefits to be gained from apartnership approach between farmers, processors and retailers. The six teams have been set the challenge of finding awinning formula to produce the most profitablepen of lambs grazed on aforagecropatFronlas Farm, Coleg Powys,Newtown. Paul Hambling, of Sainsburys,


which sources lamb from Dunbia, believedthe competition highlighted the need to link man- agement with performance meas- urement. “Weare keen to exploreways


in which technology can make data captureeasier on the farm forour farmers,” he said.


By Debbie James The crops at Fronlas Farm


were planted in June and each team has selected adifferent crop and sowing method fortheir two- acreplots.The variety of approaches includes harvesting a crop of round bale silage,stitch- ing redcloverinto the plot and broadcasting brassicas and stub- bleturnips. One of their mentors,forage


expert Charlie Morgan, says the competition


is interesting


because avery broad set of sow- ing methods and crop varieties have been used. “The challenge formeishow


to judge such variations,” he admitted. The lambs were weaned


around July 12th at an average ageof14weeks,and with a weight range of between 22kg and 42kg. Assuming an averageage of 98


days and abirthweight of 4.5kg, the lambs have 280g/day,


says


averaged Catherine


Nakielny, whoisalso acompeti- tion mentor. “Assuming apost-weaning


growth rate of 150g/day, the aver- ageweight of lambs at the begin- ning of September should be 35kg with arange of 28kg to 38kg targeted forthe start of the grazing,”she says. The competition will culmi-


nate with lambs being selected for slaughter at the Dunbia abattoir. The winning team will be the


one thatemerges with the highest number of points awarded at each stage of the competition,


CROPS ON SHOW: Richard Downes (left) of Llangeitho, and Eifion Jenkins, of Talybont, at the Royal Welsh Show with


one of the crops they will be growing to feed their group of lambs in the Farming Connect farmer enterprise competition. PICTURE: Debbie James.


with each member presented with the prizeofaniPad. The farmer enterprise compe-


tition wascreated with the aim of developing the managerial skills


of the competitors and to enhance


the co-operation


between all links of the supply chain. The competition will focus on


the abilities of the teams to incor- porateforagecropmanagement, health planning, performance recording, benchmarking and use of technology.


All teams will be supported by industry leading experts to enhance their knowledge and facilitate informative decision- making.


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