Wales Farmer 10 FEATURE APRIL 2014


Making changes now to combat future pay cuts


A WELSH livestock farmer whose single farm payment is set to reduce by €20,000 is making key changes to his system in an attempt to increase income from the farm’s beef and lamb enterpris- es.


Iwan Davies, of Hafod y


Maidd, near Corwen, is chang- ing his breed of suckler cow, improving grazing management and aiming to get a higher per- centage of lambs fattened earlier. During a Farming Connect


open day at Hafod y Maidd, beef specialist Ian Pritchard told farmers that if they wanted sus- tainable business in the future they too had to look at cost effec- tive ways of increasing output. He said planning ahead is essen- tial – evaluate the existing enter- prise, identify weak points and take action to address these points. Use external help if nec- essary as a fewpounds spent now could be worth a lot in a few years time. “Subsidies act as an essential


prop, but farmers need to accept that cuts are coming and reassess their businesses,” said Mr Pritchard, of SAC Consulting, a division of Scotland’s Rural Col- lege (SRUC). Hafod y Maidd, a Farming Connect demonstration farm, is a hill farmrising to 1,400 feet. A high percentage of the land is classed as rough grazing. Iwan,who farms with his wife,


Eleanor, has a suckler herd con- sisting of 85 spring and autumn calving cows. The herd was mainly Belgian Blue cross Lim- ousins, but last November, 21


By Debbie James


Luing cattle joined the herd. The Davieses believe this


native beef breed is a perfect match for the environment at Hafod y Maidd. “We have been asked several


times why Luings and not Welsh Blacks and the answer to that is that we liked the breed’s classifi- cation scheme. It is well estab- lished and emphasises the char- acteristics of the dam more than any other breed,”said Iwan. “The Luings will be well suit-


ed to grazing the marginal land and this will free up more land to fatten lambs.” By doing so, he hopes to have


fattened 75% of the lambs by the end of October instead of the current 50%. With the right breeds, more stock can be out- wintered, a low cost alternative to investing in housing. “By the end of the Farming Connect programme we will have a good indication of how the Luings are performing at Hafod y Maidd compared to the existing cow types,” said Mr Pritchard. A good cow efficiency meas-


ure will be the weight of calf pro- duced per 100kg cow weight and this will be calculated at weaning time. Large cow size can eat into enterprise profitability unless the big cow can rear a bigger calf, but this will not always happen. Selecting the next generation of herd replacements will be cru- cial.


Welsh industry data indicates


the calving interval in the suckler herd is over-extended and to maximise annual returns this needs to be addressed – the tar-


Ideally suited: Iwan Davies, pictured with Dewi Hughes, believes the Luing breed is a perfect match for his farm’s environment.


PLANNING AHEAD: Iwan Davies is changing his farming system, in anticipation of future cuts to farm subsidies. Livestock health is important


get is a calf per cow per year, not a calf every 420 days. Simple benchmarking in individual herds will identify problems, but don’t just accept them, act on them. He emphasised the impor-


tance of good grazing manage- ment if farmers wanted to get more from their land. “Many farmers have moved


away from being expert grazing managers but to counter cuts to support payments they must look at howproductive acres can earn more.”


too. The Davieses are aiming for high herd health status, testing cattle for BVD, leptospirosis, Johnes and IBR. Gwyn Jones, of Wern Vets, a


speaker at the open day, said all cows had been tested and this would be done on an annual basis. There will be a pro-active approach to culling animals that tested positive for disease. At Hafod y Maidd, there will


be a different approach to select- ing replacement ewes too. Mr Pritchard explained that when


farmers use their eye to select replacements, they are naturally drawn to the bigger lambs, but very often these are the singles. Over time this approach will reduce flock productivity. “Using an extra tag to identify


twin born lambs will help with selection at the end of the year. Selecting the biggest twins will begin to increase productivity,” Mr Pritchard advised. At the same time problem


ewes, such as those with feet issues and poor mothering abili- ty will be marked so that replace- ments are not kept out of these. Not all farms will choose to keep breeds, or select among ewes,


PICTURE: Debbie James.


that produce too many lambs, but they should still look atmax- imising production per ewe. Dewi Hughes, Farming Con-


nect regional manager for north Wales, said there would be valu- able information for farmers to draw from the trial work at Hafod y Maidd. “Iwan is very open-minded


about making changes. Farming Connect evaluation work will allow farmers to learn how simi- lar changes might benefit their businesses,” he said. For further information on


Farming Connect call 01970 636565 or visit www.menter- abusnes.co.uk/farmingconnect.


New addition: Luing cattle have joined the herd at Hafod y Maidd.


For the latest Wales farming news: walesfarmer.co.uk


PICTURE: Debbie James.


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