Wales Farmer 2 THISmonth NEWS


Shear joy of champions


WALES now boasts two international champions, thanks to some St


News . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-7 Opinions . . . . . . . . . . .8 Production feature .10 Dairy conference . . .12 Health advice . . . . . .14 Competition . . . . . . .15 Farmer focus . . . . . .16 Spring Festival . . . . .17 Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 NSA AGM . . . . . . . . .20 Lambing focus . . . . .21 YFC . . . . . . . . . . . .22-23 Classified . . . . . . . . .24 Markets . . . . . . . . . . .25 Countryside . . . .26-27


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CHAMPION: Alun Lloyd Jones,


intermediate shearing winner. PICTURE: Pete Nikolaison, Golden Shears.


David’s Day good luck. Against the odds, two Welsh


shearers wiped out the more favouredNewZealanders to win Wales’ first two titles at the famed Golden Shears Interna- tional Shearing and Woolhan- dling Championships in New Zealand for 23 years. The two wins, both on March


1st, came in less than an hour when 24-year-old Hefin Row- lands, originally from Ruthin, won the junior final, and Alun Lloyd Jones, aged 19, of Cor- wen, won the intermediate final in Masterton’s War Memorial Stadium, where the Golden Shears have been held every year since they began in 1961. Other Welsh success in New


Zealand was seen by Robyn Charlton,


of Walton,


Presteigne, who won the junior woolhandling title at the South- ern competition held in Gore. “It is so great to see ourWelsh shearers and woolhandlers


doing so well in international competitions this year,” said Mr Estyn James, chairman of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Soci- ety’s shearing committee. “We are very much looking


forward to the Royal Welsh Show in July to see our success continue on home ground.” In previous years, only two


Welsh shearers had ever won titles at the Golden Shears, most recently in 1991 when the junior final was won by Alwyn Manzi- ni, of Bala. Both Hefin and Alun have


been working in New Zealand for shearing contractors. Hefin had been in several


finals in his career, but never won. Four years ago a friend suggested shearing as a possible career and, otherwise destined for a farming lifestyle, Hefin took a British Wool Board course and never looked back. Hefinished shearing his sheep in 8mins 53.506seconds and won by 1.745pts. In second place was Tegwyn Bradley, whose mother is from


WINNER: Hefin Rowlands, junior shearing winner. PICTURE: Pete Nikolaison, Golden Shears.


Wales. Alun had already had signifi-


cant success, winning the Royal Welsh Showand Corwen Shears Junior titles a few days apart in 2012. Shearing his sheep in 12mins 10.317seconds, he took the lead by 0.595pts. Fellow Welsh shearer, Sion Lewis from Lampeter was placed fifth. Robyn Charlton was taught everything she knows about


woolhandling from her mother, Anita Jones, who once repre- sentedWales in the world cham- pionships in the Golden Shears NewZealand.Having hadmany years experience of woolhan- dling at home, Robyn decided to travel to Australia and New Zealand after finishing universi- ty and has been most recently working in Te Kuiti and Win- ton.


New ambassador for next generation


A YOUNG sheep farmer from west Wales has attend- ed his first event as an ambassador for the next gen- eration of the industry. Rhydian Thomas,


of


Llandeilo, is one of 11 new Next Generation


2014


ambassadors selected by the National Sheep Association (NSA) in the inaugural year of the scheme. Joanne Briggs, NSA com-


munications manager and next generation co-ordinator, said: “When we opened the application process for the first ever NSA Next Genera- tion Ambassador Group lit-


tle did we expect the reaction we got. More than 40 appli- cations flooded in, each and every one a worthy candidate for the programme we were planning.” Rhydian, aged 24, works


on his family farmwhich has 600 Beulah Speckled Face ewes and 950 Suffolk Mules. Rhydian also has a shearing round in the summer, and is actively looking for nearby land to rent to run more Beu- lahs to produce pure-bred and Mule breeding females. The ambassadors recently


met for the first of five dedi- cated training sessions, at


Droitwich, Worcestershire, which included a mix of spe- cific sheep farming topics and personal development to help the ambassadors gain skills such as market selec- tion, food chain develop- ment, sheep husbandry, brand development and adding value, optimising genetics, meeting targets, business planning, presenta- tion skills, conflict resolution and promotion of the sheep sector. For more information


about the next generation programme, go to www.nsa nextgeneration.org.uk.


Poultry were left to suffer


A CARMARTHENSHIRE man has been given a sus- pended prison sentence for failing to look after his poul- try properly. Thomas Winston Jones


failed to ensure that 39 bird carcasses were disposed of in accordance with legal regula- tions, he failed to ensure appropriate space for birds kept in a cage, caused unnec- essary suffering to a drake, failed to ensure that cages were safe, failed to provide appropriate lighting and ade- quate fresh drinking water, and other offences.


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A council animal health inspector visited Jones’ prop- erty at Willoway Bungalow, Llandyfan, Ammanford, after receiving a complaint of birds being kept in poor con- dition. He found dirty water, and some birds had no pro- tection from the elements and others had no natural light. Some cages contained dead birds and some had live birds in a poor condition. Jones was sentenced at


Swansea Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to 16 offences relating to animal welfare and by-products.


District Judge Richard


Williams sentenced Jones to 84 days imprisonment for each offence to run concur- rently, suspended for two years. An order was also made


limiting Jones to keeping no more than 50 poultry and preventing him from keeping poultry in cages in certain sheds at his premises, he was also instructed to remove existing cages from those sheds. He was ordered to pay the


prosecution costs in the sum of £9,692.40.


APRIL 2014


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