[caption id="attachment_5779" align="aligncenter" width="293"] FUW Carmarthenshire county chairman Brian Richards, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP Simon Hart and FUW Carmarthenshire county executive officer David Waters[/caption]

EU membership and food security were top of the agenda when Farmers’ Union of Wales Carmarthen members met with local MP Simon Hart at a recent executive meeting.

Following the meeting FUW Carmarthenshire county executive officer David Waters said: “We were interested to hear the MPs view on being part of the EU and how it had significant implications on Britain and how the referendum in the near future will dictate which path is chosen.

“Mr Hart told delegates that whatever choice is made, the Government would be supportive of the need to ensure a fair price is paid to farmers for production of produce.

“While it is concerns regarding immigration which have been the main driver behind the rise in anti-EU feelings, these have merely added to longstanding frustrations about the impact of EU Regulations in terms of unnecessary bureaucracy and a loss of sovereignty,” added Mr Waters.

“As often as not, the blame for many problems is misplaced, and the real culprits are UK-based administrations which have gold-plated the rules or failed to take advantage of available derogations.

“However, concerns regarding the overzealous and proscriptive nature of many rules and requirements which originate in Brussels are well founded, as are those regarding the dangers of moving towards a federalised Europe.

“Such concerns must of course be balanced against the benefits of membership of the EU, and the dangers of exiting a market upon which so many industries – not least agriculture – are currently dependant.”

The FUW shares many of the frustrations of those who believe radical change is needed in order to address the unnecessary bureaucracy and rules which emanate from Brussels, often backed up by European auditors who have little or no grasp of common sense and equality.

Mr Waters further said that the union also recognises the value of remaining a part of one of the largest common markets and trading blocks in the world, and the irreparable damage caused to farm and food businesses as a result of our exclusion from the EU market during the BSE and Foot and Mouth disease crises stand as testament to the dangers of being locked out of Europe.

Food security was also discussed by members and farmers from across Carmarthenshire heard Mr Hart tell the meeting that it was a fine balancing act between producing a high quality product and not neglecting environmental issues, whilst sustaining rural communities.

FUW Carmarthenshire county chairman Brian Richards added that: “When we talk about food security we have to make sure not to ignore our home markets. Research by the New Economics Foundation has shown that for every £1 spent on seasonal, local ingredients, a further £1.19 of economic activity can be generated.”

Each year, £2.4bn is spent by government bodies on food, and while procurement of UK agricultural produce by some authorities has improved significantly over recent years, there remain significant numbers which fail to support British agriculture, choosing instead to accept produce from countries which often fail to meet the UK’s high production standards.

Mr Richards further added that the FUW believes that future governments must proactively encourage and facilitate public and private sector procurement of UK produce in a manner that supports small, medium and large processors and cooperatives.

The union further believes that any future government must instigate procurement policies which encourage the creation of new companies and cooperatives which allow smaller businesses to tender for procurement, in order to bring benefits in terms of local employment and redressing imbalances that currently exist throughout the supply chain.

[caption id="attachment_5770" align="aligncenter" width="300"] FUW president Glyn Roberts (r) with deputy minister for agriculture Rebecca Evans (l)[/caption]

Farmers’ Union of Wales president Glyn Roberts has described a meeting with deputy minister for agriculture Rebecca Evans as ‘extremely positive’ but warned that major challenges needed addressing over the coming months and years given the current state of farm incomes.

Mr Roberts said it was important that the long term challenges facing the industry were planned for, and that the strategic framework for Welsh agriculture and Rural Development Programme (RDP) are key to addressing these challenges.

During the meeting, held on October 5, a broad variety of issues were discussed, including the latest developments of the RDP, Bovine TB and the recent Welsh Government consultation on access to the countryside.

“With farmgate prices and farm incomes at their lowest for around a decade, Welsh farmers are facing major challenges, with cash flow becoming a major problem for many.

“The fall of around 6 percent in the sterling value of Wales’ Basic Payment budget adds to existing pressures, as is the likelihood that the complexity of the new EU regulations will delay farm payments being made in full.”

Mr Roberts said he was disappointed that the European Commission had not gone further in terms of the concessions, which would have allowed payments to have been released earlier, due to the financial problems facing the industry.

“The fact that all administrative checks and controls must be completed before advance payments can be made in October and the volume of work this represents under the new rules, means hopes raised for the release of early payments following the emergency EU summit last month, were unfounded.

“Nevertheless, we welcomed the deputy minister’s commitment to do everything possible to ensure 70 to 80 percent of payment values are released in December, and urged the Welsh Government to continue that work.”

The announcement that Sainsbury’s has committed to extend its British lamb season until at least January 2016, has been welcomed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

Welsh sheep farmers have been hard hit this year as the poor exchange rate between the pound and the New Zealand dollar coupled with Chinese buying policy changes, saw a flood of lamb imports arrive in Britain, hitting Welsh lamb prices already damaged by the rate of the Euro to the pound.

“The fall in lamb prices, drastically reduced farm incomes and frustrations over the volume of imported lamb on supermarket shelves saw farmer anger reaching boiling point this summer,” said FUW president Glyn Roberts.

“Extending the British lamb season to January next year is therefore a move that must be welcomed and we congratulate Sainsbury’s on making that commitment to their lamb producers.

“We strongly urge other supermarkets to follow suit and make use of the plentiful superb quality Welsh lamb that is available. A message we have been bringing to discussions with supermarkets all through the summer and one will continue to highlight in meetings with retailers.

“As part of our ‘It’s more than lamb’ campaign we are joining Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat promotion Wales (HCC) at their Wales based roadshow locations to further spread the word of this great product to consumers for the rest of the year.

“Lamb prices had fallen drastically over the summer months, with prices down by around 20 percent compared with the same period last year and such falls came against a background of predicted falls in net hill and lowland livestock farm incomes of 41 and 24 percent.

“There is a lot more work left to be done to engage consumers more effectively with Welsh produce but this offer by Sainsbury’s is definitely a step in the right direction.”

[caption id="attachment_5756" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Grassland consultant Chris Duller (l) explains the rotational grazing system and addition of plantain as a crop with John Yeomans (r).[/caption]

In a bid to maximise return from the land and increase productivity per hectare, FUW farming stalwart John Yeomans and his wife Sarah have adopted a rotational grazing system to maximise the use of crops and grazing.

They opened the gates to the family farm, Llwyn y Brain, to share their experience with fellow farmers on what has worked for them over the past two years.

The event was well attended by industry representatives and farmers alike and provided an excellent opportunity to see how the Yeomans family have incorporated new crops such as plantain into their rotational grazing systems and what measures they take to maximise livestock health.

“Getting through tough times is about maximising sheep feed and putting more liveweight on the stock we have. After the snow in 2013 we lost a considerable amount of money and add to this that we will be losing almost two-thirds of our single farm payment, we knew we had to do something,” said Mr Yeomans.

John and Sarah run a herd of 73 cows consisting of pedigree Limousin, Limousin x, Belgian Blue x, and 15 home bred replacement heifers (closed herd) which are calving at approx. 2 years.

They further keep 495 ewes which are mainly Beulah and 160 Beulah ewe lambs and the flock has been closed since 1981. 

The couple sell Beulah draft ewes and some yearlings, as well as Welsh Mule ewe lambs for breeding and sell finished lambs on a deadweight basis.

The sheep are individually recorded and lambs are tagged at birth on farm since 1986. The couple are also founder members of the Beulah Sire Reference scheme, which was set up in 1996.

The 232 acres of owned farm land sit between 750 feet to 1420 above sea level, with 100 acres (34.8ha) of lower land and 132 acres (53.4ha) of largely improved hill land.  A further 53 acres of additional land is rented.

“We either have to look at ways of how we can carry on farming and be more profitable or give up; and we don’t want to do that. So we started to implement rotational grazing as a way of being more efficient and make use of every bit of grass and crop to optimise output.

“To find our feet with the new system of grazing, we decided to implement a three year trial to get a fair idea of what is going to work for us and what isn’t. Ewes and lambs are moved to hill ground in late May. About ten days later they are moved into one mob on each hill block and rotationally grazed around it.

“Once weaned we split the lambs into 3 groups. 1 group we are feeding which are mainly mule ewe lambs and we added some of the younger lambs to this group.

“A control group of around 100 and this year it was a third of mule ram lambs and a third of Beulah ram lambs and then continental cross lambs.

"The remaining lambs are rotationally grazed using a Kiwikit solar powered electric fence and they are moved every 3 days on to fresh pasture. 

"As is often the case with farming, not everything went to plan.  What this trial has proved to us is that whilst individual animals may not grow quite as fast on a rotational grazing system, the total weight gain per hectare is vastly increased when compared to set stocking.  

“For the first time this year we have added plantain as a crop, which looks promising. Due to its nutritional qualities it is well suited to lactating ewes with lambs or finishing weaned lambs.

“Following a visit to another farm as part of our Cefn Coch ATB discussion group last year, we were inspired by the results the farmer, Tom Jones and his family,  had with plantain so we decided to give it a go with the aim to put 200g plus liveweight gain per day on the lambs or 1.5kg per week.”

John and Sarah split a 12 acre block of hill ground into 4 parcels and sowed 3 kg of tonic plantain, 2 kg of AberHerald and AberCrusader white clover and 1 kg of AberClaret red clover from Germinal Seeds, which is grazed for 6 days, before lambs are moved to the next parcel.

It provides 1 kg of dry matter per day for lamb intake on the 1 hectare paddock size and produces a total of 1120 kg of dry matter in total available forage.

Plantain is rich in minerals due to its deep tap root, which can access nutrients less available to more shallow-rooted crops such as grasses and clovers and is also said to reduce Faecal Egg Count (FEC) in lambs and may reduce the use of anthelmintic treatments.

Livestock health is paramount to the Yeomans family, which is why their ewes are all given a 10 in 1 vaccine in February, are wormed with Cydectin at turnout, given Agrimin trace element boluses pre-tupping, get treated with a Flukicide at weaning, tupping and housing and the lambs are given Cydectin at 8-10 weeks old and a 2g copper pill plus trace element boluses and Clik pour-on.

They are further given 2 x Heptavac P treatments.

Retained ewe lambs are given a copper pill and trace element bolus in late September and are given Heptavac P, Toxovax, Enzovax and flukicide.

The rams are home-bred but the family buy in Beulah rams, Blue Faced Leicester and Charollais. The new rams are then treated with several wormers, flukicide and Heptavac P on arrival and are isolated.

Visitors to the event further learned how John and Sarah maintain the herd health by vaccinating their cows against leptospirosis, BVD and rotavirus.

They are members of the Biobest Health Scheme and calves undergo blood testing for Johnes and BVD. And are proud to be accredited with BVD free status and have had no cases of Johnes disease on farm.

“We strive to be as economical and efficient as possible to maximise our output and increase profit. We go through trial and error to find out what works for us and can only encourage others to try new tactics in order to become more profitable.

“We hope that everyone enjoyed the visit and was able to take information away with them that is helpful to their own holdings. I would like to also thank our grassland consultant Chris Duller, Trefaldwyn vets, Dunbia, Elanco, Zoetis, Opico, DowAgroSciences, Germinal (British Seed Houses), Agrimin, Sainsbury’s, Patchwork and Kiwikit for their continued support and guidance,” added Mr Yeomans.

[caption id="attachment_5757" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Working together to maximise productivity per hectare are Grassland consultant Chris Duller (l) and John Yeomans (r).[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5758" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Finishing lambs and cull ewes at Llwyn y Brain enjoying the their new diet mix of plantain, red and white clover.[/caption]