Farming Connect are offering sampling, testing and one-to-one advice from local vets for Welsh farm businesses registered with them.

The funding is available for any animal health related issues which could include fertility testing, blood testing, faecal egg counts, IBR, Leptospirosis and lameness.

To qualify your business must be registered with Farming Connect and farmers and vets must confirm their interest with Farming Connect before any sampling/testing takes place and testing must take place within 30 days of the issue date.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) is hosting a

webinar that will provide an overview of drought management in Wales and a synopsis of the hydrological highlights and sequence of events during 2022.

The webinar will take place on the 16th March 2023 between 4pm and 5.30pm and is free to attend.

The latest figures released by Welsh Government derived from the Farm Business Survey show that for the year ending March 2022 farm incomes in Wales increased for the third consecutive year on Dairy and Cattle and Sheep LFA (Less Favoured Area) farms and for the second consecutive year on Cattle and Sheep Lowland farms.

Dairy farms had an increase of 46% to £88,000 compared to 2021 while Cattle and Sheep LFA farms saw an increase of 29% to £38,600. Cattle and Sheep Lowland farms saw an increase of 16% to £26,500.

The release covers the year to 31st March 2022 and was during the Covid-19 pandemic and due to restrictions a slightly smaller sample of farms were able to be recorded. It also mostly excludes the Ukraine Crisis which began in the final week of February 2022. There are likely to be many impacts because of the war but the results are likely to be seen in next year’s release of the 2022-23 figures.

For more information visit: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-research/2023-01/farm-incomes-april-2021-march-2022-673.pdf

Carys Vaughan, a third year Agriculture and Animal Science student at Aberystwyth University, is conducting a survey as part of a dissertation project on: Perceptions and attitudes of UK farmers towards Iceberg diseases in sheep. Is there an opportunity for an iceberg disease screening scheme to enhance the market value of breeding ewes and ewe lambs?

The aim is to establish the current understanding of iceberg diseases within the farming community and whether there is scope for iceberg disease screening.

English

Cymraeg