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County chairman John Savins, left, presents Brynley Morris with this year’s Farmers' Union of Wales Pembrokeshire branch's Countryside Business Award.[/caption]
Pembrokeshire farmer Brynley Morris's dedication to the dairy industry in West Wales and his family business has helped him reap this year's Farmers' Union of Wales Pembrokeshire branch's Countryside Business Award.
Brynley Morris, 38, of Parc Y Nole, Mathry, Haverfordwest, has worked on the family farm since leaving school at the age of 16 and in recent years has farmed in partnership with his father and brother.
During the last few years he has dedicated himself to developing the dairy side of the business by improving bloodlines and yields, working closely with ALTA genetics and more recently using genomic tested bulls.
Through this he has upgraded the herd to pedigree status, with the Abermawr herd now standing at 200 milking cows and 100 followers. He has also recently been using sexed semen to maintain heifer levels in the herd.
As the herd has increased in numbers he has taken on a neighbouring farm and now farms around 400 acres including 100 acres of arable incorporating winter barley, spring wheat and spring barley.
He has also overseen the building of a new 20/40 Fullwood parlour and has been instrumental in introducing new technology including Auto ID on the milking herd which enables all of the cows to be monitored throughout their time on the farm.
Their yields are recorded twice a day with the system also allowing feed rations to be closely monitored and adjusted accordingly. Further milk recording is carried out on a monthly basis with NMR for cell count and milk quality monitoring.
One of the judges, FUW Pembrokeshire county president Dai Miles, said: "All of the nominees were of a high calibre.
"However, it was felt that Brynley was extremely enthusiastic about his business and confident in the future direction of it.
"His attention to record keeping using modern technology was also impressive.
"The decision was difficult, as all the contestants were in partnership with their siblings and/or parents, but it was felt that Brynley had put his own stamp on the business," added Mr Miles.
Mr Morris said: "I was delighted to have been nominated for this award and was surprised to be told I had won it.
"Having concentrated on upgrading the infrastructure of the farm, my aim for the future is to concentrate on the dairy breeding side of the business so that my 12-year-old son Owen, who has a keen interest in the herd, has high producing animals to work with by the time that he would like to join us in the business."