A “Question Time” session entitled “Supporting Future Farmers in Wales” will take place during Farmers’ Union of Wales Carmarthenshire county branch's annual general meeting on Monday June 3 at Llanarthne Hall (7.30pm).

The panel will consist of Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards, FUW deputy president Glyn Roberts, Agri Advisors Solicitors director Dr Nerys Llewelyn Jones and Carmarthenshire YFC rural affairs committee chairman Iestyn Davies.

For further details contact FUW's Carmarthenshire county office on 01267 237974.

Two 16-year-olds studying at the same North Wales agricultural college who both run their own sheep flock have been chosen as the first winners of the Farmers' Union of Wales £1,500 bursary for further education students.

Winner of the £1,000 first prize, Dafydd Fôn Ifan, lives on the family farm, T? Mawr, Llanrhaeadr, Denbigh, and runner-up Miriam Elan Davies, of Maenarthur, Pontrhydygroes, Ceredigion, received £500. Both attend Llysfasi College, near Ruthin, Denbighshire.

Dafydd's family keep around 1,200 sheep and 20 beef cattle. He studies Agriculture Level 3 on four days a week and works on the family farm on the other three days.

His main hobby is breeding 50 Texel sheep and selling rams and store lambs after researching genetics on the internet. He hopes to join the family farming business in the future and increase the flock.

He enters his own stock at the local show and last year won first prize with store lambs and reserve champion with sheep in the young farmers’ section.

"I would like to continue to further develop my skills in agriculture so winning the bursary means so much to me as a young farmer," he said after receiving the award during last weekend's Royal Welsh Spring Festival.

"Farming is an industry that needs to be financially strong in order to thrive. It’s vitally important to continue to invest in order to expand my business which is separate to the family business.

"Winning the bursary is a massive boost to my hopes of managing a flock of sheep successfully," he added.

"The money provides me with an opportunity to invest in new and better genetics by using artificial insemination or an embryo transplant for my sheep that would improve their quality and performance, as well as quickly increasing my flock."

Miriam, who also studies Agriculture Level 3, decided to buy some sheep to start her own flock after her parents gave up farming on their 300-acre upland farm.

"I started with 30 Welsh ewes in 2010 but now the flock has increased to 75 consisting of a mixture of pure Welsh sheep, Speckles, Welsh Mules and halfbreds.

"Being selected as runner-up will enable me to buy new stock to increase my flock further. At the moment, I'm concentrating on breeding quality ewe lambs to increase my flock.

"I use a Bluefaced Leicester ram on Welsh ewes and Speckles to get Welsh Mules, but I’m looking at buying Aberdales sheep as they are very fertile sheep with a high lambing percentage, 180-200 per cent. They would offer a high number of ewe lambs to keep for breeding.

"The Aberdales also rear store lambs of a good conformation, so I would get a good slaughter price for ram lambs. I also hope to increase my flock of Speckles in order to prove if the Welsh or Speckles ewes rear the best Welsh Mules out of a Bluefaced Leicester ram.

"I believe that there is a good opportunity whilst I’m studying at the college to experiment with different breeds and systems. I enjoy learning about the different ways of breeding sheep and the different breeding bloodlines.

"The bursary money will give me a strong base to plan a successful future for myself as a sheep farmer," added Miriam, who is an active member of Trisant YFC.

Presenting the awards, FUW agricultural education and training committee chairman Alun Edwards said the union's student bursary scheme was revamped last year with a total of £3,000 being divided between university and further education students.

"The union was keen to attract more applications from further education students so we doubled the total bursary amount available to make sure we had more entries from that sector," he said.

Praising the entries of the two finalists, Mr Edwards said the bursary judges were looking forward to closely following their respective future careers.

"There remains a problem in our schools as to how agriculture is perceived so it's a big responsibility of ours to further agriculture as a career.

"There is potentially a good career in farming and both finalists have expressed this very firmly in their written entries and they have also shown they are very interested in their local community and giving something back."

[caption id="attachment_2387" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Students Dafydd Fôn Ifan and Miriam Elan Davies with (from left) bursary judges Alun Edwards, Dafydd Williams and FUW deputy president Glyn Roberts.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2388" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Miriam Elan Davies and Dafydd Fôn Ifan.[/caption]

A €2m southern Irish government scheme to help its farmers to import fodder from the UK and other EU countries is distorting the market for Welsh farmers also in desperate need of fodder, the Farmers' Union of Wales claimed today.

The imported fodder transport scheme has been established due to the severe shortages in the republic caused by severe weather over the past 12 months.

But the problems facing Welsh farmers are no different and are, in fact, being exacerbated by the Irish scheme, says the union.

“Farmers throughout Wales are still struggling due to the impact of the weather over the past year, particularly since mid-March, and fodder continues to be a real problem on every type of farm here," said FUW hill farming and marginal land committee chairman Derek Morgan, of Llangurig, Powys.

“The FUW wrote to the Welsh Government in December warning of these shortages and their impact and calling for some kind of fodder scheme to be introduced.

“It now seems that the Irish have taken the initiative to help their farmers, but the scheme is specifically targeted at subsidising imports of fodder from the UK and other EU regions, excluding Northern Ireland.

“With fodder already in short supply, the removal of fodder from the UK market through the Irish subsidisation of haulage costs is of course distorting the market - it is basic supply and demand economics.

“We have every sympathy with Irish farmers facing the same problems as we are, but it cannot be right if the help their government is providing is making matters worse for our farmers.”

Mr Morgan said that the FUW had already made representations to the Welsh Government regarding the scheme and would seek to stop any measures which merely add to the dire problems faced by Welsh farmers.

Eire agriculture and food minister Simon Coveney last week announced he was extending the deadline for applications for funding under the imported fodder transport scheme to May 24 and doubling the fund to €2m.

The scheme was introduced to reduce the cost to farmers of imported forage from outside the island of Ireland. It is operating through the dairy co-operatives (milk purchasers) and covers forage imported by the co-ops from between April 15 and May 24.

It is claimed that the scheme is subject to EU State Aid rules, will substantially cover the cost of transport into the country and reduce the cost to farmers of a bale of hay by approximately one third.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales today expressed its disappointment that a government study on the effects of sky lanterns and helium balloons on the environment failed to support calls for them to be banned. 

Jointly commissioned by Defra and the Welsh Government, the study was carried out by ADAS into the risks of sky lanterns and helium balloons to livestock health and welfare; the environment (including litter); fire risk; damage to marine life and consumer safety.

"After consulting our members, the union called for an outright ban on the manufacture and sale of sky lanterns and for their release to be made illegal in the UK," said FUW land use policy officer Andrew Gurney.

"We received numerous reports from members of sky lanterns being found in fields which were being grazed, were about to be grazed, or cut for silage or hay.

"Other more serious reports received included a lantern found smouldering in a barn containing hay and straw and a cow injured following a stampede started by lanterns floating over fields containing livestock.

"ADAS concedes the evidence they received suggests widespread concern from farmers and others over the impact of sky lanterns on the health and welfare of livestock and horses.

"We were therefore very surprised and disappointed that they also said the evidence indicated the number of cases reported annually of animals affected through panic and fright and of ingestion of sky lantern debris was 'very small'.

"The study accepted there may be a significant level of under-reporting but, based on the evidence ADAS say they received, they found it difficult to conclude that the overall impact is anything other than 'of minor significance'.

"The report further states there may be a significant level of under-reporting of the evidence regarding the ingestion by animals of helium balloons but it indicated the impact is 'very small and confined to isolated incidents'.

"The study’s findings are disappointing because, in our evidence to ADAS, we stressed the union was wholly opposed to the release of sky lanterns due to the dangers they pose to the agricultural sector.

"The materials used in their construction pose a danger to livestock, particularly if the wire or bamboo from the frame of the lantern is chopped up during the silage making process and contaminates feedstocks.

"Sky lanterns also pose a considerable fire risk, during the dry summer months, to open heath land as well as to standing crops in fields or once harvesting has taken place and the crop is stored in fields or barns.

"On the issue of helium balloons, the impact usually relates to livestock becoming startled or frightened by balloons floating over fields and causing them to stampede or trample fencing resulting in injury and the associated welfare issues and financial costs.

"Despite the study’s findings, the union reiterates its call for an outright ban on the manufacture and sale of sky lanterns and for their release to be made illegal in the UK. We will continue to make the appropriate representations to bring this about."