WELSH Black Cattle Society president Richard Hughes has won the FUW Anglesey branch's "Gwobr Garreg Fawr" for his contribution to agriculture and Brian and Ffiona Thomas from Beef Direct have won the "Dyfeisgarwch award" for ingenuity or initiative.

Mr Hughes of Glan Rafon, Bodorgan, has never travelled more in Wales than during his first half year in office. His Rafon herd of pedigree Welsh Blackcattle was established in 1967.

He has met society members at six of the leading summer shows - Aberystwyth, Anglesey, Flint & Denbigh, Pembrokeshire, Llanrwst and the Royal Welsh Show.

Farm visits to members, organised by the North Wales Breeders Club, included a modern dairy complex with the Plumbley family at Calveley green Farm, Cheshire, and to Peter and Yvonne Brown's Chastleton Hill Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucester.

Both farm visits were to progressive Welsh Black breeders and were well received by hosts and visitors who believe in good public relations and communication between society officials and members.

The president also joined the South Wales Breeders Club at their annual farm visit hosted by the Williams family at Tyddyn Bach, Llanfachreth in Merionethshire.

Mr Williams, whose Machreth Herd was established in 1956, has in recent years seen many cattle registered from the home-bred bull, Machreth Cai 7th.

During the autumn Mr Hughes joined 100 members at the South Wales Breeders Club dinner at the Plough Inn, Rhosmaen, Llandeilo. Within a week both Mr and Mrs Hughes had met the patron, the Prince of Wales, and presented him with a china Welsh Black Bull to celebrate his 60th birthday.

Mr Hughes, who now has nine breeding cows, is a regular exhibitor at Anglesey Show and won breed champion on many occasions. He also purchases store cattle at Dolgellau to fatten in the spring and sell in the autumn direct to the abattoir.

During the Winter Fatstock Fairs Mr Hughes was delighted to witness the success of one of his own home bred steers Rafon Keith 3rd winning awards the length and breadth of the country.

Rafon Keith 3rd, exhibited by Robin Roberts, Anglesey, won the champion native steer at the Royal Highland Show and was in the best group of three pure beef breed animals at the Royal Smithfield Show held in the Bath & West Showground, Somerset.

Mr Hughes is the fourth generation of his family to farm at Glan Rafon and the third generation to be members of the Welsh Black Cattle Society.

The idea for Beef Direct was born in 1998 as Brian and Ffiona Thomas were fed up with having no control over their prices which at that time were below the cost of production for beef and lamb.

They felt that the supermarkets were paying farmers as little as possible and charging the housewife as much as possible. Logically, therefore, there was a reasonable margin to be had from direct selling.

In August 2000, after doing their research, Beef Direct was launched at the Anglesey Show. The idea was that as farmers' markets were just starting up in England they would go there to sell their Welsh Black Beef and lamb.

Initially, they worked with their local butcher and his son. Foot and Mouth shut the business down for four months in 2001. After this it was decided to upgrade the old stables which was adapted to a licensed working butchery and employ a full time butcher.

Both Brian and Ffiona attended a number of food-related courses to gain the necessary qualifications. Their aim from the start has been to produce the best quality meat possible from their herd of pure Welsh Black Cattle and lamb relying largely on the clover rich Anglesey pastures to enhance the flavour.

The business has expanded every year and at present three full-time employees work in the butchery. Demand for Welsh Black Beef is on the increase and with the advent of DNA testing it is envisaged that there will be a greatly increased demand for their pure Welsh Black Beef from the catering industry as well as the public.

They are looking to expand their premises in the near future and hopefully create more employment. The first recognition of Beef Direct's excellence was when they were invited to become one of Rick Stein's Food Heroes in the early stages of their meat business.

Other accolades have since followed- Great Taste Awards three gold stars for their Welsh Lamb 2008, Great Taste Awards one gold star for their beef 2008, Great Taste Awards reserve best speciality food from Wales 2008.

They have also won prizes at the Oyster Festival for their sausages. At New Ferry Farmers' Market, which won Radio 4 UK's Best Farmers' Market 2007, Beef Direct have won several awards including the overall best producer and runner-up in the Customer Service Award which recognised their excellent produce by customers who buy their meat on a monthly basis.

On being told that they were to receive the FUW Award for Ingenuity they commented: "The award given by the Anglesey branch of the FUW to us is very important and greatly appreciated as it is the first award we have received from fellow farmers. We are absolutely delighted to be receiving this award."

The awards were presented at the branch's annual dinner on January 30.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales’ dairy committee chairman today welcomed the launch of Tesco’s national dairy centre in the Wirral and called on the supermarket to consider assisting a similar centre already set up in Wales.

"The Tesco Dairy Centre of Excellence at Liverpool University’s Wood Park farm is a welcome development as it will bring together experts from across the dairy sector to look at issues from animal welfare to consumer trends," said Eifion Huws.

"But I would also urge Tesco to think about making a financial investment in Wales’ Dairy Development Centre at the Gelli Aur Farm and Technology Centre near Llandeilo which has been going since January 2002.

"It aims to facilitate the development of the Welsh dairy industry through a proactive technology transfer service; market information; demonstrating best practice methods of production; and research and development."The centre has a network of demonstration and development farms to help get best practice methods and new technologies to farmers throughout Wales," Mr Huws, an Anglesey dairy farmer, added.

"Its two development farms aim to demonstrate research work on a commercial scale, illustrate sustainable husbandry, compare various dairy systems and publish physical and financial results.

"The demonstration farms are commercial working farms demonstrating better practice methods of varying dairy production systems whilst maintaining a viable farming business. The centre is financed by the Assembly’s Farming Connect scheme and DairyCo."

Tesco say their project builds on many unique initiatives such as Local Choice milk and the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group which illustrate its commitment to the dairy industry.

The new centre will bring Tesco, farmers and dairy experts together to work on issues facing the industry and help to build a more sustainable dairy industry in the UK.

Some of the key areas it will look at are:

• Ways in which to help farmers to deliver commercial benefits on farm
• Exploring consumer trends and product innovation
• Animal welfare
• Environmental best practices
• Milk quality

The Farmers’ Union of Wales will gather the views of its 12 county branches to develop a formal response to the Welsh Assembly Government’s (WAG) proposals to overhaul its bovine TB compensation scheme.

"Meanwhile, I would encourage all Welsh farmers to read WAG’s consultation paper and respond to it before the closing date of April 10," said FUW president Gareth Vaughan.

WAG proposes to link bovine TB compensation payments to good farming practices and disease control measures and the consultation document is available at www.wales.gov.uk/consultations/currentconsultations or by request via e-mail from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A key aim of its £27m programme of bovine TB eradication is to amend the current system to "ensure a fair deal for herd owners and taxpayers by linking compensation arrangements with the encouragement of farmers to comply with best practice requirements".

Bovine TB in Wales has increased substantially in the current financial year and since last April over £17,734,564 compensation was paid in Wales, compared with £11,185,340 in the same period the previous year - an increase of 59 per cent.

WAG’s consultation paper considers the responsibilities of herd owners and the principles of compensation and, in particular, how these principles can encourage positive on-farm actions and help modify behaviour to prevent the reintroduction of the disease into herds in Wales.

Mr Vaughan said: "No-one would disagree that genuine irresponsible behaviour should be penalised but the approach must be proportional, particularly given past government failures to address the issue of bTB in wildlife which has created the massive problems we are now facing.

"It would be completely unacceptable for a farmer to be penalised if his animals are infected by wild animals over which farmers have no control whatsoever - especially given that it has effectively been illegal to control the disease in wildlife for decades."

The Farmers’ Union of Wales today reacted angrily following the latest round of farmgate milk price cuts.

Their response follows Arla Foods decision to cut its milk price to farmers by 2p per litre (ppl) and First Milk by 1.25ppl.

FUW milk and dairy produce committee chairman Eifion Huws said: "This time of the year almost always brings bad news for dairy farmers with farmgate milk price reductions and increased input costs, energy prices and regulation leading to falling confidence.

"All dairy farmers have serious concerns about their future as they face difficult times in the months ahead. They are already experiencing very tough conditions, with historically high prices still for many inputs and pressure on returns.

"This latest round of milk price cuts began in November when Dairy Farmers of Britain announced a 2p per litre reduction. At the time the FUW called for increased support for the dairy industry but obviously that is not happening.

"For some dairy farmers these big reductions in milk price could be the last straw. It is vitally important that processors and supermarkets stand by the industry at this difficult time and do not let these difficulties trigger a downward spiral.

"I firmly believe the Government should take urgent action to prevent this happening in order to secure jobs in the farming and processing industries."