Manor Afon

The challenges and opportunities to protect and enhance the environment for a dairy farm in the Tywi catchment area

Manor Afon is a 500-acre dairy farm as the main holding with an additional 200 acres of rented land. It lies North East of Llandeilo and along both sides of the banks of the river Tywi that meanders and travels East to West through the farm towards Llandeilo. To the north the farm boundary lies along a railway track whilst to the South the main road to Bethlehem runs adjacent to the farm. The dairy enterprise consists of 340 milking cows and approximately 250 followers. The core focus is on grass production for the grazing platform and silage production.

The river Tywi is a lowland river that meanders on a wide but contained, active flood plain and is both scenically and ecologically of high value. The alluvial soils have benefited generations of farmers but with climate change and increasing flash flooding are now prone to substantial bank erosion with the loss of land capital.

This project will address the challenges and opportunities to protect and enhance the environment for a dairy farm in a flood plain. It will aim to identify opportunities for riparian management methodologies to alleviate bank erosion by identifying appropriate and effective measures that are as beneficial as possible for natural processes and habitats.

Identifying methodologies to deliver multiple benefits through targeted actions could reduce erosion, create habitats and improve connectivity, all of which will improve the river catchment and improve environmental and economic performance for the business. The project will also demonstrate the benefits of strategic working within an intensively farmed river valley and will benefit the local environment by identifying environmental proposals with the aim of enhancing the resilience of the river corridor between the urban areas to the benefit of the wider society.

The project will contribute to the Sustainable Land Management outcomes including:

• Clean air
• Clean water
• High animal health & welfare
• Mitigate flood & drought risk
• Protected natural landscapes
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
• Resilient ecosystems
• Resource efficient