2 December 2024
A Welsh family farm has been encouraged to introduce new practices, from artificially inseminating beef cattle to growing new crops, incentivised by Farming Connect-funded training and discussion groups.
Iwan and Rhian Evans and their son, Dyfan, produce beef and lamb on 210 acres of owned and rented land at Bronwydd. Rhian is a former teacher who combined that job with farming.
Dyfan is the third generation of his family to farm on the holding at Coed y Bryn, Llandysul.
He joined the business after leaving school, making the decision at a very young age that he wanted to follow in his parents’ footsteps and farm.
Together they have built up suckler cow numbers to around 80, favouring Charolais which they breed from a Charolais bull or cross with Limousin, and sell as stores at Newcastle Emlyn and Llanybydder markets.
Lamb is produced from a flock of 210 Suffolk-cross mules and Texels, lambing in two batches in mid-January and in February with lambs mostly sold liveweight at local markets.
Ambitious to upskill and bring new ideas to the business, Dyfan has seized multiple opportunities available through Farming Connect, some fully-funded and others part-funded.
Enrolling in a DIY AI training course enabled him to introduce new genetics.
Although the farm has three stock bulls to run with the spring calvers, AI has been used to breed a group of autumn calvers from a Simmental bull to produce replacements.
The course, run at Prostock’s Bancyfelin site and at a dairy farm, was 80% funded by Farming Connect.
“It was really well run, and being able to do our own AI is a good skill to have,’’ says Dyfan, who also completed a cattle foot trimming course through Farming Connect.
The farm grows spring and winter barley, peas and barley for whole cropping and fodder beet.
Fodder beet was introduced into the rotation for the first time this year after Dyfan saw its potential through his membership of a Farming Connect beef discussion group.
Membership of that group, which meets monthly from September to March, brings him significant gains. “We have excellent speakers and topics for discussion but it is also the support among the group members themselves that is important.
“If you are having an issue on the farm, someone in the group will have experienced it too and can help to provide solutions, and a problem shared is definitely a problem halved.
“At 27, I am the youngest in the group, some are much older than me, but we all have common goals.’’
Dyfan is also a member of Farming Connect sheep and grass discussion groups.
Grass is an important part of his system and discussion group membership has again introduced him to new approaches, including plans to implement a rotational grazing system for his suckler herd next year.
Farming Connect webinars on managing grass, an on-farm event themed on maximising beef output from grass, and also grassland and crop management advice accessed through the Farming Connect Advisory Service have helped with informing that goal.
“Sometimes you will know a lot of the information that is being presented at the webinars but there are usually one or two points that you pick up that can make a big difference to what you are doing in the long term,’’ Dyfan explains.
Farming Connect also stepped in with support when the Evans’ needed to prepare for a Natural Resources Wales (NRW) inspection on the farm’s compliance with The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021.
They attended an Agri Pollution Workbook Workshop and funding was available for 1-2-1 Technical Advice through the Advisory Service with a staff member from CARA Wales.
This allowed CARA Wales to support and advise the business to complete the documentation required for the inspection.
“It helped with the inspection process, to know that we had all the correct paperwork ready,’’ says Dyfan.
Next on his list is to attend a Safe Use of Sheep Dip Course, 80% funded through Farming Connect, which will provide him with the qualification he needs to buy or use sheep dip products to treat scab, lice or blowfly in his sheep flock.
“We don’t dip at the moment but the scab situation seems to be getting worse every year, some local farms have had it, so we want to prevent it becoming a problem,’’ he says.