Pentre Farm Farm Facts

Pentre Farm Demonstration Site is a 49-hectare (ha) upland holding farmed by Hugh Jones and his mother, Glenys. They rent a further 28ha.

Glenys’ late husband, Vernon, bought the farm in 1961.

Up to 35 Hereford and Aberdeen Angus beef bull calves a year are bought from Mold and Ruthin auction and from private buyers at between 4-8 weeks.

Cattle are taken through to finishing and are currently sold to Dawn Meats at 27-30 months.

The closed flock of 350 ewes is mostly pedigree Lleyn but includes 70 Suffolk x Lleyns.

Pure Lleyn rams are used on a third of the Lleyn flock to breed replacements. The remaining ewes are sired to New Zealand-bred Suffolks which represents a major change of direction for the family as they had previously been enthusiastic breeders of commercial-type British Suffolks for over 30 years. 

The triplets lamb indoors but this year, thanks to mild conditions, the twins and singles lambed outside from March 24th.

All lambs are grass fed - creep is only given to the late finishers in the autumn.

Lambs are sold at Mold livestock market, usually at 40kg, from the end of May onwards when the first lambs are 12-13 weeks old.

In 2013, 3.74ha of native hardwood woodland was planted through the Woodland Creation Scheme. This land is steep and some of it wet so it was prone to high levels of liver fluke and a major risk to sheep health.