Pembrokeshire Farmers’ Union of Wales county officials recently met with their local Member of the Senedd, Paul Davies, at a farm visit hosted by organic dairy farmers Dai, Sharon and Llŷr Miles, at their farm Beudy Bach, Haverfordwest. The main concerns raised were the current Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations and bovine TB - issues which are making farming unsustainable for many in the county and across Wales.

The business was started by Dai and Sharron in 1997 when they moved to Pembrokeshire taking on the tenancy of Barnsley Farm, a 143 acres farm. At the time it was a stock/arable unit which they converted into an organic dairy unit starting with 33 cows and leased milk quota. 

In 2001 they rented a further 90 acres of pasture land and then in 2005 they rented the neighbouring farm within the same estate, Beudy Bach. In 2018 they had the opportunity to purchase Beudy Bach from the estate and installed a modern robotic milking system on the holding. Llyr joined the business after returning from Aberystwyth University where he studied agriculture. 

Nature, conservation and food production must and can go hand in hand, according to Montgomeryshire beef and sheep farmer Carwyn Jones. He farms at Ty Mawr, Dolanog in the Vyrnwy valley about 14 miles from Welshpool and 6 miles from lake Vyrnwy. The 160 acre beef and sheep farm has been in the family for many generations, with Carwyn taking over full management of the holding from his uncle in 2002. 

Describing the land he says: “Most of the land here is pretty steep. There isn’t much soil, about 2 inches of soil and 2 miles of rock. So I have to manage that carefully. We have a lot of woodland surrounding the farm and I also look after about 30 acres of our own woodland on the farm. There is such a great variety of bird species and wildlife around and I firmly believe that’s because of how this land is managed.” 

A champion hedgelayer, Carwyn has established over a mile of hedgerows alongside the farm on each side of the track and has recently planted over 600 new hedging plants. “All in all I look after about 4 miles of hedges on the farm land. I’ve always been a fan of hedges and trees. For me, I do what I do in terms of nature and conservation work for the love of doing it. I’m mad about hedges and the benefits it brings to the land and wildlife.” 

The Farmers’ Union of Wales says the common sense decision to prolong import limits on steel products should trigger somber reflection over the impact of trade deals that open UK markets up to cheap food imports.

The UK Government announced on Wednesday (30th June) that it would extend measures that defend the steel industry against cheap imports of certain types of steel, particularly from China.

The steel industry had described the original plan to remove tariffs as “utter madness”, warning that import surges would be devastating for the industry in the UK.

Referring to the trade deal recently agreed in principle with Australia and plans to sign similar deals with other countries and trading blocs, FUW President Glyn Roberts said “The phrase ‘utter madness’ also applies to moves that would open up our market to cheap food produced to lower standards.

“Such deals would be particularly devastating for rural areas where jobs relating to farming and agricultural supply chains make up a large proportion of the workforce and an invaluable contribution to our society and culture.”

Mr Roberts said that such trade deals also threatened the UK’s food security.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales Caernarfon Branch has raised the issue of livestock worrying and dog attacks with Aberconwy MP Robin Millar following an increase of incidents in recent weeks. Farmers who keep sheep on the Carneddau range in Caernarfonshire have lost close to 20 sheep in recent weeks due to attacks by dogs, the MP heard.

Henry Williams of Gwern Gof Isaf, Capel Curig has lost sheep due to dog attacks, as has Elfed Jackson from Braich Tŷ Du, Nant Ffrancon near Bethesda. 

Mr Jackson noted: “People just don’t realise the stress and heartache such incidents causes us. And even worse is the attitude of many dog owners who are in denial that their dog would do such a thing. I’ve returned a couple of dogs to their owners recently and just about managed to get a “sorry” from them. They need to understand the full implications of their dog not being under control when walking on the open mountains like we have here.”

Henry Williams added: “It breaks our hearts to have to see the result of an attack by dogs. It’s bad enough when one or two have suffered, but when it gets into double figures it’s even worse. Added to that stress is then the need to carry the carcasses down from the mountain by hand, which is no easy task when you have the local authority insisting that they are cleared immediately. I’m not sure if they realise what they are actually asking us to do.”