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Like father like son – and like mum too! At 20 years old, young farmer Gwion Jenkins is determined to build on the longstanding tradition of developing the family farm, Rhosfach in Clynderwen. And like mum and dad, he’s tapping into the training, support and services available through Farming Connect to help. Gwion’s parents now run a dairy herd of 150 pedigree Holstein Friesian cows – the Beca herd – at the farm his dad Iwan and mum Meinir bought in 1994 when Iwan first branched out on his own. Starting with just 40 milking cows, Iwan was given by his farming parents at a n...

A guide to feeding gilts and sows through a production cycle >More in © Tim Scrivener Nutrition is key throughout a pig’s lifetime, and particularly important for the breeding females of the herd in order to achieve optimum piglet production and growth. On a recent Farming Connect webinar, Andrew Marriage, commercial nutritionist at ForFarmers, and Sian Southwell, retail account manager at ForFarmers, shared some expert tips on feeding gilts and sows. Energy requirements Maintenance Implantation of embryos and placental development ...

By Farmer reporter

A Farming Connect study has found that consumers can help egg producers reduce ammonia levels by switching their buying choices from extra-large brown eggs to white, slightly smaller eggs. Farmer Llyr Jones was awarded a Farming Connect management exchange programme bursary to investigate how a free-range egg producer like him can reduce ammonia generated by egg production. Llyr runs a 16,000-hen free-range egg unit at Derwydd, at Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, near Corwen, and is aiming to build a second unit, doubling the number of hens in his system. But before going ahead he was keen to...

By Farmer reporter A family farm rearing beef heifers on marginal land in south Wales has shortened its winter by two and a half months since improving grassland management. The John family buy 80 Limousin heifer calves a year and rear them on 80 acres at Tal y Fedw Newydd Farm, Llantrisant, and another 80 acres of rented land a mile from the home farm. Based on 80 head of cattle at a benchmark housing cost figure of £1.40/head/day, this would equate to £8,400 saving for the business! In addition to this, they calculate an annual cost saving of £1,000 on fertiliser. They source t...