Bleddyn Davies 25 Ceredigion
From his earliest memory showing pet lambs at the local show, Bleddyn’s enthusiasm for sheep farming has grown and grown. He is now farming alongside his parents, taking responsibility for 200 Beulah Speckled Faced, 250 improved Tregaron-type Welsh and 350 cross-bred ewes. Bleddyn started EID recording three years ago and is using this information to select replacements and move towards an improved Welsh for his breeding females. His aim is to work fulltime on the family farm at Llandysul, although he says his part-time job as a field officer for the Welsh YFC Beef Scheme is great for picking up tips off-farm. He believes that he could increase ewe numbers on the existing land through better grassland management and he wants to gain skills in this area as an NSA Ambassador, while also beginning to engage with the non-farming public. One to watch: Bleddyn likes to challenge himself by setting annual scanning and weaning targets, stretching himself each year to finish more lambs without concentrates.
Bleddyn completed NSA Q&As throughout 2018
April
- What was the highlight of lambing this year? (Or highlight so far?) The one day of sunshine amid the constant rain and miserable weather!
- How are you getting on with meeting the targets you’ve set yourself as an NSA Next Generation Ambassador? Much slower than expected.
- If you could give the general public one fact about sheep farming, what would it be and why? You can watch after ewes to the best possible standard but you never know what's going to happen at lambing time.
- The tough spring conditions have caused high lambing losses and stunted grass growth for most places. If a genie offered you more grass growth, more live lambs on the ground or one other wish, which would you chose and why? I'd wish for another wish. So I could of been out in the Bahamas for the past two months!
- If you were asked to step in at the last minute and compete at the Commonwealth Games, what would be your best discipline and why? Shot put or javelin. Something that doesn’t involve too much running!
May
- What’s keeping you busy at the moment? Everything! There never seems to be enough hours in a day or days in a week.
- How is your 2018 lamb crop performing so far? With the green stuff finally growing, the lambs seem to have reacted similarly. Just a pity they don't grow overnight like mushrooms.
- Defra has just closed its ‘Health and Harmony’ consultation on post-Brexit agricultural regulation. Environment, health and welfare were given higher priority in the paper than food production. What are your thoughts on this? This is reality now, sadly, with the general public losing connection with how their food is produced and more interested in how the bird and bug populations are doing.
- What were you doing on the hottest Bank Holiday Monday on record? Playing sevens rugby in Aberystwyth in the sunshine / recovering from the weekend's antics.
- What (sheep related) wedding gift would you give Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and why? Woollen jumpers and scarves. It would definitely bring wool back into fashion and make British wool trendy again.
July
- How are you and your flock coping in the drought conditions? Compared to a majority of the country, we've survived pretty well with grass - but I have never seen sheep drink as much water as they have this summer.
- Are you optimistic that we’ll a) get a Brexit deal before our official departure date from the EU, and b) that it’ll be a good deal for UK agriculture? I am optimistic that some sort of deal will be struck before our official departure date - but at the very last second. In regards to agriculture and farming I do not think it will be overly positive for us, unfortunately. I believe our ability to export products to the EU will be limited and the intake of cheaper lower standard food will create problems.
- What was the best take home message from your day at NSA Sheep 2018? You could spent a lot more money on fancy farming toys than you can make from sheep in a year.
- What summer agricultural shows are you going to / have you gone to? Which is your favourite and why? I try to support my local shows and have my yearly outing with the sheep at Caerwedros Show. As for larger shows, I go to the Pembrokeshire Show and the Royal Welsh, of which I think the Royal Welsh is by far the best show in Britain if not further afield. It is the pinnacle of the show calendar.
- Tell us about your sheepdogs. We have two retired old dogs, Bill and Mal, who have worked hard to deserve their retirements. Also three-year-old Cap, who has no breaks, and four nine-month-old pups which are Ben, Nell, Meg and Bonnie. They are full of energy.
August
- How are you going to feed your stock this winter? Will you have to feed a higher number of concentrates due to the lack of roughage? Will you use fodder crops? Forage stocks for next year are lower than desired, following a clear out of forage last winter, but we are hoping for another cut before the end of September to correct the deficit. We are looking to reduce overall use of concentrates on the farm so have planted turnips, forage rape and red clover leys for the lambs, as well as forage rye to be sown for the suckler cows. Fingers crossed all goes as planned.
- How have you, or will you be preparing for tupping. How will you flush your ewes with so little grass available? Are your tups in yet? Ewes will be body condition scored in the next week or so and managed accordingly, as our rams won't be in until the end of October and, with conditions as they are, I think we will have adequate grass to be able to flush the ewes.
- What do you consider the best way to unwind after a long day with the sheep? I play rugby for my local side, Newcastle Emlyn, in the Welsh Championship and find that a great way to let off steam after a long day. It also allows me to communicate with human beings rather than just the dogs, sheep and myself!
- What is your favourite lamb dish? Lamb is such a versatile meat its hard to choose a favourite. Whenever an Indian takeaway is ordered, lamb rogan josh is my go to meal. But then it's hard to overlook lamb chops and lamb burgers on the BBQ. But I think for me it will have to be a breast of lamb rolled and stuffed and served with seasonal veg with plenty of gravy.
- What do you do on your farm for the environment? We produce all of our lamb off grass, which adds to the great flavour that has gained Welsh Lamb its PGI status. We preserve and maintain all hedges on the farm, encouraging wildlife habitats. We also have a stream-side corridor where all types of plants and animals thrive while protecting the river from erosion and maintaining water quality. Farming is more than just food production. We maintain the environment, allowing the public to enjoy the countryside in all it's glory.
September
- Now the nights are drawing in and temperatures are dropping, what (if anything!) are you looking forward to this autumn/winter? It's hard to think of anything to look forward to, except next spring when days lengthen and temperatures start to climb!
- How many ewes are you putting / have you put to the tup this autumn? With Brexit in mind efficiency and COP making us focus on sustainability, we've remained at the same number of ewes, as the land can easily carry them even in extreme conditions such as this summer.
- If you weren't a sheep farmer, what would you be and why? A chef - to combine my love for food and for British produce. And who doesn't want to be eating fancy food everyday?
- What is your favourite breed of sheep and why? It's hard to look past the Welsh ewe. She's such a good mother and a hardy ewe. Her versatility to be able to produce both prime lambs and replacement breeding stock just goes to show how good she is overall.
- Never throw away baler twine! What is your best use for this farm essential? It's hard to walk down the yard in the morning without seeing baler twine carrying out all manner of duties, from keeping gates closed to even holding some gates upright!
Final round of questions
- Of the farms you’ve visited during your year as an Ambassador, which would you like to live and work on and why – or, which farmer you have met would you like to work with and why? I wouldn't mind working for Frank Lloyd. His vision for the sheep industry, looking at simplifying his system with an emphasis on genetics and EBVs, is the way I believe we need to be heading as an industry.
- What useful piece of advice have you taken away and implemented on your farm since becoming an NSA Next Generation Ambassador? Are you seeing any benefits from this already? I'm already looking at costs within the business to improve margins after our benchmarking exercise. Looking at increasing forage use and lowering dependence on concentrates, and also reducing antibiotic use for practical and financial benefit.
- What useful piece of advice have you taken away and plan to implement in the next year or two. I'm looking to implement rotational grazing into the sheep system, to increase forage utilisation and increase production with higher stocking rates.
- 2019 is just around the corner. Will you be making any new year’s resolutions for yourself personally or for your farm / place of work in 2019? Take every opportunity available and build a sustainable business in preparation for a post Brexit unknown.
Brexit has been the top topic during your first year as an Ambassador. Where do you think the final negotiations will end up and will it be good for UK sheep farmers? It simply has to be for the good of the sheep industry or it won't be just farmers suffering but the whole country, as the environment won't be as well looked after and the scenery we've become used to will deteriorate.
From his earliest memory showing pet lambs at the local show, Bleddyn’s enthusiasm for sheep farming has grown and grown. He is now farming alongside his parents, taking responsibility for 200 Beulah Speckled Faced, 250 improved Tregaron-type Welsh and 350 cross-bred ewes. Bleddyn started EID recording three years ago and is using this information to select replacements and move towards an improved Welsh for his breeding females. His aim is to work fulltime on the family farm at Llandysul, although he says his part-time job as a field officer for the Welsh YFC Beef Scheme is great for picking up tips off-farm. He believes that he could increase ewe numbers on the existing land through better grassland management and he wants to gain skills in this area as an NSA Ambassador, while also beginning to engage with the non-farming public. One to watch: Bleddyn likes to challenge himself by setting annual scanning and weaning targets, stretching himself each year to finish more lambs without concentrates.
Bleddyn completed NSA Q&As throughout 2018
April
- What was the highlight of lambing this year? (Or highlight so far?) The one day of sunshine amid the constant rain and miserable weather!
- How are you getting on with meeting the targets you’ve set yourself as an NSA Next Generation Ambassador? Much slower than expected.
- If you could give the general public one fact about sheep farming, what would it be and why? You can watch after ewes to the best possible standard but you never know what's going to happen at lambing time.
- The tough spring conditions have caused high lambing losses and stunted grass growth for most places. If a genie offered you more grass growth, more live lambs on the ground or one other wish, which would you chose and why? I'd wish for another wish. So I could of been out in the Bahamas for the past two months!
- If you were asked to step in at the last minute and compete at the Commonwealth Games, what would be your best discipline and why? Shot put or javelin. Something that doesn’t involve too much running!
May
- What’s keeping you busy at the moment? Everything! There never seems to be enough hours in a day or days in a week.
- How is your 2018 lamb crop performing so far? With the green stuff finally growing, the lambs seem to have reacted similarly. Just a pity they don't grow overnight like mushrooms.
- Defra has just closed its ‘Health and Harmony’ consultation on post-Brexit agricultural regulation. Environment, health and welfare were given higher priority in the paper than food production. What are your thoughts on this? This is reality now, sadly, with the general public losing connection with how their food is produced and more interested in how the bird and bug populations are doing.
- What were you doing on the hottest Bank Holiday Monday on record? Playing sevens rugby in Aberystwyth in the sunshine / recovering from the weekend's antics.
- What (sheep related) wedding gift would you give Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and why? Woollen jumpers and scarves. It would definitely bring wool back into fashion and make British wool trendy again.
July
- How are you and your flock coping in the drought conditions? Compared to a majority of the country, we've survived pretty well with grass - but I have never seen sheep drink as much water as they have this summer.
- Are you optimistic that we’ll a) get a Brexit deal before our official departure date from the EU, and b) that it’ll be a good deal for UK agriculture? I am optimistic that some sort of deal will be struck before our official departure date - but at the very last second. In regards to agriculture and farming I do not think it will be overly positive for us, unfortunately. I believe our ability to export products to the EU will be limited and the intake of cheaper lower standard food will create problems.
- What was the best take home message from your day at NSA Sheep 2018? You could spent a lot more money on fancy farming toys than you can make from sheep in a year.
- What summer agricultural shows are you going to / have you gone to? Which is your favourite and why? I try to support my local shows and have my yearly outing with the sheep at Caerwedros Show. As for larger shows, I go to the Pembrokeshire Show and the Royal Welsh, of which I think the Royal Welsh is by far the best show in Britain if not further afield. It is the pinnacle of the show calendar.
- Tell us about your sheepdogs. We have two retired old dogs, Bill and Mal, who have worked hard to deserve their retirements. Also three-year-old Cap, who has no breaks, and four nine-month-old pups which are Ben, Nell, Meg and Bonnie. They are full of energy.
August
- How are you going to feed your stock this winter? Will you have to feed a higher number of concentrates due to the lack of roughage? Will you use fodder crops? Forage stocks for next year are lower than desired, following a clear out of forage last winter, but we are hoping for another cut before the end of September to correct the deficit. We are looking to reduce overall use of concentrates on the farm so have planted turnips, forage rape and red clover leys for the lambs, as well as forage rye to be sown for the suckler cows. Fingers crossed all goes as planned.
- How have you, or will you be preparing for tupping. How will you flush your ewes with so little grass available? Are your tups in yet? Ewes will be body condition scored in the next week or so and managed accordingly, as our rams won't be in until the end of October and, with conditions as they are, I think we will have adequate grass to be able to flush the ewes.
- What do you consider the best way to unwind after a long day with the sheep? I play rugby for my local side, Newcastle Emlyn, in the Welsh Championship and find that a great way to let off steam after a long day. It also allows me to communicate with human beings rather than just the dogs, sheep and myself!
- What is your favourite lamb dish? Lamb is such a versatile meat its hard to choose a favourite. Whenever an Indian takeaway is ordered, lamb rogan josh is my go to meal. But then it's hard to overlook lamb chops and lamb burgers on the BBQ. But I think for me it will have to be a breast of lamb rolled and stuffed and served with seasonal veg with plenty of gravy.
- What do you do on your farm for the environment? We produce all of our lamb off grass, which adds to the great flavour that has gained Welsh Lamb its PGI status. We preserve and maintain all hedges on the farm, encouraging wildlife habitats. We also have a stream-side corridor where all types of plants and animals thrive while protecting the river from erosion and maintaining water quality. Farming is more than just food production. We maintain the environment, allowing the public to enjoy the countryside in all it's glory.
September
- Now the nights are drawing in and temperatures are dropping, what (if anything!) are you looking forward to this autumn/winter? It's hard to think of anything to look forward to, except next spring when days lengthen and temperatures start to climb!
- How many ewes are you putting / have you put to the tup this autumn? With Brexit in mind efficiency and COP making us focus on sustainability, we've remained at the same number of ewes, as the land can easily carry them even in extreme conditions such as this summer.
- If you weren't a sheep farmer, what would you be and why? A chef - to combine my love for food and for British produce. And who doesn't want to be eating fancy food everyday?
- What is your favourite breed of sheep and why? It's hard to look past the Welsh ewe. She's such a good mother and a hardy ewe. Her versatility to be able to produce both prime lambs and replacement breeding stock just goes to show how good she is overall.
- Never throw away baler twine! What is your best use for this farm essential? It's hard to walk down the yard in the morning without seeing baler twine carrying out all manner of duties, from keeping gates closed to even holding some gates upright!
Final round of questions
- Of the farms you’ve visited during your year as an Ambassador, which would you like to live and work on and why – or, which farmer you have met would you like to work with and why? I wouldn't mind working for Frank Lloyd. His vision for the sheep industry, looking at simplifying his system with an emphasis on genetics and EBVs, is the way I believe we need to be heading as an industry.
- What useful piece of advice have you taken away and implemented on your farm since becoming an NSA Next Generation Ambassador? Are you seeing any benefits from this already? I'm already looking at costs within the business to improve margins after our benchmarking exercise. Looking at increasing forage use and lowering dependence on concentrates, and also reducing antibiotic use for practical and financial benefit.
- What useful piece of advice have you taken away and plan to implement in the next year or two. I'm looking to implement rotational grazing into the sheep system, to increase forage utilisation and increase production with higher stocking rates.
- 2019 is just around the corner. Will you be making any new year’s resolutions for yourself personally or for your farm / place of work in 2019? Take every opportunity available and build a sustainable business in preparation for a post Brexit unknown.
Brexit has been the top topic during your first year as an Ambassador. Where do you think the final negotiations will end up and will it be good for UK sheep farmers? It simply has to be for the good of the sheep industry or it won't be just farmers suffering but the whole country, as the environment won't be as well looked after and the scenery we've become used to will deteriorate.
