Emily Jones (25) Ceredigion
The ambassador interview panel were bowled over by Emily’s enthusiasm for the programme and the future of the sheep sector during the selection interviews. Emily currently splits her time between her job as an account handler for the Farmers Union of Wales and work on family’s sheep and beef hill farm in West Wales. In addition, she fills her busy schedule with volunteering work for the mental wellbeing charity, the DPJ Foundation, sits on several livestock breed society committees and is a qualified Registered Animal Medicines Advisor (RAMA). It was clear, however, that Emily was determined to make time for the NSA Next Generation Ambassador programme and is looking forward to implementing ideas and experience gained from it back with her pedigree flocks that includes North Country Cheviot, Charmoise Hill and Dorset Down ewes, as well as her family’s commercial enterprise of Easy Care and Welsh Mountain ewes.
June/July Update
Life has been pretty hectic here at Garnwen over the last couple of months, especially after implementing new ideas that I have learnt from the last two sessions as a young ambassador.
During lambing this year, I decided to record every lamb born on the farm as I learnt how important it was to record stock, to ensure the system is working to its full potential. We have been busy as a family weighing all of our lambs at 8 weeks, we previously only weighed our pedigree animals so this was a big step up for the farm.
This last quarter on the farm has therefore consisted of weighing all lambs at 8 weeks old. I found the whole process incredibly interesting especially as this allowed us to compare breeds and cross breeds – I also found what terminal sires were producing the better lambs.
We learnt about the importance of maintaining your grassland at the last NSA Young Ambassador session. We planted some herbal leys on the farm for a number of years now and putting the 8 week weight data together we could see by looking at the figures throughout the weighing process that the various grasslands did have an effect on the overall performance of each batch of lambs.
I am looking forward to the next session with the NSA Young Ambassadors as we will be involved in the NSA event in Malvern, which is a chance to meet more industry experts and to learn more about the industry.
August/September Update
As the showing season is coming to an end, we welcome the tupping season here at Garnwen.
This is an incredibly exciting but also anxious time for us as a family. The ewes will go through a meticulous selection process which we will attempt to adhere to, giving the ewes some leniency due to the harsh weather conditions they faced over the winter. It’s a time when we try to avoid sentimentality as farming is going through such a turbulent time and therefore only the best performing ewes must survive the selection process.
The overall performance of the ewe is very important to us as well as her maternal ability. Before tupping, we pre-weigh every retained ewe to record pre-tupping weights which then allows us to track the ewe’s performance post lambing. When the lambs have been weaned, we weigh each lamb to ensure the singles weigh at least half of their dam/mother’s weight at pre-tupping and the twins are equal to the dam’s weight or more.
Once the ewes have been selected and we know exactly how many ewes there are to tup we move on to the most important job – selecting the right rams for our flocks.
As we run both pedigree and commercial flocks here at Garnwen, it is imperative that we select the right terminal sires. This can a fairly challenging time due to varying opinions within in the family!
The knowledge that I have gained through the sessions with the NSA as a Young Ambassador will help guide me on the right path to choosing the correct rams, which should ultimately improve the next batch of lambs.
Bring on the tup sales!
The ambassador interview panel were bowled over by Emily’s enthusiasm for the programme and the future of the sheep sector during the selection interviews. Emily currently splits her time between her job as an account handler for the Farmers Union of Wales and work on family’s sheep and beef hill farm in West Wales. In addition, she fills her busy schedule with volunteering work for the mental wellbeing charity, the DPJ Foundation, sits on several livestock breed society committees and is a qualified Registered Animal Medicines Advisor (RAMA). It was clear, however, that Emily was determined to make time for the NSA Next Generation Ambassador programme and is looking forward to implementing ideas and experience gained from it back with her pedigree flocks that includes North Country Cheviot, Charmoise Hill and Dorset Down ewes, as well as her family’s commercial enterprise of Easy Care and Welsh Mountain ewes.
June/July Update
Life has been pretty hectic here at Garnwen over the last couple of months, especially after implementing new ideas that I have learnt from the last two sessions as a young ambassador.
During lambing this year, I decided to record every lamb born on the farm as I learnt how important it was to record stock, to ensure the system is working to its full potential. We have been busy as a family weighing all of our lambs at 8 weeks, we previously only weighed our pedigree animals so this was a big step up for the farm.
This last quarter on the farm has therefore consisted of weighing all lambs at 8 weeks old. I found the whole process incredibly interesting especially as this allowed us to compare breeds and cross breeds – I also found what terminal sires were producing the better lambs.
We learnt about the importance of maintaining your grassland at the last NSA Young Ambassador session. We planted some herbal leys on the farm for a number of years now and putting the 8 week weight data together we could see by looking at the figures throughout the weighing process that the various grasslands did have an effect on the overall performance of each batch of lambs.
I am looking forward to the next session with the NSA Young Ambassadors as we will be involved in the NSA event in Malvern, which is a chance to meet more industry experts and to learn more about the industry.
August/September Update
As the showing season is coming to an end, we welcome the tupping season here at Garnwen.
This is an incredibly exciting but also anxious time for us as a family. The ewes will go through a meticulous selection process which we will attempt to adhere to, giving the ewes some leniency due to the harsh weather conditions they faced over the winter. It’s a time when we try to avoid sentimentality as farming is going through such a turbulent time and therefore only the best performing ewes must survive the selection process.
The overall performance of the ewe is very important to us as well as her maternal ability. Before tupping, we pre-weigh every retained ewe to record pre-tupping weights which then allows us to track the ewe’s performance post lambing. When the lambs have been weaned, we weigh each lamb to ensure the singles weigh at least half of their dam/mother’s weight at pre-tupping and the twins are equal to the dam’s weight or more.
Once the ewes have been selected and we know exactly how many ewes there are to tup we move on to the most important job – selecting the right rams for our flocks.
As we run both pedigree and commercial flocks here at Garnwen, it is imperative that we select the right terminal sires. This can a fairly challenging time due to varying opinions within in the family!
The knowledge that I have gained through the sessions with the NSA as a Young Ambassador will help guide me on the right path to choosing the correct rams, which should ultimately improve the next batch of lambs.
Bring on the tup sales!
