Application window open for major exchange programme

Beef and sheep farmer Alwyn Phillips visited Sweden and Denmark

The search is on for farmers who are keen to enhance their business competitiveness with an overseas educational trip.

The next intake of farmers keen on increasing their profit levels are urged to apply for the Management Exchange programme 2019.

Since the launch of the programme in 2016, 14 farmers have visited businesses throughout the UK and other European countries, broadening their knowledge, technical ability and management expertise.

Many are already implementing improved ways of working amid the uncertain trading conditions widely expected post-Brexit.

The funding rate for successful candidates is 100%, up to a maximum of £4,000, with costs reclaimed after the visit or hosting period.

Einir Davies, from Farming Connect, the Welsh Government funded group behind the Exchange programme, said it is a "fantastic opportunity".

“This is a fantastic opportunity to see at first-hand how some of the most successful businesses in Europe operate and what you learn will not only impact on the way you run your business, but the knowledge will also be shared with the wider industry in Wales through Farming Connect,” Einir said.

“If you feel you would benefit from a visit to a farm or forestry business within the EU, and might also be interested in hosting an experienced farm or forest manager currently working in the EU at your home holding, we would urge you to apply as soon as you can.

“Successful applicants will either undertake or host a visit and two-way exchange visits will be encouraged but are not essential,” added Ms. Davies.

The application window is open now and will close at midnight on 30 November 2018.

Trip to southern Ireland

Lucy Allison, a dairy adviser with a locally based agri-consultancy company and her husband’s family run a 400 acre dairy farm in North Pembrokeshire.

They have 250 Holstein Friesian dairy cows which are predominantly autumn calving. The aim is for the herd to be milked three times a day throughout the autumn and winter and milked twice a day and turned out to graze in the spring and summer months.

The farm currently supplies approximately 2.5 million litres of milk a year on a cheese contract. Lucy was aware that apart from New Zealand, which has a completely different climate to the UK, Ireland has been a world leader in grazing strategies for more than a decade.

The purpose of her exchange visit was to investigate how different breeds and grass leys effect the constituents in milk within a rotational grazing system, and to maximise kg solids produced/ha.

Lucy is responsible for the farm’s grazing management. Her role includes inputting all the necessary data to calculate and plan grazing allocation throughout the summer.

She said: “My Management Exchange visit enabled me to visit the Positive Farmers Conference in Southern Ireland in January 2017, where I was completely inspired by what I learned through presentations from some of the world’s foremost dairy and grassland specialists.”

She also visited one of Ireland’s leading research farms, where again messages were reiterated that introducing better quality leys through reseeding would help maximise forage intake and influence solids produced.

As a result of her exchange, the farm business is steadily re-seeding parts of the grazing platform, and they are now seeing the success through grass measuring.

“We started using a plate meter last year which enables us to forward budget the grass according to the number of cows and daily grass growth," she said.

“We are starting to see positive results and should be able to maximise grass intake and utilisation to produce more milk from forage.

“My exchange visit taught me to be more open minded and to consider other ways of improving our own farming systems.

Lucy added: “I listened to all the professional advice and there’s no doubt that by putting into practice what I learned, we’re already seeing a steady improvement in the utilisation of grass which is leading to surplus forage being harvested and ensiled, saving money on bought in feed.”

Trip to Denmark

Alwyn Phillips is a beef and sheep farmer from Caernarfon. The purpose of his six-day Management Exchange visit to Sweden and Denmark was to learn about differences in the approaches used for cervical artificial insemination (AI) in Denmark and Sweden compared to the UK.

He also wanted to find out what would be needed to enhance the cervical AI programme using frozen semen, particularly for sheep, in Wales

Alwyn was aware that Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands are at the forefront of technology which uses frozen semen via cervical AI in sheep.

It’s a practice which is currently more advanced and widespread in these countries than it is in the UK. He was eager to find out whether it was a system he could introduce for his own flock of 200 Poll Dorset and 200 Texel ewes and more generally by sheep farmers in Wales.

Alwyn found the farmers and experts he visited very open in sharing their expertise, their successes, and equally important, what they had learned from failures. He said they also appreciated his honest approach to sharing his own experiences with them.

He learned that cervical insemination using frozen semen will initially be taken up by pedigree breeders but also by more innovative commercial lamb producers, provided they can achieve 70% conception rates using cheaper semen like ‘bull of the day’ in the cattle.

AI has significantly improved the performance of the dairy industry through better genetics, whilst the sheep industry has been slow to embrace AI.

The main reason being that in cattle, the inseminator can penetrate the cervix and deposit the frozen semen directly into the uterus whilst in the ewe it is nearly impossible to penetrate the cervix as it’s so tortuous.

However, having now seen at first hand just how successful the technique can be, Alwyn feels that training courses for sheep farmers could be one of first steps needed in Wales.

Alwyn said: “Farming Connect already provides subsidised training for AI in cattle, so I’m hoping that they may consider extending this for sheep farmers too.

“Once trained, the breeder can have a flask on farm holding semen from different proven rams to be used on selected ewes” said Alwyn who is clear about the proven advantages of AI.

“AI offers access to superior genetics, reduces risks of importing diseases and a wider choice of proven rams.

“It allows the purchase of semen from rams to improve the individual ewe’s weaker EBVs, while avoiding risk of in-breeding,” he said.

Alwyn said it would be cheaper to buy semen from proven rams than having to pay a high price for a stock ram which may not improve the flock and in some instances may have a relatively brief working life in a natural mating system.

To make sheep farming profitable farmers need healthy soils, healthy grass and superior genetics but Alwyn believes that cervical insemination using frozen semen is an important component as the way forward.

He said: “We need to reduce our production costs and our carbon footprint per kg of lamb produced. Also, grass-fed lambs have a higher content of health-promoting Omega 3.

“Following my visit, we will be cervically inseminating our sheep this autumn using frozen semen.”