The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) will host a Pre Dairy Show farm visit next week to highlight the importance of family run dairy farms in Wales.
FUW Milk and Dairy Produce committee chair, Brian Walters, will open the gates to his 500ac Carmarthen farm which he farms alongside his wife Ann, two sons, Aled and Seimon on the eve of the Welsh Dairy Show 2024 which falls on Monday, October 21.
The family run a dairy herd of 220 cows with 200 followers on an autumn block calving system emphasising quality grass-fed milk off production and employ an additional full time farm labourer to assist the practice.
The family operate all farm machinery themselves which helps reduce costs of production while offering them greater flexibility in terms of scheduling tasks like harvest, ploughing and slurry spreading, as opposed to working around a contractor’s availability.
“As a family we seem to have struck the right balance, for us. There are many challenges facing family farms like ours and economies of scale increasingly disfavours the smaller setup both financially and practically, especially when finding those ‘marginal margins’ are ever more important to achieving financial stability.
“For generations, farmers have safeguarded these dairy farms across Wales and have passed the traditional family farms from one generation to the next.
“The history of our most familiar food is clear to see with hundreds of milk stands standing guard over farm lanes and entrances across the countryside,” Walter said.
Walters and his family have hosted nearly 20 placement opportunities for agriculture students from nearby Coleg Gelli Aur Agricultural College as a means of transferring skills to the next generation.
“Ensuring the next generation is given the best opportunity possible to work within this fantastic dairy sector is fundamentally important to me. It’s not only a farm business, it is a way of life.
“Over the years the industry has not been shy in progressing and enhancing farm practices to improve the herd to maximise milk production, to boost efficiency and the welfare of these much respected animals,” he added.
Welsh Dairy Show 2024
Following the farm visit, the annual Eve of Dairy Show dinner will be held which is hosted by hosted by FUW and FUW Insurance Services Ltd. Here, First Milk CEO, Shelagh Hancock will address some of the key topics facing industry while providing an optimistic outlook into the future of the industry.
The Welsh Dairy Show, held at the United Counties Showground in Nantyci, Carmarthen on Tuesday, October 22, gives the sector the opportunity to bring farmers, processors, co-operatives, businesses, sector leaders, unions and Government together to discuss the state of the dairy industry,
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) survey into producer numbers in April 2024 reports a 6% decrease in dairy producers compared with the previous year despite the fact that the volume of milk produced per farm continued to increase.
FUW deputy president, Dai Miles said:
“As a Union, we continue to remind the Welsh Government and others that our traditional family dairy farms need support to future proof their businesses and infrastructure with affordable and innovative solutions to overcome the plethora of challenges facing the industry and be an attractive career for the next generation.
“These family farms are the backbone of not only other small businesses but the glue that holds the community, schools, chapels, village halls, shops and local pubs together. These farms are also places where the traditional skills of farming are passed on and where Welsh language, culture and rural skills are safeguarded.
“One huge achievement the FUW played a fundamental role in successfully lobbying for in recent years is the new legislation to safeguard milk producers.
“The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024 was introduced this July with a one year period of transition for existing milk contracts to become compliant with the new rules. This is certainly a positive step forward for the sector that will help stamp out unfair contractual agreements,” Miles said.
