An event to be held at Trefere Fawr, Penparc, Cardigan, SA43 1RL on Thursday 28 October 2010 will look at how to improve profitability on dairy farms. The event is being organized by Organic Centre Wales as part of the Farming Connect Organic Development Programme and is suitable for all farmers.
Sometimes advice on farm improvement is difficult for farmers to implement because differences such as geographical location, land suitable for cultivation, soil type and rainfall are not taken into consideration. This event will take a different approach by by looking at the farm’s resources and asking whether the best use is being made of them.
Aled Rees, co director of the family business at Trefere Fawr, manages 200 ha all of which is organic, some of it owned and the rest rented. There is a great diversity of enterprises to run as there is an organic dairy herd of 140 black and white cows, 50 ha of winter and spring cereals, a 30 cow beef herd of which 20 are pedigree Herefords, and a flock of 150 mainly Lleyn x Texel sheep of which 100 will be lambing in February, with some traditional Welsh Mountain ewes lambing in April.
Geraint Jones of Kite Consulting will be leading the afternoon meeting and will describe the resources that Aled Rees has to work with as well as noting the obstacles that the family farm has to overcome. He said: “It is because every dairy farm has its own strengths and weaknesses that the event has been organised. Hopefully it will make farmers think more objectively about why they are managing their farms in the way that they are.”
Phil Jones of OCW, the event organizer, said: “Messages such as ‘every dairy farmer should be producing a minimum of 1 million litres of milk annually’ or ‘milk produced from forage is the most profitable’ are meaningless unless they are put in context. Every dairy farmer must aim at producing milk profitably from the resources that he or she has to work with”.
The event starts at 1.30pm with presentations from Geraint Jones and Aled Rees, followed by plenty of time for discussion and refreshments. It is free, but you should check the arrangements and register with Phil Jones on 01970 622248 to ensure a place.
