Ask new NFU Cymru President Aled Jones about his guiding principle for the Welsh agricultural industry in the years ahead and he’ll often reply ‘We have so much to be proud of but let us not stay there, Nid da lle gellir gwell – it’s not good if better is possible’.
Having been elected as NFU Cymru President following a meeting of NFU Cymru Welsh Council back in February, Aled is determined to help drive the industry forward to realise its potential during his term of office.
We must always be pioneering
“I’m very proud that so many farmers in Wales have achieved such high standards for many, many years. It’s testimony really to the dynamic nature that so many people in our industry have,” he says. “But we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. It’s about mentality and always looking for opportunities; never being afraid of trying to do something different. We don’t want to become status quo farmers. We must always be pioneering.”
“I’m very proud that so many farmers in Wales have achieved such high standards for many, many years. It’s testimony really to the dynamic nature that so many people in our industry have.”
This positive outlook and willingness to innovate and evolve is a philosophy that is also evident at Aled’s home farm of Hendy on the outskirts of Caernarfon in north Wales. Aled was born on a hill farm in Cwm Prysor, Trawsfynydd, the fourth of five children.
Aled’s father, Robert, purchased Hendy in 1963 with the intention of running the two farms together, the traditional ‘Hafod a Hendre’ approach. However, when his father was involved in a serious accident in 1965 – the car he was travelling in from an NFU meeting was hit by a drunk driver – he felt he could no longer run the two farms together and care for five young children, so he opted to sell the hill farm and concentrate on operations at Hendy.
Over the years the dairy herd grew, first transitioning from milking Welsh Blacks to Friesian and then eventually to Holsteins. Today Aled runs the farm with his son Osian, milking the herd of pedigree Holsteins through a rotary parlour. The farm is wholly down to grass whilst maize is grown on contract by other farmers.
Changes to the farm over the years
“The farm has changed immensely over the years,” explains Aled. “Osian takes all the leading roles on the farm. I’ve always tried to encourage him to take that role and make those decisions because, fundamentally, he will be the one who is responsible for those decisions and will live with them going forward.”
All young calves are reared on contract from four or five months of age through until a month before calving. Heifers calve between 23 and 24 months of age. The best genetic heifers are inseminated with sexed semen; the lower end of the herd is inseminated with Aberdeen Angus. The best cows are inseminated with sexed Holstein semen and the rest have sexed male Belgian Blue or Aberdeen Angus. Aled says that advances in technology on sexed semen have helped to dramatically reduce the number of male Holstein calves and there’s always demand from local farms for the beef cross calves. A significant number of down calving heifers are also sold to generate supplementary income.
The farm is also home to a small flock of pedigree Texel sheep. “The sheep enterprise is something that Osian has developed of his own accord from the age of 14. He does have a keen stockman’s eye for both cattle and sheep, using a lot of genetic data in the breeding decisions,” Aled adds.
The farm relies on good, local labour
Five years ago the Joneses took the decision to increase the milking of their high yielding pedigree Holstein herd to three times a day as the cows were under pressure carrying heavy milk yields twice a day. “When we expanded the herd we obviously became heavily reliant on labour. There are four full time staff and 10 part time milkers for evening and weekend milkings. They’re all good, local young people, essential for the business. It means people management is crucial and it’s one of the skills that Osian has had to learn – sometimes it can prove more challenging than cow management,” jokes Aled. “Having that local support is crucial to the business running like a well-oiled machine.”
The progression of the business has not come without having to weather some significant storms, however. Tomlinsons Dairies going into administration in 2019, having just invested in the new dairy parlour and associated buildings, resulted in six-figure financial losses for the Joneses. “It couldn’t have been worse timing,” recalls Aled.
“Not only did we lose a significant amount of money, but we also lost the ability to supply a premium supermarket contract. 25% of what we were producing was to Marks & Spencer, which provided a significant premium. Those were difficult times.
“I remember attending debtor meetings at that time and some of those farmers had also lost money when Dairy Farmers of Britain fell into receivership, so to have lost money with Tomlinsons, too, was heart-breaking for them. I know full well that some of those farms would have been struggling with bovine TB on top of those problems. It was so, so difficult.”
Five months later, Hendy farm was to sustain a further hit when, like so many other UK dairy businesses, they were hit with a drop in milk price brought about by the seismic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The overnight 9p per litre price cut was difficult to cope with coming so soon after Tomlinsons, especially as it took seven months to recover to the pre-Covid price.
"I can certainly sympathise with anybody who goes through difficult times."
“I think it’s only when you’ve experienced something like this that you can actually appreciate what others are going through, so I can certainly sympathise with anybody that goes through difficult times.
“We will come through it. We’ve had to park that as a bad debt and we will work our way through it and eventually we’ll get back on a firmer footing. The true values in life – my wife, our four children and four grandchildren are all happy and healthy - far outweigh those financial losses.”
The Joneses are still looking to the future, however, and an on-farm tourism diversification has proved popular with tourists, generating some revenue.
“Our small on-farm campsite has been very successful, partly due to the fact that we are so near to the town and there are so many tourist attractions in our part of the world. It has been a great help to us, so much so that we are considering expanding the site if we can gain the required planning consent.”
Promoting food and farming
The visiting tourists have increased Aled’s opportunities to do something he finds great enjoyment in - speaking to members of the public about food and farming. Whether it’s on-farm in Caernarfon, or in the back of a black cab in the centre of London, Aled will not miss an opportunity to promote Welsh farming’s credentials and satisfy consumers’ appetites to learn where their food comes from. “When you meet someone and you tell them that you’re a farmer, they will normally have a myriad of questions to ask. It’s really quite humbling that so many have a genuine desire to know more about farmers and how food is produced.
“Although there are a small but vocal portion of detractors, we have to remind ourselves of the high esteem the farming community holds in the minds of the general public. We need to take every opportunity to interact with the public. I want our members to be proud of our industry and I want farming to be a genuine, happy and welcoming face to everyone.”
To take on such a critical role in the industry in the aftermath of global health pandemic and at a time of significant policy change and increasing geopolitical turbulence would, perhaps, be daunting to some. But while Aled recognises there are sizable challenges ahead, he firmly believes that the industry has the resilience required to overcome those trials.
Members can read the full feature in the April edition of Farming Wales.