The colony of bees labouring away in Sam Davies’ apiary are, by all accounts, a good-natured bunch.

Sam has never had a sting from her 60,000 honey producers. “I’m very fortunate to have friendly bees,” she says.

“Because I had been working on the admin side for Peter and his wife, Marian, and had been to trade shows with them I had built up a connection with customers.”

It was an opportunity for the family to introduce a new income stream. Jonathan and Sam have two children – Sioned who is 17 and studying animal management at Llysfasi College, and 15-year-old Iwan – and both are keen to farm.

“Farming can be pretty tough financially, so we were looking to the future for Sioned and Iwan, at ways of generating more income,” Sam explains.

That vision has resulted in Wyefield Apiaries being established at Llwynpiod Farm, importing syrup and fondants from Belgium where Belgosuc produce products for bees and for human food production.

The bee feed

Bees can’t process standard sugar – it either has to be prepared in a form they can eat it by the beekeeper or a specialist product fed.

Hive maintenance

In the spring and early summer, when the baby bees are developing, a premium fondant is placed in the hive to build up their strength while in the winter a more standard product is used to maintain the colony.

It replaces the honey that the bees would have lived on had it not been removed from the apiary.

A colony of 60,000 can munch its way through a 2.5kg block of fondant in a single week.

“Looking after your livestock is hugely important, and bees are no different,” says Sam.

“You need to heft the hive in the winter, lift it from behind, to check the weight. If it is light it is a sign that the bees need to be fed as there isn’t much food around for them in the winter.”

Nutrition

And in the spring and summer, when the honey is extracted from the hive, that source of nutrition for the bees needs to be replaced.

Bees also consume big quantities of syrup throughout the year.

Some of the Davieses' commercial customers order it by the 24-tonne tanker load or in eight tonne quantities; other customers buy it in an IBC or a 14kg jerry can.

Sam picks up a lot of business from trade shows – the National Honey Show in London, the Bee Keeping Show in Telford and an annual show on her doorstep, at Builth in April, but some customers also come to the farm to buy.

She has customers across the UK, from Cornwall to Scotland.

Customer service

“Customers do like to speak to someone, they like a chat on the phone. They are a great bunch of people to deal with.

“It’s amazing how many beekeepers there are, commercial businesses but also those like me who just keep a small number.”

Sam also supplies bee keeping associations, including the local Brecon and Radnor Beekeepers' Association.

As with any business operating in the current climate, it is not without its challenges.

Challenges in the sector

Exceptionally dry weather has had an impact on the availability of sugar cane globally and the cost of energy has driven up transport costs.

Sam also has to pay an agent at the Port of Dover to inspect each cargo for her and complete the necessary paperwork.

“If we didn’t do that I would have to go to Dover every time there was a delivery,” she says.

It was only last year that she started keeping her own bees, and she is smitten. “Bees are very interesting to watch, the process of it all is so fascinating.”

Medicinal benefits

Sam removes the honey twice a year. Not only does it taste good but, as a hayfever sufferer, she has discovered its medicinal benefits too.

“I take a spoonful of honey every day to stop the symptoms, but it has to be honey produced in the local area for that to work.”

The volume extracted from a hive depends on factors including how strong the colony is and the weather too.

“Weather plays a huge part as it does for farming in general, beekeeping is no different,” says Sam.

Crops and plants growing in an area have an influence too, on volume and flavour.

Honey flavours

Some beekeepers will take their hives to other regions to pollinate on specific flowers, for instance on cherry and apple blossom in Hereford, a process which is mutually beneficial to beekeepers and farmers.

For Sam, it is the taste of hawthorn which is apparent this year with an abundance of blossom around Garth and in Wales in general this year.

The livestock business

The livestock side of the farming business centres on producing beef and lamb.

Jonathan is in partnership with his parents, Michael and Gwyneth, farming 550 acres of owned and rented land.

Their 1,800-head upland flock of ewes and hogs is predominately Beulah Speckled Face.

Lambing is in March, with some of the flock housed for lambing and others lambing outside.

Lambs produced by the crossbred ewes, which are from Texel tups, are sold through the live market while those from the Beulahs are sold fat to Pilgrims at Llanidloes.

The herd of 90 Limousin-cross and British Blue-cross suckler cows are sired to a Limousin bull with progeny sold as 10-12 month old stores at Brecon livestock market.

Sam had been working off-farm, at Lantra before she established the bee feed business, but now concentrates on that enterprise full time.

“When you have invested in a business that has to come first,” she says.

Community activities

It also allows her time to dedicate to community activities, including the Wye Valley Grassland Society, the Builth and District Ploughing and Hedging Society, Beulah Show and Beulah YFC, and to help her brother administer his business as an agricultural mechanic.

On the rare occasions she is not busy she enjoys tending to her hive.

“Jonathan tells me that I feed the bees more than the cattle!” she laughs.