A simple set of numbers convinced young farmer Jâms Morgan that the future of his family’s dairy and sheep farm was in milk production.

He worked in New Zealand before returning home to Ceredigion to farm with his parents, Richard and Stephanie, where they ran a flock of 900 ewes and 100 dairy cows.

While overseas, he not only gained valuable experience of farming, but an important preview of how the economics of farming might shape up in a post-Brexit Wales against the backdrop of the free trade deals that would follow.

Work experience abroad

“In New Zealand you either need 3,500 ewes to make a living or 200-250 cows. I couldn’t get to that number of sheep at Maesnewydd, and indeed I didn’t want to as sheep are not a passion of mine, but 200-250 cows is something I could and wanted to achieve,” Jâms says.

Although his father’s loyalty to sheep is greater than that of his son’s, those numbers and the post-Brexit world of declining subsidies, international trade and cross-border tariffs convinced him of the value in expanding the herd and scaling down sheep numbers.

The farm business

The family is now milking 150 cows and, with 200 dairy replacements in the system and a 44-point rotary milking parlour all set to be installed, expansion will gather pace in the next two years.

What the final size of the herd should be is currently a subject of debate between Jâms and his parents.

“My parents reckon 300 but I think 400 is achievable so I reckon we might settle somewhere around 350, but it will depend on how many cows the farm can carry without us needing to farm the land intensively,” says Jâms.

“We are fairly extensive and with the price of fertiliser where it is, now isn’t the time to be increasing our use of that, not that we would want to anyway.”

The sheep enterprise

Ewe numbers in the flock of Welsh Mountain sheep now stand at 400. “Dad insists that we keep a few, but they can be his interest not mine!” laughs Jâms.

The family farms at Maesnewydd near Bow Street, a 249ha improved upland farm which rises from 200 feet to 1,000.

Richard and Stephanie were early adopters of seasonal milking, converting to spring block calving in 1981 and introducing New Zealand genetics into the herd of British Friesians.

“We grow grass well; it is pretty much all we can grow. We have a foot of topsoil and then it is good old-fashioned shale,” says Jâms.

“Every farm is different; you have got to work to your system and aspiration.”

'All I have ever wanted to do is farm'

He is the ninth generation of his family to farm at Maesnewydd, returning home after studying agriculture at Reading University and working in New Zealand.

Now aged 32 he knows he made the right decision, indeed no other career ever appealed to him. “All I have ever wanted to do is farm,” he admits.

He has two older sisters and a younger brother who have followed different paths. “It was only me who was daft enough to learn how to milk when we were growing up because my sisters and brother worked out that if they did, they would have to help with the milking!” he recalls.

Managing the soils

Soil health has always been a focus for his parents and their eldest son shares that passion.

“We have taken time and effort to build up carbon in our soils, by not pushing them too hard. We put a lot of organic matter back in the form of farmyard manure and slurry,” says Jâms.

Good old-fashioned farming then? “I prefer to say traditional, although fashion does go in cycles doesn’t it,” he points out.

“We have always been extensive with low inputs; we try to minimise herbicide and pesticide use because it impacts on the soil a great deal.”

Fertiliser has been applied at 50kg/ha in 2022, a higher rate than usual as they build up herd numbers on a grazing platform that is currently restricted in size.

Going forward there are plans to reduce reliance on fertiliser. So, does that mean a conversion to organic?

Jâms doesn’t mince his words. “I don’t believe in organic. Yes, there are a lot of sensible options in organic but there are a lot of sensible options in conventional too. We try to tread a line between the two, to find that sweet spot somewhere in the middle.”

Milking is currently in a 15-aside parlour but this will be replaced by the rotary, bought two years ago. There has been a delay with installing it because resources had to be channeled into building work on an industrial unit which the family also has.

“Our tenant wanted to expand so we directed finances towards that because once it was done it would provide an income, it was a case of needs must,” Jâms explains.

“But sometimes when I am getting up early to milk in my old parlour I think ‘God damn it!’”.

Once this is installed on its new site cows will have access to a bigger milking platform – the current 40ha restricts cow numbers but with the new set-up the platform will increase to 138ha.

Calving

Calving is from mid-March, all outdoors and over a 12-week period but with the aim of condensing it into 10 weeks going forward.

“It has extended as we have been building up numbers, there are always those stragglers at the end and it is tempting to leave the bull in when you know you should be taking him out,” says Jâms.

“We wanted to build up numbers with our own heifers because dad has bred really good cows for seasonal milk production since 1981 so we have really good genetics for that, it is a very useful herd.”

Cows get two cycles of AI to dairy genetics and homebred dairy stock bulls are then turned in with the herd to sweep up. All breeding in the heifers is done with bulls.

In 2022, half the herd calved in the first 12 days and 89.9% in the first six weeks.

The male calves are reared under contract for a buyer until they are weaned and all the heifers are retained.

In the run-up to drying off, when milk supply is tailing off, the herd is milked just once a day for up to three months instead of the usual twice a day pattern.

“We do it for lifestyle as much as anything,” says Jâms. “Because we are seasonal milk producers everything calves together and everything dries off together.

“We lose 25% volume and 10% solids but when that is balanced with the cost of milking it pays for us to cut back.”

Diversifications

Although there is a 55KW wind turbine, it is not there to prop up the dairy with cheap energy - all the enterprises need to be self-financing and independently profitable.

The herd yields an annual average of 4,500 litres/cow at 4.2% butterfat and 3.6% protein with milk sold to South Caernarfon Creameries.

The sheep flock lambs in February with 85% of saleable lambs sold to a dealer by mid-July without any supplementary feed.

It is a low-labour system but with losses under 5%. “I have never pulled a lamb in my life,” says Jâms.

He puts that down to years of recording with 20% of the bottom performers removed from the flock annually. “It has made a huge difference,” he adds.

That philosophy is applied to the management of the dairy herd too with all cows that test positive for Johne’s culled.

“We have never had a clinical case of Johne’s but the cows we culled were above the J0 mark,” says Jâms.

“Although this shows that the disease is in its very early stages and is unlikely to pose a risk to other animals, with lots of replacement heifers coming through we were in a good position to make that call.”

That approach is applied to all disease and health management, whether it be mastitis, lameness or any other condition.

Off the farm

Returning to west Wales took some readjusting to after university and travelling as many of Jâms’ friends headed to jobs in the southeast of England, but joining the NFU Cymru Next Generation Group has helped, with friendships and opportunities to get involved in the industry off-farm.

Looking to the future, he sees good opportunities for the next generation of farmers.

“I opted for dairy because there is a good future in it,” he says.

“There is a massive global demand for dairy. I am biased because we are seasonal milk producers and grazing but I think there is really good potential for developing a market for higher quality milk, to be paid a premium for milk from grass-fed cows, because the demand is there.

“It has happened in the poultry industry, and we are seeing M&S requiring their suppliers to have cows at grass for 110 days of the year, it’s coming.”

With that in mind, the rotary parlour, which he describes as a ‘big Meccano set’ sitting in a shed will be coming out of storage very soon and put to good use to deliver on that ambition.