With the discussion taking place during one of the first spells of dry, settled weather for some considerable time, attention soon turned to the challenges posed by the recent weather events and Welsh Government’s NVZ regulations. Mr Lewis said: “The last few weeks and months have been a perfect illustration of why the closed period and calendar farming approach set out in Welsh Government’s NVZ regulations simply does not work in a real-world situation. From 15 October 2024 there will be three month closed period running until 15 January 2025. We have had spells of weather and ground conditions in what will be a closed period from this October that were well suited to spreading slurry, whilst we have had very few periods since mid-January when the conditions have been suitable for spreading.
Unworkable conditions
‘These unworkable regulations will also have the effect of creating intense spreading pressures in the shoulder seasons, i.e. ahead of the coming in of the closed period this autumn and then again when the closed period ends at the beginning of the new year. Whilst farmers will be expected to have five months’ slurry storage on farm, if you factor in a planning system which leaves a lot desired you can see the very difficult position in which so many farmers find themselves.”
Turning his attention to Welsh Government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme, Mr Lewis said that as currently proposed the scheme was not for him, and although he had some areas of woodland on the farm, the prospect of being mandated to increase the level of tree cover on farm to 10% by 2030, and in the process taking high quality land out of production simply did not make sense to him. He said: “As a dairy farm we are striving to be as efficient as we can when it comes to producing milk from forage; putting land into trees means that we will have less grass from which to produce milk. In addition to this, we need every hectare of land to count towards our eligible hectarage for spreading slurry, planting good land with trees means we would have to de-stock further to comply with Welsh Government’s NVZ regulations.”
Devastating disease
Following a devastating TB breakdown in 2018, the Lewis’ farm has been in and out of TB restrictions for the last six years, something which has claimed a significant number of Mr Lewis’ milking herd and had a significant impact on milk production on farm. Mr Lewis said: “As a union, NFU Cymru has of course campaigned to eradicate this devastating disease and to tackle it in all its vectors including wildlife. It really pains me to see the continuing slaughter of cattle for TB control purposes while the disease is allowed to run rampant in wildlife vectors.”
Speaking at the end of the meeting, NFU Cymru County Chairman, Simon Davies said: “I’m most grateful to Sam and Stephen for joining us on farm. There are a number of issues which are really impacting on farming families and the viability of their businesses at this moment in time. We really need the government to listen, and I very much hope that Sam and Stephen can continue to press home our concerns with decision makers.”