Farmer Focus: Limmy bull proves a good investment

What a wonderful autumn we’ve been having. October was tremendous and has shortened the winter for us.

We are coming to the end of calving, with the first calves being born by our new Limousin bull, Oakparc Issac, which was bought from our neighbour.

It is always a bit of worry when expecting calves by a new bull, since ease of calving is an important trait, as is the ability for calves to get up and suck quickly. Luckily calving has gone well, although the vet was called once to pull a calf with its head going back that I just couldn’t get by myself. The vet made it look easy.

I have been pleased with how quickly calves are on their feet and pushing to suck. As I write this they are bounding round the field outside my kitchen window.

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We keep a lowland and upland flock of sheep; the upland flock is kept to breed our replacement lowland ewes. We bought some replacement hill ewes last month from Rhayader Market. The ewes are genuine, hardy and, as the auctioneer says, they live on fresh air and a good view.

They are small Speckled Face ewes and will be put to the Aberfield ram. The ewes have strong maternal instincts, so they look after their lambs well. This is very important when lambing at more than 300m with little assistance.

We used to breed with the Bluefaced Leicester, but are finding the Aberfield lambs have better conformation. The rams have better coats, are able to handle tupping conditions well and quite often come back in the same condition as they went out.

This week we have been granted planning permission to build a 16,000-bird free-range laying unit. This is a new venture for a diversified income to mitigate reduced farmgate returns and a reduction in support payments.

Permission was easier to obtain than we thought, but we now need to plan the next stage. We are not yet committed to a start date and many issues need to be sorted. Can we get finance? Which shed builder and equipment do we use? Is there any grant funding available? Who do we sell our eggs to and who will pick them, Helen?

Mark and Helen Williams run a 1,000 ewes and 40 suckler cows across 283ha of part owned and rented land.