Flu hits family at lambing

LIVE LAMB numbers at Gogarth are well above average, in line with the flock’s scanning results. But no-one has found the time to do a full count.

Ron Breese and sons John and Arwyn were all confined to bed for several days with ‘flu, something Deilwen Breese cannot remember occurring before.

“Fortunately we were not all ill at the same time, and there were fewer difficult births in the flock than usual,” says Mrs Breese, who had to combine farm work with running fully booked holiday accommodation.

“Everyone we talk to also has more lambs then normal and we hope that this will not pull down prices. It is the year that Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) will have to pull out all the stops to encourage sales.”

She has been disappointed to hear from the many English people using the farm’s self-catering units that they rarely see labelled Welsh lamb in their local shops. “They come to this part of Wales and really enjoy eating locally produced lamb, so it is a shame that it is not more widely available across the border.”

One-fifth of the 100 ewes sponged to lamb early have been sold with single lambs at foot for an average of 60 a head. Instead of marketing the rest with their twin lambs as planned, they will be moved to leased grazing in Shropshire.

“We will sell the lambs as they finish. The ewes are looking really well and we should be able to get another early lamb crop out of most of them,” Arwyn predicts.

The partners reckon the warm spell at the end of March has ensured plenty of grass at Gogarth, even though all the sheep that were away-wintered in Shropshire and Cardiganshire have returned home.

Plentiful grazing and good ground conditions also allowed cows and calves to be turned out three weeks early. Ten cows have calved and two produced twins.

“These are the first calves sired by the Limousin bull we bought a year ago and we had no calving problems. Now we have to see how well they grow,” says Arwyn.

The last eight steers born in 2004 were sold at Dolgellau market. They weighed an average of 540kg and realised between £600 and £700 a head. While this was a good price, the partners are convinced they could have made about 40 a head more.

The farm’s stock lorry broke down on the way to the market so they lost their very favourable middle-of-sale draw. By the time the cattle reached the ring, the buyers who normally bid on their stock had bought all the stores they needed.

The partners used Machynlleth Market to sell 20 broken-mouthed ewes, and they were very pleased with the average price of £19.50.

Good weather allowed completion of hedgelaying that was grant-aided through the Tir Gofal agri-environment scheme. Contractors also planted 4000 new hedgerow seedlings.

After hearing that neighbours had received payments due through Tir Mynydd, the scheme that replaced Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances, Mrs Breese tried to find out what had happened to Gogarth’s 1200.

She was horrified to hear that there was a dispute over a strip of land on the boundary between the farm and that of her father.

“We believed that the problem was solved in 2004 and, when a computer check was made, this proved to be the case. I have been told that we will have to wait another week for the money, but I would like to know how long the delay would have been if I had not chased things up.”

No vacancies

Holiday bookings are running at record levels, with no vacancies until October. This has encouraged Mrs Breese to continue her fight to get a 34% grant to convert the last stone barn at Gogarth. The money was approved, but the timescale for completion was impossible to meet.

“I have asked for a special dispensation to extend the limit by one year to October 2006, which would allow us to do the work off season. The conversion is not on without the £17,000 grant.”

On top of all the other problems encountered in the last month, the new computer bought jointly by the farm and holiday businesses developed a fault, and BT informed the family that it must wait at least one year to get access to broadband.

bobdavies@agrinews.fsnet.co.uk