Concern over sheep values
12 November 1999
Concern over sheep values
Poor market prices are
testing Ceiriog Joness
determination not to
become a whinging
pessimist, as he puts it.
Robert Davies reports
SHEEP prices remain a big disappointment at Cilgoed. A dozen yearling Beulah rams that would have realised £200/head three years ago made just £80 apiece recently.
A further 49 of 50 Mule wethers marketed recently weighed an average of 19kg and classified U and R on the hook, But their base price was only £1.60/kg, generating a return of around £30 each.
"Fairly orderly marketing by producers has prevented a collapse in lamb prices, but income remains far too low. The beef price has improved and we have to be optimistic about returns for the 13 bulls that are just about ready to go," says Ceiriog Jones.
These weigh between 450 and 600kg. Mr Jones is watching the trade carefully and they will be sold a few at a time through local markets or on the hook. Even if the market holds he knows prices are likely to be lower than five years ago.
Most of this seasons lambs are growing steadily on fairly abundant grass. Some will be marketed as they reach optimum condition without supplementary feeding, but most will get a concentrate to finish when prices look promising. To make sure grass supplies hold up 200 ewe lambs have been moved to rented grazing.
Ewes have been checked over and crutched and the rams are running with them. Most of the ewes were in ideal tupping condition. This year very few needed much foot treatment following the successful introduction of vaccination as part of the Welsh Sheep Strategy technology transfer project. Blood profiling done for the same scheme showed that concern about possible copper, cobalt and selenium deficiencies was unfounded.
Two loaned indexed Charollais rams will be used this year to assess what contribution they can make to improving prime lamb carcass quality at Cilgoed.
The outstanding Beulah ram lamb chosen for the breed societys sire reference scheme has returned after semen collection. Mr Jones selected 30 of his top ewes for laprascopic insemination and, because the ram proved more suitable for collection than the others chosen, he will get a cheque for a large number of £2/service royalty payments.
A yearling Bluefaced Leicester ram and two ram lambs needed as replacements for Mule production cost a total of £910 at a north of England sale.
Cilgoeds suckler cows are still out and have benefited from the late autumn grass bounty. The calves have been drenched for liver fluke and worms, and 14 Belgian Blue cross calves have been castrated. Around 160kg/day of creep feed costing £115/t is being fed to the calves at grass. A couple of these have primestock show potential and this will be highlighted when they are sold locally.
The technology transfer scheme has also given Mr Jones and the local support group access to a £500 faecal egg counter. He saw a similar kit in community use when he won a scholarship to New Zealand. Now he hopes that it will prove useful for measuring worm burdens and for pre-empting developing wormer resistance.
Growing doubts
Like many other farmers he meets at markets and NFU meetings, Mr Jones has growing doubts about whether there is a long term future for livestock production on similarly-sized less favoured farms. An attempt to grow the business on parcels of land taken on expensive short-term lets proved uneconomic, and buying extra land would not be easy.
"Our stock valuation has been halved and now interest rates are on the rise to stop house prices increasing in the south-east. If, as I fear, we get a 2 or 3% interest rate rise it will drive nails very deep into the coffins of many farming businesses. I want to be realistic rather than pessimistic but businesses of this size will struggle to survive if incomes stay so low."
At this stage he is reluctant to talk about options that might safeguard his familys future on the farm. All he will say is that treading water is not enough, and that nothing is ruled out, and nothing has been ruled in.
"I am not afraid of hard work but I am not prepared to work for nothing. The investment in money and effort we put into running a farm like this should allow drawings of £12,000-14,000 a year. Obviously this is not the case and if we cannot farm our way out of the crisis by being as efficient as possible we must look at all other options."
And as the newly elected chairman of Ruthin NFU branch he knows that many others share his concerns, especially about the governments apparent indifference to farmings massive problems. *
FARMFACTS
• Cilgoed, near Corwen, Denbighshire, is an 81ha (200 acre) farm in owned and run by Ceiriog Jones and his wife Mair who are also tenants on a further 18ha (44 acres). There is 10ha (25 acres) on an 11-month let.
• Most land is steep, classified as severely disadvantaged. It carries 760 Builth Wells-type Beulah ewes, 330 ewe lambs and 63 spring and summer calving suckler cows.
• Older ewes not breeding replacements are put to Bluefaced Leicester tups to produce Welsh Mules for sale as ewe lambs or yearlings. Bull calves, once finished on farm, now planned to be sold on green CIDs.
• Mr Jones was a Welsh Sheep Strategy scholarship winner in 1998. The farm is one of three in Wales selected for an MLC co-ordinated technology transfer project.
A faecal egg counter – courtesy of the Welsh Sheep Strategy technology transfer scheme – should help in the war against worms, says Ceiriog Jones.