Partners left casting looks of envy over county border

21 September 2001




Partners left casting looks of envy over county border

Edward and Eunice Wozencraft, our new Management Matters

farmers in Wales, are expecting a host of management

problems over the next few months. Robert Davies reports

A CAPACITY for hard work and resilience are just two of the essential characteristics needed when farming on the Welsh uplands. Edward and Eunice Wozencraft have already demonstrated both by developing a 184ha (442 acre) business from a modest start on a 10.5ha (26 acre) smallholding.

But marketing stock under the high-risk foot-and-mouth regulations that have been imposed on Powys will certainly test their ingenuity and determination. So too will finding alternative October to March grazing for the 200 ewes they cannot away winter as usual on a farm in the clean county of Cardiganshire.

Since they bought their main unit at Pen-yr-Ochr, Llangurig, in 1980 they have drained and improved the flatter land, but things will get tight when grass growth slows and 360 ewes return from a 53ha (131 acre) block of rented unfenced grazing and a local common.

"Without the usual store sales we could also have around 30 extra cattle and, even though we have invested a lot in buildings, there is no shed to put them in," says Mr Wozencraft. "While we have made enough fodder for a normal winter there is not enough to carry a large number of extra mouths.

"It seems unfair that even though we are only a few miles from the county border, and there have been no confirmed cases of F&M in north Powys for months, we have to cope with rules that make marketing very difficult indeed."

With the first of this seasons lambs almost ready for slaughter, he is looking for buyers. Some sheep went on the welfare scheme in August but Mr and Mrs Wozencraft are very reluctant to see any more go that way.

Fortunately an eight-year involvement with a group improvement scheme means that most lambs produced by the 850 Elan Valley-type Welsh Mountain ewes at Pen-yr-Ochr should go into the food chain rather than a landfill site.

The use of performance-tested rams bred from a 60-ewe nucleus flock of elite ewes has improved the weight and shape of all the lambs produced. Most of the purebreds finish at 26-32kg lw, and they are not the super lightweight lambs for which the only markets are overseas.

"A large number of mountain lambs will go for £10/head this year – half what they made last season. But group members should benefit from the extra carcass weight and conformation of our lambs."

Mr and Mrs Wozencraft are convinced that climate and topography dictate that they need the hardiness, foraging ability and mothering skills of the Welsh Mountain breed, but they are planning to cross more of them.

In response to the switch to area-based support payments and vulnerability of the export trade for lighter lambs, only enough ewes to provide replacements will be bred pure. Others will be put to a Bluefaced Leicester to produce Welsh Mules for sale as ewe lambs, or to terminal sires to get larger framed, prime lambs with better conformation.

For some time rams have been selected after scrapie genotyping. This year for the first time ewes in the nucleus flock and 80 others will tested before tupping starts on Oct 20. Any showing high susceptibility will be culled.

"We believe the whole industry will have to tackle scrapie, especially if we want to recover export markets," says Mr Wozencraft.

The farm is subject to an Environmentally Sensitive Area agreement, though Mr and Mrs Wozencraft opted for lower tier 2 payments to avoid very limiting regulations.

"I am in favour of protecting the environment, but it has to be balanced against the needs of commercial farming. Some people want to push things too far and wipe out all the progress farming has made over generations."

Mr Wozencraft has always tried to earn some off-farm income. In the early days he ran a drainage contracting business and until recently he worked at night as a lorry driver. He still occasionally uses the farm lorry to carry goods for other farmers.

"We dislike debt and have always tried to keep borrowings to a minimum, which is something that is increasingly difficult to do without going for agri-environment payments or taking part-time work."

After much thought about microwave radiation, the couple have boosted farm income by around £4000/year by signing 20-year rental agreements to have two mobile telephone masts on the farm.

Pen-yr-Ochrs picturesque location in the Cambrian Mountains makes the public footpath running right through the farmyard attractive to walkers. Far from finding this a problem, Mrs Wozencraft has nothing but praise for the way they follow the Country Code.

"Providing access for genuine ramblers is no problem, and their contact with farmers like us must help to improve understanding between the two sides," she says. &#42

FARM FACTS

&#8226 Pen-yr-Ochr, Llangurig, Powys, home farm for a business extending over three blocks of land totalling 184ha (442 acres), farmed by Edward and Eunice Wozencraft.

&#8226 All land is classified as severely disadvantaged. One 53ha (131 acre) rented block is unfenced hill grazing. Much of the land is extremely steep and exposed.

&#8226 The business runs 850 Elan Valley-type Welsh Mountain ewes, including a 60-head nucleus flock of elite females that are part of a group breeding scheme. 40 crossbred suckler cows are run with Blonde and Limousin bulls. Calves are marketed as stores.

&#8226 The partners are members of community group linked to a technology transfer project focus farm, and are involved in scrapie genotyping scheme.

&#8226 There is one part-time worker and casual help is hired as required.

Edward Wozencraft and his wife Eunice fear there will not be enough fodder to support many extra mouths this winter.


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