With this April being one of the driest and coldest on record, grass yields on average are only half of what they would be normally on farms across Wales. In this podcast, we discuss how farmers are coping with the changing climate and ways of mitigating forage deficits with Helen Mathieu, Area Sales Manger for Germinal GB.

Yn 2016, gadawodd Nia Jones a’i gŵr Marc Gymru i ddilyn eu breuddwyd o redeg fferm laeth yn Seland Newydd. Dair blynedd yn ddiweddarach, fe ddaethon nhw'n ail yng nghystadleuaeth genedlaethol Ffermwr Cyfran y Flwyddyn yn Seland Newydd. Tipyn o gamp! Yn y bennod hon, mae Nia yn rhannu'r stori tu ôl i'w llwyddiant ac yn datgelu'r cam nesaf yn eu taith wrth iddynt barhau i ddringo'r ysgol ffermio.

In 2016, Nia Jones and her husband Marc left Wales to follow their dairy farming dream in New Zealand. Three years later, they came runners up in the national Share Farmer of the Year competition in New Zealand. Quite an achievement! In this episode, Nia shares the story behind their success and reveals the next step in their journey as they continue to climb the farming ladder.

As a part of a three-year European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Wales project, trials have been undertaken on four farms in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion to see if foliar feed (liquid fertiliser) is more effective than conventional compound fertiliser. In this episode, we meet the consultant Nigel Howells who has been leading the research project and one of the trial farmers - Mike Smith of Pelcomb Farm near Haverfordwest.  

The renowned silage expert, Dr Dave Davies, joins us to share his top tips on harvesting quality silage. He explains how to avoid some of the common mistakes made whilst harvesting and shares some practical pointers on how to get it right.

Research suggests that approximately 1 in 3 cows in Wales is lame at any one time. Lameness can have a huge impact, not only on animal welfare, but also on the productivity of the business. In this episode, we meet one of Farming Connect’s demonstration farmers, Russell Morgan of Graig Olway Farm, who has managed to save over £25,000 a year by improving the foot health of his dairy herd. We also hear from Sara Pedersen, a farm animal vet who has been supporting the project.

In this episode, we discuss strategies to reduce wormer use in ewes with the well-respected sheep consultant, Lesley Stubbings and Technion’s European Operations Manager, Eurion Thomas. As a part of a Farming Connect EIP project, they’ve been working with a group of six sheep farmers based in mid and south west Wales to develop roundworm treatment plans for their ewes in the lead up to, and shortly after lambing.

Our guest this week is the agronomist, Rhys Owen. He believes strongly that soil pH is the “key to the engine that drives the farm”. In this episode, he talks about the importance of regular soil sampling, understanding the analysis and ways of correcting the pH in the soil in order to improve farm performance.

Ein gwestai yr wythnos hon yw'r agronomegydd, Rhys Owen. Mae'n credu'n gryf mai pH y pridd yw'r “allwedd i'r injan sy'n gyrru'r fferm”. Yn y bennod hon, mae'n sôn am bwysigrwydd samplu pridd yn gyson, deall y dadansoddiad a ffyrdd o gywiro'r pH yn y pridd er mwyn gwella perfformiad y fferm.

Farmers producing silage within the top 25% in Wales are achieving significant productivity gains. Beef farmers are achieving extra daily liveweight gains of 400g/head and dairy farmers are seeing an increased yield of 2.2 litres of milk/cow/day, compared with the average. In this episode, we meet Dr Dave Davies of Silage Solutions Ltd to discover how improving the quality of your silage can improve your bottom line.