Day 8 Trip to Tesco's

Tesco's are a big supermarket chain throughout the UK. This store in Welshpool had only opened the previous week. The manager of the Welsh chain came up from Cardiff to see us. They gave us a run down of how the shop was set up. The entrance draws you past the flowers and chocolates then into the "Power Isle" which is all the major event items such as Mothers Day and Easter. The shopper is then free to tour the store for the rest of the shopping.
They are buying local goods and will continue to do as long as they sell at better than 10 units per week. As an example local free range is already 45% of the total eggs sale.
The company is looking at other towns to put supermarkets in. They have started in a town 1/2 hour away. They are currently are running a free bus from this town to allow people to get used to buying at Tesco's so when the new supermarket opens they have a ready supply of Tesco shoppers.

Rob and Dave with the 9 pound dinner for two. You get entre, main course, dessert and a bottle of wine.

Marty checking out the fish section.

Montgomery Castle

You have got to see the sights even if the castles are in ruin.

Day 8 Court Calmore Farms

Maurice Jones runs a big family farm with diary as the main enterprise and lesser ones of beef, sheep, arable (cropping) and equine. The business is split into the units with a family member owning and running an enterprise.
All the feed required is produced on the properties is utilised through the dairy. The cows are locked inside all year round and fed a TMR. The cows have feet problems being kept this way and are regularly inspected for dermatitis and footrot. The hoofs are trimmed three times per year.
All of the milk is sold to a cooperative which is locally based. To grow the farm has been slowly buying land and entitlements. The entitlements come from the previous owners as historical payments. The Jones family are moving forward to continue expanding for when the grants or subsidies are revued in 2013 and the size of the enterprises will need to be sufficient to be profitable as a standalone business.

Maurice showing us around

Foot treatment of cows

Day 8

British Wool Board
The Welsh wool is based on very coarse fibre wool. The farmers have the sheep shorn and place all the fleeces in an open top sack called an envelope. They are not skirted and the envelope is not pressed. The envelopes are picked by the Wool Board. The fleeces are weighed and the envelopes are emptied back at the store and sorted. The wool from one farmer who has 500 sheep may have up to 30 different lines.
The wool is then priced up and bulked in with all of the other clips, pressed in orange plastic bales and double dumped.

Day 7 IBERS

Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS)
We looked the Oat & Legume breeding facility with the plant breeders. The program was designed to enhance Welsh food security through crop breeding, increase self sufficiency & to breed better legumes to decrease the reliance of nitrogen fertilizers.
They are doing a lot of work on White clover as it is the most important temperate pasture species. The breeding goals are to increase N production efficiency, Increase yield with particular aim of increasing DM %, Winter hardiness, Seed yield, Early spring growth & Compatibility with grasses.
They are also breeding other legumes to complete mixed pastures with different growth patterns which will deliver good yields over a longer season. These include Caucasian & Red Clover, Trefoil. The current red clovers are producing excellent yields of 15t/Ha, but they have a very small growing point or crown which can be a problem if over grazed.
The Oat breeding program is working with both Winter & Spring Oats which can be either Husked or Naked. 80% of the Oat varieties are bred here and have the prefix of “Aber”, after the local town Aberystwyth. They are breeding a couple of new lines which will go into Muesli Bars. Currently 750,000 tonnes are used in the UK for these bars.
The Naked Oat program is aimed at producing feed for the monogastric animals with protein levels similar to Wheat @ 11-13 % and with good amino acid profiles. A new variety has 14.5% protein, 13.6% oil and 16 Mj of total metabolizable energy.
They are also breeding grass species with a new line taking 12 years to be released. They are using new gene technology with genetic markers to select, P & N efficiency and drought resistance. Other traits that they are chasing include;
• High water soluble carbohydrate
• Increased palatability and digestibility
• Improved use of herbage nitrogen.
An interest side breeding objective is alcohol production with “Abermagic” producing 5000 litres/Ha/yr.

Day 7 More Welsh Countryside

Day 7 Farmers Union of Wales (FUW)

Farmers Union of Wales (FUW)
This is the 2nd union that services the farmers of Wales. It has 12 county branches with over 10,000 members. The FUW has an insurance arm which underpins it’s funding. This is not only for the members, it can be used by anyone in Wales.
Their major issues for the members are;
• Grants / Subsidy. The WAG has agreed to the EU’s target of lowering the grants by 3% pa.
• TB and how it is going to able to be controlled with or without the badgers\.
• Getting young people in the industry. While there is no profit in the industry, it is extremely hard.
• As the farming population changes over to the next generation the young farmers are not relying on joining the FUW, as they get information from other form of communication. The web, social network sites & agricultural blogs.
• Legislation and compliance.
The FUW has a tiered scale for subscription based on acreage. They produce a monthly newspaper and hold regular meeting throughout Wales.
This morning I set fire to the toaster as I wanted croissants but they got stuck

Day 7 Haby Cuy Cymru

Haby Cuy Cumry (HCC)is the Welsh red meat promoter which is very similar to MLA. HCC is fully owned by the Welsh Assembly Government. Welsh meat is nearly all export as only 4% lamb and 5% beef is eaten in Wales.
The strategic aims of HCC is to
• Understand market trends that influence customer behaviour.
• Innovation and improve supply chain relationships
• Improve business performance.
• Diversify these products into non traditional markets.
• To position Welsh lamb, beef and pork as premium brands
A problem for the HCC is that nearly all Welsh Lamb is ready for consumption from July to December. So there is six months where supply is limited and consumers are having to brand substitute.
The programs that the HCC are currently running are to:
• To promote health benefits
• Teaching the young how to cook
• Influence the influencers (celeb chefs etc)
• Increasing brand awareness
• Putting a face to Welsh meat (farmers pictures utilized in advertising).
The HHC have programs that help improve production for farmers. Some of the current projects aimed at helping farmers include
• Increasing feed conversion ratios
• Role of forages
• Rumen function
• Increasing levels of beneficial fatty acids

HCC’s sees it 4 main roles as
• Technology transfer
• Rural Development
• Benchmarking across the supply chain
• Genetic improvement

Day 6 Piccy's

Silage pits for over wintering.

Day 6 Piccy's

Huw's sheep which are mules. These are ewes from the uplands mateds to Blue Faced Leicesters