BRITISH GRASSLAND SOCIETYBRITISH GRASSLAND SOCIETYBRITISH GRASSLAND SOCIETYBRITISH GRASSLAND SOCIETY

Summer Meeting 2012 July 8th-11th

This year’s BGS Summer Meeting will be hosted by the Narberth and District, Cleddau, Carmarthen, North Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire and District Grassland Societies. The meeting is being organised in south west Wales to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Narberth and District Grassland Society.

We expect to have about 180 different people join us on the farm tours, with 90-120 people on each day’s visits, including many farmers from the local area who join us for a day or more as day delegates. Full delegates will be based at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel, Pembroke Dock, from Sunday to Wednes-day, where the BGS Annual Gala Dinner and AGM will also be held.

From the base of the Cleddau Bridge Hotel in Pembroke Dock, our days will be hosted by Narberth and District, Cleddau, Carmarthen, North Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire and District Grassland Societies. Sunday, July 8th On Sunday evening, after an informal dinner, the BGS AGM will be held and there will be an introduction to the local area. Monday, July 9th We will take a short journey south to visit Roger Lewis, Poyerston Farm, a specialist dairy unit with a focus on producing as much milk from home-grown forage as possible. The pedigree Holstein Fresian averages over 9000 litres from an autumn calving system with around 4000 litres coming from forage.

We then head east to Carmarthen to Wyn Evans, Trefynys with a chance to see what makes him a regular silage competition winner. Following recent herd expansion and investment in buildings and par-lour, Wyn is focussed on making the most from high quality forage.

Our last visit of the day is to Tim Simons near Narberth. Tim runs 180 crossbred cows on an extended grazing system with a strong empha-sis on grass utilisation. Tim is a BGS Grazing Partners mentor and is also taking part in a Welsh Dairy Supply Chain project monitoring grass production and quality.

In the early evening we will visit a local farm park, Folly Farm, for some entertainment and a hog roast before returning to Pembroke Dock. Tuesday, July 10th The day starts with a visit to Ffosyficer, south of Cardigan, to see the Harris’s organic dairy operation, including the thriving retail business Trioni. The family’s Daioni range of flavoured milk sells worldwide. Here we will consider the future for organic dairy farming, running a successful diversification enterprise and the impacts that TB has on investment and expansion potential on Welsh farms.

Our second visit is to Berwyn Lloyd, Molygrove to see his herd of Limousins utilising some fantastic white clover leys. In addition to his beef enterprise, Berwyn also runs a business rearing pheasants for the shooting industry. We will also consider soil management, including a demonstration using Berwyn’s sward lifter.

The third visit of the day is to the stunningly located Dinas Island Farm, Fishguard. Neil Perkins runs 1500 ewes on a 600 acre farm right in a beautiful part of Pembrokeshire, which includes 200 acres of environ-mentally managed coastal heath, wetland and hay meadows. The farm has also started rearing dairy heifers for a neighbour. A combination of productive leys, white and red clover, as well as chicory, helps finish 2000 lambs without concentrate.

The evening will include the BGS Annual Gala Dinner.

Wednesday, July 11th The final day’s visits will include a trip to Paul Morris at Gilfach Farm, Lampeter Velfrey. Measuring and budgeting grass, along with regular monitoring of animal performance are seen as crucial to maximising the efficiency of his sheep and beef enterprise. Highly productive rye-grass and white clover swards support 60 Limousin suckler cows and 450 ewes. Lambing starts April 1st, all outdoors, timed to take maxi-mum advantage of grass growth. Paul is striving to maximise his use of grass to future proof his business for a future with less subsidies.

The final visit of the tour will be to Chris James who runs 1100 cross-bred cows on an extended grazing system at Stackpole. The focus of the visit will be to look at how large herds can impact on staffing and labour issues and to learn how Chris achieves an impressively tight calving block and excellent grassland utilisation. Alternative Tour itinerary On Monday morning we will visit the historic seaside town of Tenby, then on to Cwm Deri Vineyard for lunch and wine tasting. In the afternoon, travel on to the magnificent Picton Castle, before joining the main tour at Folly Farm for the evening.

On the Second day we will head north to Caws Cenarth organic cheese makers. We then head west and visit Tregwynt Woollen Mill before spending the rest of the day in the City of St David’s, including a tour of the Cathedral.

On Wednesday, we shall visit Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthen-shire and the near by Carreg Cennin Castle. The tour ends with a visit to the small town of Narberth with its high street full of independent shops and café’s.

British Grassland Society, Unit 32 C, Stoneleigh Deer Park, Stareton,

Kenilworth, Warks CV8 2LY Tel: 02476 696600

email: office@britishgrassland.com web: www.britishgrassland.com

Delegate Fees

Full delegate rate: £275 (£300 for non-BGS members) Day delegate rate: £20 (£25 for non-BGS members) Full and day delegates will be welcome at the meeting, with regis-tration beginning in mid May. Registration will be available online with a credit or debit card at www.britishgrassland.com or by requesting an application from the BGS office on 02476 696600 or e-mailing office@britishgrassland.com

Please note: Due to the use of a hotel this year, accommodation bookings will close strictly on June 13th. After this date anyone wishing to join us must arrange their own accommodation and evening meals. Day delegate registration closes on June 22nd.

We hope to see you there!

BGS Summer Meeting sponsored by: