EIGHTY years after his grandfather helped launch Wales’ oldest farmers’ cooperative John Hughes and his family are still leading the way with a £500,000 investment to expand milk production.

John, 55, and son Sion, 28 are reaping the rewards of building a new, state-of-the-art milking parlour at Ynysgain Fawr overlooking the stunning Ll?n Peninsula coastline a couple of miles from Criccieth.

Yields have already risen by 10 per cent and the other massive bonus is that the time spent milking is down from nine hours to three hours every day thanks to the sophisticated efficiency of the new computerised system.

The investment was made possible thanks to a Sustainable Production Grant of £200,000, European money that came via the Welsh Government, on top of the £300,000 the family put into the development.

The ultimate aim is to increase production from the Holstein-Friesian herd.

See this week’s north editions for the full story, in shops and online on Thursday