A TALYBONT farmer has picked up some “eye-opening” advice after winning a scholarship to attend a key UK conference.

Rhodri Lloyd Williams, of Moelgolomen farm, Talybont, successfully applied for a Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) advertised farmer sponsorship to cover all costs of attending the biennial UK Sheep Breeders Round Table Conference at Eastwood Hall, Eastwood, Nottingham.

“It was an opportunity to see what’s out there,” he said.

“I was definitely inspired and discovered there are considerable opportunities for breeders. For instance, it was interesting to hear two experts discuss rotational grazing, resting the grass so it will lead to fresher grass in the spring and produce a knock-on effect in the summer. I implemented it at home on return from the conference.”

“And one speaker at the conference explained, using a growth-weight-gain graph for beef producers, that, after 18 months, weight gain was minimal. It would be interesting to see if the pattern was similar for lambs,” added Rhodri.

Rhodri farms 750 ewes and 25 suckler Welsh Black cattle and he was fascinated to hear a panel of specialists at the Hybu Cig Cymru co-sponsored event define the benefits of performance recording.

“I really enjoyed the debate,” he said. “Contributors said that performance recording in the hills had a massive trickle-down effect on whole sheep industry and was worth around £10m annually in the UK.

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