Royal Welsh Grassland Competition 2024

This year’s Grassland Farming Competition, which is open to all members of the 22 Welsh Grassland Societies, was judged by Dr Iwan Owen IBERS/Aberystwyth University (Technical Lead Judge), Ms Wendy Jenkins (FWGS Treasurer) and Richard Morris, Bowkett Farm, Hundleton, Pembrokeshire (winner of the 2023 Grassland Competition), with this year’s winner being announced as Dylan and Wyn Jones, Castellior, Porthaethwy, Ynys Môn.

The judges were privileged to visit four excellent grassland farms during judging. Judging this year followed an extremely wet ten months since last July, when grass had grown well, but had been impossible to utilise without soiling crops or damaging soil. The four farms visited were looking exceedingly well, despite the challenging winter and troublesome turnout period and spring, and the grassland, crops and livestock seen were a credit to all concerned. Competition was tighter than ever this year, but the judges agreed unanimously on a very worthy winner.

The winners, Dylan and Wyn Jones, farm 320ha (800 acres), based on a range of forage crops including barley and peas for crimping, red clover or a mix with Westerwolds ryegrass for up to 4 or 5 cuts of silage and 144ha (360 acres) of High Sugar Grass (HGS) leys for integrated grazing and multi-cut silage. 1500 dairy bred and dairy cross-bred beef cattle are finished annually with between 500 and 850 cattle on the farm at any one time. Cattle are bought in at 18-24 months of age, with cattle weighing under 450kg being grazed before housing for the finishing period, with up to 1.48Kg DLWG being recorded from grazing. The finishing ration is composed of a mixture of the forage crops grown, along with straw and an average of 1.7Kg DLWG is achieved.
The 500 Texel cross ewe lambs which are bought in the autumn play a key role in ‘cleaning our’ pastures over winter, before being sold as yearlings for breeding.
A well-integrated, self-sufficient system, with a well thought out sequence of cropping and grassland, including double nitrogen from red and white clover leys and peas, as well as excellent reliance on manure that also resulted in a dramatic reduction in fertiliser purchases impressed the judges immensely. Effective management decisions are enabled by precision technologies, such as ‘Breedr’ software, which are used to track the performance of all animals on the farm.
A prominent feature of all strategic and day to day management decisions is the aim of achieving Zero Carbon, which has resulted in a minimal Carbon footprint for the farm.

The judging team were very complementary about what they had seen over the two days of judging. Technical Lead Judge, Dr Iwan Owen commented “The high standard of grassland management seen on Welsh grassland farms in recent years – Welsh winners have won 6 of the last 10 annual British Grassland Society’s Grassland Management Awards, which feature the winners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, have undoubtedly been maintained and we wish Dylan and Wyn well in this year’s final”.

Clamp and Big Bale Silage Competitions 2024

The 2024 all Wales clamp and big bale silage competitions run by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society and the Federation of Welsh Grassland Societies, has once again seen top quality silage produced by many of the best silage growers from across Wales entered this year.

High quality silage is key to the production of meat and milk on many Welsh farms, and the competition is one of the most contested in the industry.

All Wales Clamp Silage Competition

The winner of the clamp competition, sponsored by Wynnstay Group PLC and supported by Agri Lloyd International Ltd, is Llion Davies, Glaspant, Beulah, Newcastle Emlyn.

The All Wales Clamp Silage competition has been running since 1979 and is open to all members of the 22 Welsh grassland societies. Five regional finalists then go through to the All-Wales final. The 2024 Judging Panel consisted of lead technical judge, John Evans. His fellow judges were industry sponsor Bryn Hughes, Wynnstay and last year’s Clamp Silage competition winner, Owain Rees, Trecelyn Isaf, Eglwyswrw.

Lead technical judge, John Evans commented that Glaspant were “worthy winners in a high standard competition, with no visible waste on the clamp”. He observed that “Glaspant is a well-run family farm, showing good performance and well thought out policies”

Glaspant, a 340 acre farm, on medium to light loam over shale, facing both West and Northwards 500ft above sea level is farmed by Llion and his family. 12 acres of arable cropping, 268 acres are in a rotation of medium term ryegrass/clover leys, with the remainder down to permanent grassland. They have 200 dairy cows with followers and 100 beef calves, along with 200 tack ewe lambs grazing for 3 months over the winter. Milk yields currently average 7,561 at 4.66 Butter Fat and 3.51 Protein and feeding 1.82t/hd concentrates.

Three cuts where taken, with 200 acres cut in May, yielding 1200t, 1080t from the 180 acres cut in early July and 600t from 100 acres taken in early September. All were wilted for 24hrs and Ecosyl 100 additive used on a 2 litres per tonne ratio. Analysis were: DM 33.1%; CP15.1%; D Value 72.8% ME MJ/KG; 11.6

The foundation of the winter ration analysed at DM 33%, D-value 74.6%, ME 11.9 MJ/kg and CP 12.8% showing high intake levels and a very well made crop.

200 acres was taken for the first cut on the 5th of May – the crop was wilted for 18hrs and the ensiling process completed in a day. Ecosyl additive is used at each cut. There was a second (10th June) and third cut (22nd July) of 250 acres, each making up a total of 2000t ensiled.

All Wales Big Bale Competition

The winner of the big bale competition, sponsored by BPI Agriculture (Silotite), is Mark Rowlands of Bryn Llys, Borth.

The All-Wales Big Bale competition has become increasingly popular since its inception in 1996. It is open to all members of the 22 Welsh grassland societies and is a challenging competition to win. This year’s competition was judged by Dr Dave Davies, Silage Solutions; Stuart Anthony (Industry Sponsor BPI Agri); and Ellir Jones, Drem Ddu, Creuddyn Bridge, Lampeter (2023 FWGS Big Bale Competition Winner).

Lead judge, Dave Davies said: “the first and second places did stand out from the other competitors by merit of their silage quality, for the stock they were feeding and the utilisation of the silage minimising the nutrient supply form other sources.”

Competition winner, Mark Rowlands has a herd of stabiliser suckler cows, with all the beef being finished off forage, with a very low level of supplementation of the youngstock post weaning. Red clover is a key part of the organic system, not only minimising any protein supplementation, but also negating the need for bought in nitrogen fertilisers. The judges commented on the exceptional quality of his stock and on the day of judging, a range of silages were seen, showing how Mark was making and matching forages to match the nutritional requirements of the stock being fed. His Silage Analysis results reported at 36.9% DM, ME 11.6 MJ/Kg, D Value of 72.5% and 10% Crude Protein.