| Events
NSA Welsh Sheep 2017
The backdrop to NSA Welsh Sheep 2017 is the uncertainty facing the sheep sector, farming in general and the UK
economy as a period of challenge and uncertainty unfolds. The Brexit negotiations mean that now, more than ever,
farmers need to pull together across the UK to achieve the best outcome.
isitors to NSA Welsh Sheep
2017 at Llwyn Bedw Farm,
Talybont on Usk, can update on
the latest Brexit news in one of
the three seminars. There will
also be an update on the latest
research into antibiotic resistance to help,
inform and guide flockmasters.
The 150 stands and organisations also offer
plenty of good ideas and information on
products and breeds. They will help to answer
some of the questions regarding the future
direction.
The sheep industry is very diverse and there
is no one answer to fit every sheep enterprise.
Welsh Sheep 2017 will bring together farmers,
suppliers, markets, processors, customers and
policy experts in one location.
And what a location! The splendid setting
comprises a traditional hill farm, rented from
Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water and run as a family
farm. The substantial planning and investment
carried out by the Williams family over the
years has delivered an efficient farming system,
fit for the considerable challenges of the twenty
first century.
A tractor and trailer tour will take in various
points of interest, including the sheepdog trials.
It will mean that visitors are afforded the very
best of the spectacular views over one of the
biggest reservoirs in South Wales in the heart
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of the Brecon Beacons and stretching towards
Pen y Fan.
It is the home of Stephen and Lisa Williams
and their son, Luke, who at 21 is the fifth
generation of the family to farm at Llwyn Bedw,
Talybont-on-Usk, Brecon. Stephen’s father,
Godfrey, is also heavily involved with the
running of the closed flock of 3,500 sheep and
the herd of 70 suckler cows.
Godfrey, who established a successful
contracting business before returning home to
farm in 1981, was born the year that Talybont-
on-Usk was flooded to supply Newport with
water. His grandfather, John Williams, was
allocated what remained of the farms in the
valley after losing his own to the reservoir.
The farm, now rented from Dwr Cymru,
comprises 1000 acres under fence and the
family enjoy hill rights on 900 hectares (3000
acres) of Buckland Common, stretching from
Aber village to Torpantau. The sheep comprise
3000 hefted Talybont type breeding ewes
(Welsh x Cheviot) and a downland flock of
Charollais x Talybont type ewes.
The family are passionate supporters of the
livestock trade, with the Charollais x lambs
selling at Talyont–on-Usk or Brecon Market
from the end of July at 30/32 kilos liveweight
and the hill lambs following from the end of
August until late November. Any slower
finishing lambs are sold at Christmas in
Penderyn.
The closed flock system involves the family
breeding all their own rams, keeping sixty or so
each year. The Talybonts are a hefted flock,
kept separate and put to a Charollais ram. Their
ewe lambs are kept as replacement Charollais
x ewes, which then go to a Texel to produce for
the early market.
Stephen is keen to demonstrate to the
general public the part that farmers play in
creating and conserving the National Park. He
feels sheep are the best conservation tool and
farmers are the natural custodians of the valley.
For Godfrey it’s an opportunity to take pride
in the part he has played in taking the farm
forward. His contracting business, based at his
Rhigos smallholding, involved long, hard,
hours, including a spell in Aberfan helping to
clear the spoil following the tragedy fifty years
ago.
He’s upbeat about the future. Godrey knows
Brexit will bring changes, but he is confident
that UK lambs are the best in the world.
His grandson, Luke, is settled back at the
farm, after spending a year on a sheep station
near Melbourne. He enjoys working as part of
the team with his father, grandfather and
mother Lisa, who, says Godfrey, is ‘the best
shepherdess in the area’.
April 2017 | Farming Monthly | 29