Dedication earns top honours (From Western Telegraph)

Dedication earns top honours

11:41am Friday 9th September 2011 in Farming News

Two Pembrokeshire farmers have been rewarded for their dedication to agriculture in west Wales.

One of agriculture’s ‘true gentlemen’, Harold James, of Home Farm, Stackpole and formerly of Clarbeston Grange, Clarbeston is the winner of the prestigious Idris Davies Memorial Award for 2011.

The award is presented annually at the County Show to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to agriculture in Pembrokeshire.

Mr James began dairy farming at Clarbeston Grange in 1955 with 25 cows. By 1980 he had doubled the farm’s acreage to 300 acres and the herd to 200 cows. In 1980 he took the opportunity to farm a further 1,000 acres at Stackpole.

By the time Mr James stepped aside from the business in 1997 to allow his sons Nigel and Chris to build upon the platforms created, the enterprise had grown to 700 cows and additional youngstock, and employed ten people.

For ten years Mr James was a member of the Trawscoed Experimental Dairy Husbandry Farms Advisory Committee. For many years he was a representative on the Milk Marketing Board’s county liaison committee and was elected to the Milk Marketing Board as milk quotas were being introduced.

He was a director of Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers for about 20 years, was a founder member of the Narberth Grassland Society and, as an active member of the NFU, served on and chaired numerous committees and was county chairman in 1976.

Part of the next farming generation, Tomos Allison also received a top award at the County Show.

Tomos, 31, of Sychpant, Rhoshill, Cardigan, won the Farmers’ Union of Wales Pembrokeshire branch Countryside Award for young farmers, for his dedication and technical support to the dairy industry.

Born and raised on a dairy farm, Tomos read applied electrical engineering at Bath University and then returned to west Wales to pursue his interest in computers and help install and maintain robotic milking systems.

He lives with his parents and brother on the 400-acre family farm. He also works closely with local vets to maintain computer links between them and herd health schemes used by their farm clients.

Tomos said: “Living on my parents’ farm I can see the day-to-day struggles they face in the milking parlour and how hard they have to work. I wanted to make their life a bit easier. All of the computer programmes I develop are tested on the family farm first.

“Technology is a tool, no matter in what industry, which can and will improve things and allows farmers to be more proficient in many ways.

“We are all aware that money is tight in the farming industry and especially in the dairy sector. Farmers have to improve their on-farm systems to ensure that the business is running as efficient as possible.

“Through new technology, such as herd management software, farmers can save a lot of time. Entering every bit of information manually is a very labour intensive process, but with the new software we can streamline the process.”