Enillwyr Gwobr Adeiladau a Gwaith CAFC
Modern farm buildings are key to efficient and profitable production particularly on dairy units and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s Farm Buildings and Works competition focussed on this requirement with the theme chosen for 2010 which sought the building which best incorporates the farming needs of the 21st century.
The competition is open to farms in a different Welsh county each year and this year was the turn of Ceredigion, the feature county at the 2010 Royal Welsh Show. With only three entries to visit the judges said they were able to spend time at each farm to discuss in depth the buildings and their facilities each of which reflected the commitment and enterprise essential to sustaining a viable family run unit.
The winners of the award – the coveted Peniarth Estate Silver Trowel given by the late Col. John Williams-Wynne, a former chairman of the Royal Welsh Council – are Arnold and Cynthia Evans and their sons Dylan, Elystan and Cefyn, of Cwmwythig, Capel Bangor, Aberystwyth.
In order to increase efficiency in the management of their dairy herd they needed to extend and improve the milking parlour facilities on the farm. Lack of available space prevented extension of the existing herringbone parlour, so they installed a new 44 point rotary parlour within an adjacent existing portal framed building. The result is an efficient, well planned and compact unit which has effectively halved milking time. The former parlour is now the collecting yard with its pit used as a slatted collection tank for slurry. The close proximity of a Water Authority borehole to the farm means that all slurry and dirty water from the dairy buildings and cow housing has to be meticulously managed. This has been achieved by containment in the slurry tanks and careful disposal via umbilical pipe and direct ground injection. The height of the existing building has allowed the installation of a viewing gallery for visitors and school parties.
In addition to the new rotary parlour, three other buildings were included in the competition entry. They were a 90ft x 62ft clear span calf shed with flexible layout for individual calf pens and straw yards complete with computerised feeding system, a 150ft x 62ft clear span building with straw yards for young bull beef, doubling as calving pen space with CCTV installation and adjacent feed storage and, finally, a purpose-built 105ft x 45ft clear span building with part scraped and part straw yard accommodation for maturing bull beef with associated covered handling facilities.
All the buildings, said the judges, were well presented having a light and airy environment and all provided easy access for vehicles and labour. The complete set of buildings and their surrounding yards were clean and free from obstruction and the judges were impressed with the high standard of management of the facilities and with the overall appearance of the buildings.
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