THREE Welsh farms were among the gold award winners at the British Farming Awards recently.

Winner for Sheep Innovator of the Year was Dan Pritchard of Gower Salt Marsh Lamb, Weobley Castle Farm, while Will Evans of Rock and Roll Farming, Lower Eyton Farm, near Wrexham, was Digital Innovator of the Year. Winner for the new entrants award: Against all Odds was Matthew Jackson of Penllech Bach, Pwllheli.

Farming on a salt marsh common on the Gower Peninsular is not without its challenges, but Dan Pritchard has turned it into a unique selling point for his home-produced lamb.

Dan and his father, Roland run 1,000 ewes and 250 ewe lambs and their working lives revolve around the tides as for one week in four the common is submerged in water.

The tides dictate the timing of all the major jobs on the farm and sheep are moved up and down the marsh according to the tides and graze the entire common for one week in four. Two weeks are spent moving the sheep to low areas on the marsh away from the rising tide and the other week they are kept completely off the marsh.

There are no traditional grasses on the marsh but the sheep graze salt herbs. These are high in sodium and iron and change the taste of lamb reared on the marsh.

Although well known in France salt marsh lamb has only been identified as a speciality meat in the UK in recent years.

About 10 years ago the family teamed up with a neighbour and started selling their lamb under the Gower Salt Marsh lamb name. They formed a not-for-profit co-operative with a neighbour who is a butcher and Dan and his brother, Will, also took a butchery course and butchery facilities have been put in place on-farm.

The two producers are paid a £5/head premium and lamb is sold mainly direct from the farmhouse with visitors to nearby Weobley Castle providing a strong passing trade. They also supply local butchers and restaurants and whole carcases are delivered to butchers as way away as Bristol and Shepton Mallet.

About 70 per cent of the lambs are now sold under the brand with sales continually rising. This coupled with constantly improving management and genetics has ensured the business remains sustainable and profitable even without subsidies.

At the other end of Wales on the Lleyn Peninsula on family holidays as a child, Matthew Jackson was drawn to the outdoors and working with animals.

At 15 years old, Matthew left school, and his home of Manchester, to work on farms in north Wales.

He worked on a beef and sheep farm, just two miles from the farm he runs and lives on today, with partner Marni and their two young children.

In 2009 aged 21, Matthew bought 20 heifer calves with his wages, and later bought and leased out in-calf heifers to retain equity while still having an income, allowing more stock to be purchased. He built his own numbers up to 220-head by August 2013, funded again by his wages and a bank loan of £30,000.

Travelling to New Zealand to press wool for a shearing contractor, he returned to work on three different farms, living out of a ‘shack’ and travelling between jobs on a 50cc scooter.

One of these jobs was relief milking 1,000 cows on a dairy farm owned by David Wynne-Finch, who later offered Matthew a full-time job as a junior herdsman, on the condition he travelled back to New Zealand to spend six months milking and learning about the grass-based system.

Share-farming

In 2014 the pair entered into a 50:50 share farming agreement with David owning the site and Matthew owning the stock. They have grown from 300 milkers to 400 this year on a twice a day system on the 92-hectare (227 acre) unit.

Matthew’s key focus areas are in soil and grass management and rotational grazing. He does not want to supplement his cows’ diets or silage additives and instead wants to improve the grass when it is growing, and act in the field.

Milking twice a day, the herd are giving 5,500kg per year as third-calvers. Their production peaks at 26 litres per day and they will give 430kg milk solids per lactation, while being paid on the milk’s cheese making qualities.

Frustrated at how farmers are often portrayed in the media, mixed farmer Will Evans began his Rock and Roll Farming podcast earlier this year, with the idea of interviewing farmers and those involved in agriculture and dispel some of the myths that have surrounded food production.

The aim is to showcase the range of interesting and innovative people involved in the industry and appeal to farmers and non-farmers who have an interest in food provenance and the countryside.

Realising the growing popularity of podcasts in the UK, he spent hours on YouTube learning how to produce them.

Will then floated the idea on Facebook and Twitter, where he has 6,000 followers, and received a positive response. Purchasing a logo and the introductory music to his show, he also invested in software, a microphone and headset.

He promotes each show on Facebook when it comes out and the podcast is available through libsyn, which is the podcast host server, iTunes, Stitcher app, and other digital outlets.

The show averages 1,000 weekly downloads, and has featured in the ‘new and noteworthy’ section on iTunes. He aims to grow viewing numbers significantly within six months and will continue developing fatherandfarmer.com, where he blogs.