WITH a background in banking, livestock producer Huw Davies is acutely aware that the difficult balancing act between income and expenditure on many Welsh farms is unsustainable.

Huw worked in a bank for six years before he switched careers to run the family livestock farm near Newcastle Emlyn.

Farming is in his blood but he admits it is increasingly difficult for family farms to cope with the combined economic challenges of low returns and rising costs.

“The biggest concern is the prices we are getting paid for our products,’’ says Huw, NFU Cymru’s county chairman in Ceredigion.

“When we buy anything we are told the price and that is the price we have to accept but when it comes to selling our products we have to take what we are given. You can be efficient and produce a good product but be paid a ridiculous price.’’

Huw and his wife, Carys, farm 800 acres on three holdings at Beulah, including Trefaes Fawr. Carys was born at Trefaes Fawr and left school at 17 to help her parents run the business when her father was diagnosed with leukaemia. When he passed away three years later, Carys and her mother ran the farm together.

A year later, Huw and Carys were married. Huw’s farm was in the same hamlet so they amalgamated the two businesses and later bought a third holding.

“We told the farmer who was selling the farm that a condition of us buying it was that he must come with it and to this day he is still with us!’’ Huw laughs.

That third holding provided an opportunity to diversify into holiday accommodation. The farmhouse was refurbished and is now a self-catering property that sleeps up to 12 people. “We are fully booked between now and the end of September,’’ says Huw.

This farm is also the base for the suckler herd of 40 Limousin-cross cows. These are sired to Belgian Blue and Charolais bulls and all the calves are finished on the farm.

Continental cross store cattle aged between 16-20 months are sourced from livestock markets for finishing.

One of the biggest challenges is keeping the cattle within the weight range dictated by the processors.

“We might have a good animal with a good finish but when it goes to the abattoir it kills out at 450kg deadweight and we incur a penalty,’’ says Huw.

He believes processors have too much power in the market place. “They tell us we must work with them but they don’t work with us,’’ he insists.

This is true in the sheep sector too, says Huw. The bonus paid to producers who can guarantee large numbers of lambs is counterproductive, he suggests. “If some farmers are getting a bonus and others aren’t it takes the edge out of the market.’’

The Davies’s run a flock of Suffolk-cross ewes which are sired to a Texel tup. Half the flock is sponged to lamb from January 7th and the second group lamb 21 days later. There are also 80 pedigree Texel ewes and a flock of 250 Welsh Cheviot ewes, which lamb outside in April. The farm is also carrying 400 store lambs this winter.

“We bought these in November and December with the aim of finishing them off grass but it has been so wet that we are grazing them on regenerated stubble fields and feed them pellets from a hopper.’’

There is also an arable enterprise with 75 acres of barley and 25 acres of wholecrop. Around 30 acres of turnips are grown for grazing single bearing ewes in January.

The farms are in Glastir agreements but Huw is unsure if these are a help or a hindrance.

“I am doubting if the Glastir payments are worth all the bother. We get a whole farm payment of around £6,000 for being in Glastir but we have to spend a lot of money to get that.’’

He has yet to receive this year’s payment following an inspection last August which picked up two breaches; he had an unused footpath without a style and he had overlooked planting turnips on an area of land which had been designated for this.

These were rectified but it wasn’t until five months later, on January 21, that he received an official letter informing him that he had 60 days to appeal against the penalties.

“Why did it take five months for the official letter to arrive informing me of these breaches? I had already been told what they were and had put them right.’’

Cuts to direct payments following the introduction of the Basic Payment Scheme is a source of concern.

“Until now farms have survived because of the subsidy payment but what we need is a fair price for our products, not handouts.’’

After a winter of poor prices and appalling weather conditions, Huw says farmers are at a low point. He says it is important that they don’t shoulder the burden of those worries alone.

“Farming can be a lonely life and the difficulties with the weather, not getting paid what we deserve for our product and late BPS payments all put pressure on farmers. If we don’t leave the farm we are fighting the battle alone.

“There is always enough work on the farm to stay at home and not go anywhere but it is important that we do. There is a lot of sense in the saying that a problem shared is a problem halved.’’