Well December has flown by (as usual), and between the farm work, working on the house and the Christmas parties and services, it's been busy as usual with plenty of variety. Unfortunately however, there has been one constant throughout the last month, and that has been the weather, as the rain as kept things pretty miserable on the whole!!

We had a spin to Carlisle at the beginning of the month for a Texel sale, and it was quite an experience to see some of the top breeders get big money for their stock, but we had to rush back in order to get to Cardiff in order to see Shane's farewell game. It was a huge shame about the result, but it was nice to see Shane score a try to finish the match and his career, and even thought the roof had been shut,  it did stay dry that day.

On the following weekend another quite important day followed on the farm, scanning day. This is the day where we find out how many lambs the ewes are expecting, so that we can prepare for lambing time. I'm pleased to announce that scanning went very well, and there should be plenty of lambs to look forward too on and around Valentine's Day, a fantastic present for Louise!!!!

In order to get into the festive spirit we have also been plucking turkey's, and out carol singing with the Young Farmers in order to raise money for the Wales Air Ambulance, and of course there have been one or two Christmas parties on the way.

Well that's enough from me this year, season's greetings to you all, and I hope you come back to read more about us in the new year.

Hello!!

Well, Christmas is coming closer and I'm glad to say that I've finished the Christmas shopping. Indeed the weather has turned here in Anglesey with strong winds and plenty of puddles on the roads and mud in the fields. Certainly it has been very wet here!! But is there snow around the corner?? It has definitely turned a lot colder here on Anglesey, the Mother of Wales!

Well, since I wrote the last blog there's been plenty going on!! From the Winter Fair to our local Christmas market show! The dairy cows are in; therefore there is plenty of work to do with making sure that there's plenty of silage available for them every day! As Carwyn was saying in his latest Blog, the time to sell the lambs has come! In the last few days I've been giving a helping hand to my brother to sort out his sheep due to the good prices for butchers lambs these days. Also we've been preparing the lambing shed with plenty of straw on the floor and plenty of sheep pens ready as they'll be coming in soon over Christmas! Our local market's Christmas show has just been on the 2^nd of December!! I must say that the standard this year was brilliant and the stock was selling at a very good price! It was lovely to have the farmers together before Christmas.

When I was writing my last blog, I was about to become the Chairman of the Training committee of our Young Farmers Clubs here in Anglesey. I am now the Chairman and loving it! Two weeks ago I went, on behalf of the Young Farmers Club to the Winter Fair show in Builth Wells to take part in the stock judging. I'm glad to say that I came fifth out of fourteen and definitely enjoyed the experience. Also, I'd like to congratulate our butchers lambs judging team who came third overall. Well done!!!  I mentioned earlier about our local market Christmas show. In the show every year there is a 'guess the weight' competition for the Young Farmers members only. There is a first time for everything with the Young Farmers and it was my first time to 'guess the weight'! I was thrilled when I was awarded first prize in the under 21 category with only a 19kg difference between one steer and 5kg difference in the other!! Our Young Farmers came over to make mince pies last night with Mam!! And I must say...the aprons suited the lads!! We're currently thinking about and planning the Pantomime! I'm sure there's plenty of fun on the way!!

I'm glad to say that I'm still thoroughly enjoying my Midwifery course! I'm finishing next week for a week and a half for the Christmas holidays..although the exams will soon come around the corner! Therefore I think I'll be studying quite a bit over the hoidays! But, before then there'll be plenty of celebrating - starting with the 'Gloddest', our University ball tonight!! Excitement!!

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Siân

With the Christmas festivities fast approaching, it's a busy time for everyone amongst their celebratory preparations and the same is true for me and the rest of the family. The winter so far has been mild but terribly wet, and the fields have become highly saturated due to the recent downpours. The cows have been under shelter since the beginning of November and seem pleased to be in the warmth of the straw. This brings the extra work of feeding silage on a daily basis for the next few months, and hopefully we'll be able to maintain their condition until they'll be turned back out to the lush grass at the beginning of spring.

 What will be served on your plate this coming Christmas? Turkey or a goose maybe? What about a top side of beef or even a slice of lamb? The season has yet again arrived this year where demand for the highest quality of Welsh agricultural products is at its peak, which is undoubtedly promising news for the industry. I personally feel a mixture of feelings during this time. After a long period of hard work and heartache during the spring lambing season, the opportunity to sell the finished products arise, and it's natural to feel a sense of pride, as, at last all the hard work seems worthwhile. However, it proves difficult to ignore the fact that the lives of those creatures whom I assisted with their first few steps, and the ones that I so desperately struggled to keep alive is about to come to an end. This in my opinion is by far the toughest side of the industry to contemplate, and I'm sure that the majority of farmers would agree. We must remember none the less, that this is the harsh nature of our occupation - and we must always aim to treat and handle the creatures that are a part of the industry with fairness and the uppermost respect. It helps to be strong minded in this industry, I can assure you!

The morning of the Cardigan Christmas Mart soon arrived, and I'd previously picked twenty lambs which were a mixture of Suffolks and Texels in the hope that I'd have a sale. An entry of approximately 150 cattle and over 2,000 sheep was brought forward with an evident booming trade and everyone pleased with their prices. I was personally delighted with the final outcome of our lambs, ranging from £94 each to our five best lambs being sold for £99.50 each! Jackpot! Overall the day was a huge success full of competitive trade which looks promising for the future. 

On the last Tuesday of November, I ventured to the Winter Fair in Builth Wells for the first time to take advantage of the stands, activities and competitions that were on offer. It was an enjoyable experience in the food hall as I tickled my taste buds tasting a range of different cakes and cheeses, and also taking a good look at the latest farm machinery. We'll wait and see if Santa will allow enough room on his sledge to bring an extra tractor each for me and my brother Aled! At home we've been busy scanning the cattle for pregnancy. It is with great honour that I announce that my favourite cow number '532' is eight months pregnant with not too long to go! A Christmas nativity could possibly be on the cards - will there be enough room in the stable? We've also been castrating the young bulls that were born this year; this enables us to keep them with the rest of the young heifers. One Christmas nativity is quite enough!

As I mentioned earlier the land is highly saturated as a consequence of the miserable weather we've been experiencing. We should remember that what we feed our stock is just as important as what comes out the other end, and it happens to be a rather handy by product. Slurry and dung can be used as an organic fertiliser to encourage grass growth. Due to the current condition of the fields, the machinery that we use to apply can cause damage to the saturated surface. So we yet again turn to the weather man in the hope that the forecast promises colder conditions to freeze the land underfoot. So fingers crossed! With the university term on the brink of breaking up for the Christmas holiday, I look forward for a chance to catch up with the farm work at home and not to forget to make the most of the festivities. It may be a good time as well to start thinking about beginning the dreaded Christmas shopping... oh dear!

All the best and take care,

Carwyn Bwlchclaw'

Well it has been quite a busy time lately, and the weather has been pretty miserable in general. It's been fairly mild on the whole, but it's also been quite wet. The fields have certainly taken a beating in the last fortnight or so, and it's become quite wet and heavy underfoot, so we will certainly need to look at bringing the cows in very soon. However, by this time of year the cows have usually been housed for quite a while, so we can't complain too much!! We have been quite fortunate this year that we have had a plentiful amount of grass until quite late in the year and this will help keep the costs down quite considerably, and now we will take advantage of the situation and bring in tack sheep (someone else's sheep which are brought in to graze our surplus grass, these are usually sheep from the uplands where grass is in shorter supply).

This mild, wet weather also makes me worry slightly. The reason for this is liver fluke. Liver fluke can be quite damaging to lots of different animals, and this mild, wet weather has provided ideal conditions for fluke to prosper. Therefore I will be treating my ewes against Fluke on the first opportunity I get, and I will be encouraging dad to do the same with the cattle.

Things have been very busy with the Young Farmers too, at the beginning of the week we were I the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Winter Fair in Llanelwedd, where members took part in a number of meetings and competitions. I had the great honour of announcing the Wales Air Ambulance as our "Charity of the Year", and I'm sure that our members will grab this opportunity to show their appreciation of this worthy charity. The show was a very successful one for the movement, and as one of my favourite shows to visit it is usually one of my highlights of the year anyway, and this year it certainly didn't disappoint!! Before the Winter Fair though, we went to sunny Rhyl. Beautiful weather awaited us there for the Wales YFC Eisteddfod, and what a day it was. I'll let you into a bit of a secret; I'm not much of an Eisteddfod man, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself seeing so many members getting the chance to compete. Congratulations to all who contributed to these two events.

As we're into December now I'm sure there will be some opportunities to over indulge in the coming few weeks, but I promise that I will still be keeping busy. The builders are hard at work on the house (and I do try to help them, but to be honest, I'm not home much!!), so hopefully I'll have some news about that next time, as well as tales about a trip to a sale in Carlisle, and the little matter of a jaunt to Cardiff for an international, c'mon Shane!!

P.S. Excellent news just in, we have just passed out TB test!!