STOCK PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

2025 – GWERN THOMAS

Gwern currently farms at Maesllyn farm, Tregaron, in a contract farming partnership between himself a his uncle Ifan Davies. The farm has until recently been run as a low input organic system, this was mostly due to needing to reduce labour as his uncle has other commitments. Gwern was grateful to have been given the opportunity to farm alongside his uncle as he is not from a farming background but it has always been his dream to farm. After a few years of working on local farms and learning about different systems, he felt ready to take on this challenge. After looking at the current system at Maesllyn he immediately saw opportunities for improvement and moving away from organic farming was one of those. They currently run 450 improved Welsh breeding ewes and 45 Saler suckler cattle. In his spare time, Gwern and his fiancé Ffion, farm 40 acres of land on another holding where they breed pedigree Blueface Leicester ewes for creating tups and they also rear 15 bucket calves per year and sell at around 24 months of age. His goal one day is to be able to purchase his own farm and his aim up until then is to build equity and gain as much experience as possible.

2024 – ARON DAFYDD

Gwarffynnon Farm is home to 130 Holstein pedigree cattle. Aron returned to Gwarffynnon Farm 5 years ago after studying Agriculture at Aberystwyth University. Aron is now in charge of the farm’s daily activities including the milking and daily work to plan the cows’ diet. In 2020 the Ormond herd won the title of master breeder. Being as close as possible to being self-sufficient is a big emphasis for Gwarffynnon Farm. The farm already produces green energy with a windmill, solar panels and an air source heat pump system. Aron and his Dad Dai have seen an economic benefit to this as well as creating a climate friendly farm without sacrificing the standard of produce. In 2020 Aron identified the need for high quality local produce and created a dedicated pasteurisation unit on the farm to process milk and then sell it locally in the centre of Lampeter and Llwyncelyn through a self-service machine.