Seminars
NSA Welsh Sheep Seminar Timetable
Seminar 1: 11.00am – 11.45am
Seeing sustainability through the lens of profitability.
How we can merge together the demands for greater levels of sustainability with individual farm
business needs of improved profitability. Attendees will have the chance to explore the financial
implications of sustainable practices on grassland and sheep farms but also discuss potential
mechanisms for making sustainability pay through market mechanisms and policy drivers.
Chairman: John Lloyd, NSA Cymru Policy and Technical committee member
Speakers: Adele Jones - Sustainable Food Trust, Karen Fisher - Soil Association
Martin Riley – Genus
Seminar 2: 12.00pm – 1.00pm
Improving sheep farming profitability and sustainability through genetics and nutrition.
In an era where support for and subsidies for farming enterprises are diminishing, how can we
use genetics and good sheep nutrition to optimise the profitability and sustainability of our
sheep farming businesses? This seminar will explore the role that genetic selection can have on
profitability and resilient sheep flocks and how we can increase the uptake of superior genetics
without reducing our available genetic pool. We will also explore how the role of good nutrition
and forward thinking approaches to grassland and forage management can influence sheep
performance. In particular, we will hear from Will Sawday – one of the hosts of Welsh Sheep,
about the progressive practices and genetic evaluations and improvements and sustainable
approaches being undertaken on the farm.
Chairman: Caryl Hughes, NSA Cymru Chair
Speakers: Janet Roden - Innovis, Mark Young - Agri Tech,
Heather McCalman - HCC, Will Sawday - High Country Romneys
Seminar 3: 1.15pm – 2.00pm
How sheep health diagnostics and monitoring can boost profitability.
This seminar will explore how profitability can be boosted by improving sheep health through
proactive flock health. We will explore the effect of planning vaccinations programs on progress
and profitability and will talk about using diagnostics to assess underlying problems caused by
iceberg diseases. We will also talk about how we put this into practice on commercial sheep farms.
Chairman: Kate Hovers, NSA Cymru Trustee
Speakers: Jonathan Mayer - MSD, Dr Hazel Wright - WVSC, Trevor Cook - Totally Vets
Seminar 4: 2.15pm – 3.00pm
Can the WG Sustainable Farming Scheme help improve whole farm profitability and sustainability.
SFS - support sustainability and reward for environmental gains. How can we get to a point
where this scheme can support what we need to do to be sustainable and efficient and profitable
rather than being seen as creating a bureaucratic burden and being unnecessarily prescriptive for
farmers who would rather be outside farming than completing farms
Chairman: Jenny Layton Mills, Partner at McCartneys
Speakers: Mark Alexander - Welsh Government, Phil Stocker – NSA
Sam Sawday - High Country Romneys
