Tyddyn yr Eglwys

Follow our journey if you are interested in:

• Efficiently grow and utilise as much grass as possible 

• Evaluating the contribution of individual cows to overall profitability 

• Maintaining or reducing current labour input levels 

• Maximising their returns and cash out of their business

Get their latest updates on Twitter by searching for #SDFTyddynyrEglwys

Overview

Dylan and Hannah Harries have been operating as contract farmers at Tyddyn yr Eglwys since October 2013.  Owned by Kim and Bryony Petty, both the Petty’s and Harries’ have a stake within the herd.

Our farm

Located in North East Pembrokeshire, Tyddyn yr Eglwys is a 283ha farm, of which 160ha is grazing platform. Dylan and Hannah aim to incorporate efficiencies into all aspects of the farm including a well-designed parlour allowing a high throughput of cows per hour.  After spending winter with access to the self-feed silage clamp adjacent to the cubicles, cows calve onto an outdoor calving pad during the spring, before moving to pasture when in milk.

Our herd

This spring calving herd of 550 Friesian X Jerseys averages 5,800litres per cow per year at 4.80% butterfat and 3.80% protein.  All replacements are home reared, and the average age at first calving for 2019 was 21 months. To allow maximum access to good pasture and increase the production of milk from forage, there has been recent investment in tracks and troughs, silage clamps and slurry storage.  Dylan and Hannah also incorporate a herbal ley containing clover, plantain and chickory into their reseeding programme.

Our journey

Dylan and Hannah’s aspirations as Strategic Farmers is to maximise cash out of the business, breed an efficient herd of grass to milk solid converting cows, and utilise as much grass as possible.

You can follow Dylan and Hannah's progress from events on twitter by searching for #SDFTyddynyrEglwys

Our key performance figures

Tyddyn yr Eglwys openly shares their KPIs so you can see how they perform against a number of technical and financial measures. 

• Review our key performance indicators here 

Previous meetings and updates

• 6 August 2019 - Tyddyn yr Eglwys launch overview - Dylan and Hannah Harries join our strategic dairy farm network 
• 9 October 2019 - Using farm data to identify top performers and passengers in your herd - The learning is not currently available for this event
• 18 December - Figuring out the key to good breeding - How £SCI informs breeding decisions and drives profitability at Tyddyn yr Egglwys
• 18 Jan - Lean management for dairy with Jana Hocken – Dylan and Hannah explore how to implement lean management processes on-farm in a dairy context with this webinar recording with world-renowned New Zealand author of ‘The Lean Dairy farmer’ Jana Hocken.
• Overheads key to driving farm performance - how to maximise cash out of the business whilst maintaining job satisfaction and quality of life for the whole farm team
• Jan 2021 - Lean management for Dairy with Jana Hocken - how to decrease waste and increase productivity.
• November 2021 - Marginal litres. Profit or loss with Jogn Roche - Dylan Harries and John Roche explore how marginal litres may be impacting your profit line.

Find out more about the funding of our strategic dairy farm programme in Wales