Cefn Gwyn

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Follow our journey if you are interested in:

• Maximising cow and heifer performance
• Making breeding decisions to optimise herd performance
• Learning more about soil health and increasing forage growth
• Starting your journey to profitable and environmental sustainability

Overview

Located in Chwilog, Pwllheli, Cefn Gwyn is home to Tegid and Hannah Williams.

The farm team is also made up of 2 full-time workers, Kieran and Connor. Tegid and Hannah are particularly interested in genetics and looking at how they can get the best efficiency from their herd.

Our farm

Cefn Gwyn has varying soil types and varying amounts of woodland and ponds across the 81-hectare milking platform.

They have started to focus on soil analysis and optimising soil health, through soil testing and creating tailored fertiliser plans.

Tegid is also working with a contractor to look at carbon auditing across the farm, helping them to understand their soils better.

Clover has been used for many years on the milking platform, to help with nitrogen utilisation and forage growth.

Our herd

This spring-calving herd of 300 crossbred cows averages 5,000 litres per cow per year at 5.21% butterfat and 3.88% protein.

The cows are milked twice a day on a 24/48 herringbone parlour. The crossbreed is made up of Jersey, Holstein and Friesian genetics.

The heifers are reared on another farm, breeding 100 replacements a year, with the rest going into beef.

For the 2023 season, Tegid and Hannah worked with LIC to complete a herd improvement report to aid cow selection for breeding replacements.

Our journey

Tegid, his brother and parents started farming Cefn Gwyn approximately 15 years ago, using this farm as a run-off block for youngstock and silage, before this Hannah’s grandparents used to farm here.

In 2020 they were offered more land and made the decision to convert it into a dairy farm. Their main areas of interest include genetics, soils and maximising forage, and increasing farm profitability.

Short term, Tegid and Hannah hope to reduce input costs. They are currently in the middle of doing a carbon audit, which they will start working to improve once they get the results.

They hope that the Strategic Dairy Farm programme can give them access to consultants and steering group to help guide them towards improving their overall farm through farm efficiency and profitability.

“I don't think there's anything I'm not willing to change if I can get any extra efficiency and profitability from it,” said Tegid.

Cefn Gwyn is a part of the Environmental Baselining pilot, which means they will be providing unique data and insights, along with other farms from across the UK to drive change and build a national dataset for accurate and credible environmental reporting.

“I joined the baselining project because we have a varying land type and also, we have varying amounts of woodland and ponds, and I just wanted a baseline really,” added Tegid.

News

• AHDB welcomes two new Welsh farms to Strategic Dairy Farm programme (May 2025) – Two new Welsh farms have been selected to join our Strategic Dairy Farm programme, bringing valuable regional insights to the growing network

Press coverage

• British Dairying: Welsh farms in the spotlight (May 2025) – Two Welsh farms have been selected to join AHDB’s strategic dairy farm programme. With a mix of systems and focus areas, they add diversity to the network and a range of peer-to-peer insights. British Dairying pays them a visit

Upcoming on-farm events

• 3 June – Cefn Gwyn Strategic Dairy Farm launch – Breeding profit into every cow

Explore our other Strategic Dairy Farms