GC123 – Lisa & Stephen Hardwick

Stephen Hardwick, Upper Talcoed, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. Stephen farms a total of 130 hectares, keeping 31 beef cows and 700 breeding ewes.

Being a beef and sheep farmer grass has always been important to their system, but only after attending Farming Connect Grassmaster group did they realise quite how much could be achieved from forage. Since then, from grazing management and cutting younger better-quality silage, Stephen has managed to cut his concentrate feeding by around 60% for ewes at lambing and almost eliminated it for cattle, although finishing lambs still takes some concentrates.

They have cut artificial fertiliser by around 50% whilst slightly increasing livestock numbers.  Stephen believes with more information they can hopefully achieve their goal of being completely forage based.