A west Wales farm is boosting its sustainability and reducing feed costs through a Farming Connect project. Llyr Griffiths, from Tafarn y Bugail in Llangoedmor, Ceredigion aims to improve the farm’s sustainability and reduce reliance on purchased feed for his 500-cow dairy herd by companion cropping maize with sunflowers. With the increasing cost of protein concentrate, Llyr was keen to try out an alternative home-grown protein crop for the high yielding herd to reduce feed costs and the farms carbon footprint and has done so through the support of the Farming Connect Try Out Fund.
The project aims to investigate the effectiveness of sunflowers as a companion crop as sunflowers offer a higher protein content than maize, potentially reducing the need for expensive bought-in protein sources like soya. £2 million worth of cannabis found in former Llandysul school New Quay RNLI's youngest crew member takes part in Henley Royal Regatta rowpast Meet the cast of Aberystwyth's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Age Cymru nominates Aberystwyth's Mary Lloyd Jones as first Changemaker Additionally, Westerwolds ryegrass will be sown directly after the maize harvest to minimize soil erosion and provide high-quality winter feed and reducing reliance on purchased feed and potentially reducing overall feed costs. The project started in May 2024 and will conclude in February 2025.
Other project milestones include, monitoring crop growth, harvesting, analysing feed value, and evaluating the .