A third-generation family farm in Radnorshire has reduced its financial burden by securing subsidised and fully-funded Farming Connect services.

George Wozencraft, who runs the farm, Glanalders, in Nantmel, produces beef from a 30-cow suckler herd and lamb from 250 Improved Welsh and Welsh Mule ewes.

In 2011, the Wozencraft family diversified into free-range egg production, and now has a 16,000-bird system producing eggs for Stonegate from Clarence Court hens.

Mr Wozencraft has accessed a range of Farming Connect services to help put the business on a firm footing for the future.

As a member of the Radnorshire business discussion group, Mr Wozencraft has been encouraged to assess all aspects of his business, including scrutinising costs.

This exercise has proved invaluable in helping him to understand which enterprises are performing the best, to inform growth and investment going forward.

He has also completed a Farming Connect e-learning course on understanding the fundamentals of a successful business and a bookkeeping course through the Farming Connect skills programme.

Under the Farming Connect Our Farms Network, he has embarked on a project to improve efficiency and bird welfare in his poultry flock, while sharing that knowledge with other producers too.

He has replaced strip lights with LED lighting to become more self-sufficient in energy while improving bird health and welfare and reducing the farm's carbon footprint.

Mr Wozencraft said: "We are looking at our electricity costs and the savings we are making, and any improvements to bird welfare from having low intensity lighting."

The results of this on-farm project, which has included input from his packer, vet, and genetics supplier, will be shared with other farmers later this autumn in an open event.

In a bid to improve efficiency, he is also looking at home-produced nutrients informed by a Nutrient Management Plan funded by Farming Connect.

20 soil samples have been taken and, based on these results, lime has been applied to improve pH levels and reduce reliance on synthetic fertiliser.

Through a Farming Connect clinic involving Ddole Road Vets, Mr Wozencraft has said he now better understands the importance of using antibiotics only when and where they are needed.

He said: "The clinic concentrated my mind on the value of targeting treatments, not just the benefits of reducing those to prevent resistance but reducing our costs too because if we don’t need to use antibiotics then we are saving money."

Farm safety and first aid are at the forefront of Mr Wozencraft's mind with recent deaths and accidents involving fellow farmers.

To make sure that he is better informed on how to react in an emergency situation he has done an emergency first aid at work course, part-funded by Farming Connect, and completed a health and safety e-learning module.

After experiencing first-hand the benefits Farming Connect services have brought to him and to the farm business, he is encouraging other farmers to use them.

He said: "I had never been someone to make the most of what is out there until recently but I am so pleased that I now am.

"If we don’t use these services, it might be that one day they will no longer be available to us.

"So many of them are heavily subsidised or fully funded, it just doesn’t make sense to not make full use of what is on offer."