Fardre Hill Farm

George Morgan, Dairy Farmer

George and his father Henry farm around 500 acres together at Fardre Hill, they milk 300 cows on a grass-based spring calving system. The father and son team, saw an opportunity to support a newly established local business, while improving the return on their milk. Their farming business shares many mutual aspirations with Mona Dairy and they like the ethos of Mona Dairy as a whole.

Since joining Mona in April 2023, Fardre Hill have seen an increase in overall milk price, along with regular communication, including up to date data on milk quality from every collection which is an invaluable management tool.

Fardre Hill extends to around 500 acres of light clay over limestone, near Abergele. Henry moved with his parents to the 240 acre tenant farm in 1960, where he took over from his father in later years. In 1994 the farm was purchased from the Kinmel estate.

In 2000 the farm started using Hereford genetics, alongside breeding dairy replacements to improve the value of youngstock. George carried this on in the mid 2000’s and began breeding their own bulls, using genetics from Canada and Denmark among others. Presently they have a team of Hereford bulls, some of which have provided semen for use in AI.

George has introduced a number of regenerative technologies to the farming business, including the use of herbal leys and increasing sward height at grazing which has significantly reduced the impact of drought in recent grazing seasons.

Fardre Hill has faced a number of challenges in recent years. By reducing the impact of drought on their farm, grass utilisation and milk from forage has dramatically improved and enabled them to match peak lactation of their spring calving herd with the grazing season.

This however has presented challenges in the form of penalties for the spring milk they have produced on their system. They have also struggled with previous volatility in milk prices and inconsistent communication on milk quality.

George and Henry have been following the developments of Mona Dairy for a number of years, and are glad to be able to join the Mona journey this year.

In a comment Henry said: “We feel that Mona and ourselves share the same goals and most importantly, the same way of going about achieving these goals.’

Fardre Hill started supplying milk to Mona Dairy on 1st April 2023, the farm has been paid every Thursday for their milk, including being paid equally for their butterfat and protein constituents.

Since then Henry and George have been party to a Mona Dairy Farmers forum discussing future collaboration between supplier and processor, along with receiving a factory tour.

George said: “One of the main positives since joining Mona Dairy is the two way communication between Mona and ourselves.

Having results for each milk collection. enables us to identify problems and act on them as quickly as possible.

This real time information allows the farming business to maintain herd performance, as well as improving the quality of milk being delivered to Mona.”

Looking to the future, and following the farmers forum, George and Henry have identified that they are already undertaking a number of practices on farm which may enable them to add further value to their milk while supplying Mona Dairy.