One breeder’s plan to turn tragedy into hope for others.

Paul Huxley Construction are proud to announce we are now working alongside Ovarian Cancer Action to help raise as much awareness as we can, and campaigning to raise money for the charity. We have been inspired by the following story and we are confident you will be too. Ovarian cancer action will ultimately benefit after a new herd of British blues is established within the welsh borders; but there is something is a sad story behind the creation of ‘Old Stackyard Blues’ herd, which will perpetuate the memory of a special lady whom died in October 2015. Dilys Evelyn Wigley (Eve) loved her small ‘Cefnrhos’ herd of British Blues which she and husband Emyr ran alongside their 120 Dairy cows – a business they had built up over the years of hard work and shrewd investment, both having worked for other farmers for many years, both before and after their marriage in 1972. They had been determined to farm in their own right and eventually bought their own place near Deytheur, Llansantffraid in the early 1980’s. With sound cow management, the dairy herd had always been profitable even in times of low milk prices, and they had managed to pay off a sizeable mortgage within 21 years. They decided to sell up and retire in 2007, take life a little easier and pursue their interests including gardening and walking. The profits from the farm enabled them to build a fine new house with a large garden not far away. But as Emyr says: “the wheels came off our plans when eve was diagnosed with ovarian cancer four years ago, she passed away last October aged 69, and they had been very difficult times.” He cannot speak highly enough of his wife’s capacity for work, her business acumen and her organisational skills. “She was a most magical lady,” he says. She was only little and did not enjoy robust health at times. Enjoying good health himself and now just into his seventies, Emyr has thrown himself into maintaining the garden, undertaking all manner of jobs for other people and fundraising. Donations in memory of Eve, pledges by neighbours and friends, a top-drawer charity lunch which took place in July 2016 organised by Mr Wigley, plus some match funding by the bank expected to eventually total £10,000 which will go the Ovarian Cancer Action within the first year. With a brand new building supplied by Paul Huxley Construction and access road been built, some foundation females already secured, although still on their farms of origin, Mr Wigley has calculated start up costs of between £80,000 – £90,000. “The money is not helping anyone where it is, but we had a fantastic, but hard life together, with many sacrifices made to achieve our goal and I want to give something back. Eve would be right behind me on that.“ he says. The 27 acre field in front of the house will be divided up and perhaps seven acres or so split up into three paddocks. And the whole enterprise will be badger-proofed. Fodder and straw will be brought in. The original blue herd which the Wigleys developed, followed on from the successful use of blue semen on the dairy herd. They were early users of sexed semen on heifers for dairy replacements, but any heifers that did not hold to AI, along with the cows, were put to a Blue Bull. “We made a lot of money with our cross-bred calves and suckler men were keen to buy the heifers, as we had big, strong dairy cows. I reckon that over 20 years we must have had 300 blue calves out of dairy heifers, and not one caesarean,,” recalls Emyr. “But you have to watch the feeding management in the last few months.” “So yes, we were great fans of the breed and bought our first ‘blue’ bull in 1987 for 1350gns. We had him for four years, selling him for cull for £1000. We then bought a Bringlee bull in 1991, and also came home with two heifers.” Cefnrhos was never a big herd, and was totally closed. But it produced some decent sales prices with bulls up to 3,600gns. The emphasis was easy on calving, as will be the case with the new herd. Six females are already bought at 13 and 15 months old. Mr Wigley has also secured two cows with big heifer calves at foot and in-calf again, and would rather like to find another two, ideally with bull calves. Those already bought, from herds including Pendle, Stonebyres and Greystone, have been secured on the understanding they are from naturally calving lines. Credit to: Howard Walsh How can Paul Huxley Construction help? From the 1st September – 31st October every year, Paul Huxley Construction will be donate 0.5% of all buildings sales and proceeds to Ovarian Cancer Action, equally important as raising money for the charity is to raise awareness; each and every quote we send out to customers will include awareness leaflets showing the symptoms from ovarian cancer. For each show we exhibit at, we are going to dedicate part of our stand whereby means collection boxes, newsletters, leaflets, selling pins for the charity. We are keen to spread as much awareness as we can, inspired by Mr Wigleys ‘hobby’ as he explains it.

For more information on One breeder’s plan to turn tragedy into hope for others. talk to Paul Huxley Construction