Meet your mentor: Dairy farmer Andrew Rees
Andrew Rees farms dairy at Moor Farm, in Pembrokeshire, alongside wife Vicky, mum Jean and two full-time and one part-time member of staff. He joined our mentoring team in 2026.
Andrew has been a mentor for Farming Connect, in Wales, since about 2020 and has undertaken holistic management training with the Savory Institute and a Soil Health Masterclass with Nicole Masters. He was a Soil Farmer of the Year runner up in 2022.
Moor Farm is a spring calving, grazing-based dairy farm of over 400 acres.
Andrew’s family farmed conventionally until around 2009, when he began to move towards spring block calving and an increased focus on production from grazing.
Changing the farming system on Moor Farm
“Initially we followed the Kiwi-style 21-day rotations, with plenty of fertiliser and rye grass leys but we got to a point where we felt performance was plateauing in around 2018/19,” says Andrew.
Andrew Rees
“In 2020 We began a nitrogen reduction programme and using more foliar based applications and then thinking what more can we do from a nutrient point of view?
“We started looking at the influence of soil health on that and multi-species leys and just built on it bit by bit.
“Previously we were following that prescription-based system and I think the fun just went out of it. I got a bit bored doing the same thing year in, year out.
“Having a young family, your mind also turns to food quality and doing the best we can by the environment.”
The farm is now all down to forage with half in multi-species leys.
They will calve 320 cows in the spring and rear up to 90 heifer replacements, with 75 bulling heifers coming through. They also sell some breeding bulls.
The herd graze outside for as long as possible but are housed for some of the winter months.
“I did holistic management training and that made me begin adopting more of a profit mindset, but also to think about how I wanted to live my life without just being busy all the time. ”
“We don't follow a strict rotation, but adapt it for plant recovery. We defer grass over the winter so the youngstock can stay out,” says Andrew.
The farm now only spends 20 per cent of what it did on fertiliser previously, as well as making savings on vet and med and supplementary feed.
“We are not exposed to fluctuations on prices of fertiliser and other inputs like we used to be,” says Andrew.
“I did holistic management training and that made me begin adopting more of a profit mindset, but also to think about how I wanted to live my life without just being busy all the time.
“Ultimately, it’s about enjoying it more and making it a bit more money at the end of the year.
Providing mentoring for Regenerate Outcomes
“I like the fact that the mentoring Regenerate Outcomes are offering is based on farmers helping farmers, whereas the UK agriculture advice industry is very much led by suppliers.
“Those who sell you feed will tell you how much you need feed and those who sell fertiliser will tell you you need fertiliser.
“It’s good to bring some independence back to empower farmers. A lot of farmers just run on prescriptions but it’s good to bring back the profession of agriculture and enable them to make decisions for themselves.
“It’s about unlearning some of the conventional thinking of needing inputs. Actually a healthy biological system will produce to a similar level if you give it a chance. I see my role as equipping them with the skills to do it.
“Every farm is different. Some are all in, some are a bit more hesitant and it's a matter of taking it one step at a time to build confidence and provide a platform for them to learn more and gradually realise the full benefits.”
Regenerate Outcomes works with
farmers to grow profits
We provide one-to-one mentoring to help you cut costs and improve crop and livestock performance.
At the same time, we baseline and measure soil carbon at no upfront cost to generate carbon credits which you can retain or sell for additional income.
Find out more by downloading our Programme Handbook.