The colony of bees labouring away in Sam Davies’ apiary are, by all accounts, a good-natured bunch.

Sam has never had a sting from her 60,000 honey producers. “I’m very fortunate to have friendly bees,’’ she says.

Sam and her husband, Jonathan, are beef and sheep farmers in Powys, at Llwynpiod Farm, Garth, but bees are now an important part of the business too, not honey production but the feed the insects consume to create it.

They are the sole UK distributor of Belgosuc bee feed products, a diversification they established in April 2021.

It wasn’t a business idea they stumbled upon by chance. Sam had helped with the previous distributor, Peter Guthrie, one time secretary of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, with his administration.

“Peter wanted to sell the business so Jonathan and I tendered for it and were successful,’’ she explains.

“Because I had been working on the admin side for Peter and his wife, Marian, and had been to trade shows with them I had built up a connection with customers.’’

It was an opportunity for the family to introduce a new income stream. Jonathan and Sam’s two children, Sioned and Iwan, are both are keen to farm.

“Farming can be pretty tough financially so we were looking to the future for Sioned and Iwan, at ways of generating more income,’’ Sam explains.

That vision has resulted in Wyefield Apiaries being established at Llwynpiod Farm, importing syrup and fondants from Belgium where Belgosuc produce products for bees and for human food production.

A lot of business is generated at trade shows – the National Honey Show in London, the Bee Keeping Show in Telford and an annual show at Builth - but some customers also come to the farm to buy.

As with any business operating in the current climate, it is not without its challenges, from exceptional weather conditions to high transport costs.

Sam started keeping her own bees two years ago and is smitten. “Bees are very interesting to watch, the process of it all is so fascinating.’’

She removes the honey twice a year. Not only does it taste good but, as a hayfever sufferer, she has discovered its medicinal benefits too.

“I take a spoonful of honey every day to stop the symptoms, but it has to be honey produced in the local area for that to work.’’

Crops and plants growing in an area have an influence on volume and flavour.

Some beekeepers will take their hives to other regions to pollinate on specific flowers, for instance on cherry and apple blossom in Hereford, a process which is mutually beneficial to beekeepers and farmers.

The livestock side of the farming business centres on producing beef and lamb.

Jonathan is in partnership with his parents, Michael and Gwyneth, farming 550 acres of owned and rented land.

Their upland flock of ewes and hogs is predominately Beulah Speckled Face.

Lambing is in March, with some of the flock housed for lambing and others lambing outside.

Lambs produced by the crossbred ewes, which are from Texel tups, are sold through the live market while those from the Beulahs are sold fat.

The herd of Limousin-cross and British Blue-cross suckler cows are sired to a Limousin bull with progeny sold as 10-12 month old stores.

Sam had been working off-farm, at Lantra, before she established the bee feed business but now concentrates on that enterprise full time.

“When you have invested in a business that has to come first,’’ she says.

On the rare occasions she is not busy she enjoys tending to her hive.

“Jonathan tells me that I feed the bees more than the cattle!’’ she laughs.