Training sheepdogs to round up ducks was child's play for farmer Hywel Davies compared to mastering his new computer. But thanks to one-to-one mentoring support from Link Wales, he is now harnessing the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to better manage and market his versatile business. Hywel, who lives at Greenway Farm, Rosebush, Pembrokeshire, farms 700 sheep, breeds and sells point of lay hybrid pullets, waterfowl, wildfowl and pure breed poultry, makes poultry housing and trains sheepdogs and their handlers. He has joined the growing band of farmers across Wales who are using computers to help them run their business. He has taken advantage of free computer training offered by the Managing Farms with IT project run by lifelong learning organisation ELWa with European Social Fund support. With guidance from Link Wales mentor Roger Griffiths, he is now using his computer for spreadsheets and marketing material as well as accessing the Internet to obtain information about rare breed poultry and to send e-mails. His next step is to computerise his farm accounts, VAT and animal records, including sheepdog pedigrees and to develop his digital photography. "Up until a year ago, I had never switched on a computer," said Hywel, who is known countrywide for agricultural show demonstrations using sheepdogs to round up ducks. "After the excellent one-to-one mentoring from Roger, I now feel confident about using the computer, although I'm in no way an expert." Hywel said learning how to use the Internet had opened up a new world of information on subjects of interest to his business, including the availability of rare breed poultry in countries such as Holland and Germany. He now hopes to develop digital photography to better market his sheepdogs and poultry. "The main benefit of the mentoring is that you learn at your own pace on your own computer," he added. "If you are struggling with a computer by yourself, you don't see its full potential." Mr. Griffiths, a Link Wales mentor in Pembrokeshire, said: "Hywel is keen to learn and he's already seeing the benefits of using a computer in his business. After deciding what they want a computer to do for them, farmers find the mentoring support very helpful." The Link Wales mentoring programme is designed to help farmers who have barriers to attending formal training and have little or no experience of computers and the Internet. A team of 20 mentors, all with farming backgrounds, provides one-to-one tuition to farmers in their home and on their own computer at a time most convenient to them. Spending 36 hours with qualifying farmers, the mentors show them how to use computers to manage and plan their business, how to use benchmarking computer programs, how to input data and understand reports and how to solve basic computer problems. Link Wales' mentors have supported more than 460 farmers and made more than 3,000 farm visits since the programme began. For more information about the mentor programme, contact Link Wales on 0800 7831489.