Having invested heavily in securing top quality breeding lines, the setback left Mark and Catherine Davies even questioning whether cattle was the right enterprise for the farm given the prevalence of the disease in the area.
But try again they did and a subsequent clear test persuaded them to persevere and slowly build up cattle numbers.
It was a decision that has proved to be the right one, with Mr Davies being named as NFU Cymru's livestock champion of the year for 2023.
Award win
The trophy, awarded at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair last year, recognises the key role a good livestock manager can make to a livestock farm and the wider Welsh livestock industry.
According to the judges Mr Davies' enthusiasm and attention to detail, coupled with the level of care and quality of the stock, was ‘clear to see and second to none'.
Having grown up on the family farm in the shadow of the Preseli Hills and playing a key role in the development of the business, Mr Davies travelled to New Zealand to broaden his experience.
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Two years after the couple married Mr and Mrs Davies were fortunate to begin farming in their own rights.
Luckily Glanyfer, a 19-hectare (47-acre) holding at Crosswell, near Eglwyswrw, and not far from where they were living, came on to the market in 2003. They put in a what they could afford offer and bought it.
New farm
A one-time dairy farm, the cost of modernising the facilities and going into milk production was financially out of the question. Rearing beef cattle and sheep was the only real viable option.
Deciding on what breed of cattle to keep, however, was easy - Limousins had been part of Mr Davies' life while growing up farming with his father and uncle, having founded the family's Eisteddfa herd back in the early 1990s.
Mr Davies says: "My family had kept pedigree Welsh Blacks which they started crossing to a Charolais bull, but calving difficulties led to the introduction of a Limousin from Yorkshire called Middledale James.
"Given that background there was no other breed for me when we started farming on our own. To start with we concentrated on rearing commercial cattle, mostly carrying Limousin blood though not registered and selling the calves as stores."
Buying a further 21ha (54 acres) in 2006, however, gave them the scope to widen their farming activities. Three years later the decision was taken to go pedigree and the Glencross herd was born.
Glencross Limousins
The prefix comes from Catherine's maiden name and is not a joined up version of Glanyfer and Crosswell as many believe.
"We bought foundation stock from several leading herds, including Hafodlas, Dinmore, Ardbrack, Cowin, Eisteddfa and Dyfri, mostly at Carlisle and Stirling breed society sales," adds Mr Davies.
"The first bull we used was the Northern Ireland-bred Craigatoke Barty, which left his mark on the herd, while other bulls used have included the home-bred Glencross Ifan by Ironstone Brandy out of Dyfri Fennena.
"By the spring of 2012 we were up to 60 cows and heifers, again concentrating on the production of quality pure Limousin store cattle rather than the pedigree market, though this side of the business has grown and continues to grow," says Mr Davies.
Block calving
"The system revolves around block calving in April and May, with the cows and calves grazing on grass through the summer and the calves being sold the following January at ages ranging from eight to 10 months.
"Recent times have seen us retaining more heifer calves as replacements, which enables us to sell older cows with calves."
Before heifers are bulled Mr Davies pays attention to pelvic measurements to help determine whether an animal is suitable to breed from or not.
That strategy has been effective in reducing the number of caesarean sections, as well as helping breed animals with larger pelvic areas.
All the cattle are normally housed by early November, with the cows getting nothing but big baled grass silage, contractor-made in two cuts from the end of June onwards, fed in ring feeders and from behind a passageway barrier.
Stocking rate
Fertiliser use has been cut back, with muck from the loose housing and sand cubicles going on the silage ground. Because of the high stocking rate and mixed grazing calves have access to a creep feed from July onwards.
Mr Davies says: "Our system is all about producing quality calves and allowing others to finish them at a profit. It also means that with the purchase of a further 70 acres three years ago we can now keep more stock.
"If we were to start finishing cattle, however, we would need to double up on our buildings and on top of that there is the labour element. As it stands I am able to manage on my own with help from the family."
That fits in neatly with Mrs Davies' away-from-the-farm teaching role at a nearby school and support from their follow-on generation three daughters - Caryl, who is studying agriculture at Aberystwyth University; Sara, now in her second year at Gelli Aur Agricultural College; and Lowri, who is still at school.
Alongside the cattle the farm carries a flock of 750 outdoor lambing ewes which utilise 26ha (65 acres) of ground a mile away, as well as being used for silage.
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Some 250 improved Tregaron-type Welsh Mountain ewes provide a nucleus for producing breeding rams.
Any not matching up to the high quality specifications Mr Davies self imposes go to Aberfield tups to produce cross-bred lambs.
Those not needed for flock replacements are sold from May and June onwards, either deadweight or live according to market price levels at the time. Some ewe lambs go off as breeding stock.
Sheep flock
"We could go down the route of using a terminal sire but that would mean switching from outdoor lambing and investing in a lambing shed," adds Mr Davies.
The farm is all grass, apart from a few acres of wholecrop for feeding as big bales to the cows to increase milk yield, along with root crops, such as kale or swedes for the sheep, with the aim being to reseed around 6-8ha (15-20 acres) a year.
Sheep are strip grazed, with Mr Davies also being a previous winner of the all-Wales big bale silage competition which is based on quality.
The installation of a sophisticated closed circuit coloured monitoring system with zoom-in and panning facilities is also seen as having been a well worthwhile investment, minimising the risk of losing a calf.
Diversification
"With lambing coinciding with calving life can get pretty hectic in the spring but the investment has been worth every penny," says Mr Davies.
As well as the redundant dairy buildings the farm came with a mixture of both loose and cubicle housing, a hay shed and a modern farmhouse.
Next door was the original dwelling and when that went on to the market it was promptly snapped up by the family - a move which has seen the emergence of a diversification venture by way of self-catering holiday accommodation.
Now fitted out to an exceptional standard the five-bedroomed main house, complete with hot tub, will sleep 12 and an adjoining cottage caters for two.
Mr Davies says: "In order to keep more cattle we could reduce sheep numbers, but I am reluctant to do that. They fit in nicely with the grazing rotation and by using a mobile handling system are much easier to manage single-handed.
"They are also a valuable asset to have given the prevalence of bovine TB. Should you have a breakdown and be unable to sell stock then sheep can help pay the bills. And you can go in and out of sheep fairly swiftly, but with cattle it is a much longer term business.
"In order to make a success of farming with cattle these days you have to have a sound breed, good genetics, the best silage you can make and first-class management," Mr Davies adds.
