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News > Online Sheep Conference 2022: Bringing resilience and productivity together

CAFRE

Online Sheep Conference 2022: Bringing resilience and productivity together

December 20, 2021

Want to find out about building a more resilient pasture based sheep system? Keep the evenings of Wednesday 2nd and Wednesday 9th February 2022 free for a forthcoming online Sheep Conference. Leading industry experts and innovative farmers have been brought together by the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), National Sheep Association (NSA), Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) and Northern Ireland Meat Export Association (NIMEA) to provide the latest thinking and to share their experiences on how to make a sheep business work in these changing times.

With increasing fertiliser costs on everyone’s mind the first installment of the conference on 2nd February at 8.00pm will examine how to grow and utilise more grass. The independent grassland consultant Charlie Morgan will begin proceedings by looking at how best to optimise grass production on a range of farm types. Philip Creighton, Teagasc, will then examine the latest techniques to maximise grass utilisation as there is no point in growing it to waste it. The first evening will be drawn to a close by local farmer Clement Lynch explaining how he has adopted the latest grass thinking and technologies onto his farm to benefit his business.

The second night is on 9th February, again at 8.00pm. It will focus on building resilience into the grazing platform. Retired AFBI Professor Jim McAdam will examine how to make your pasture base deliver more than just grass with the potential to develop another income stream for the business. Trevor Cook will then join us direct from New Zealand to discuss his experiences on managing sheep nutrition and health to optimise lamb production from pasture. Again the second night will be brought to a close by a local famer. Dale Orr will discuss his journey from taking the farm over from his father, how he has been open to change in an effort to maintain a viable business.

You must register for the event in advance. You can register now.