IBR and anthelminthic resistance are among the health issues on Tuesday's agenda.
ADVERTISEMENT
The theme of this year’s Teagasc national beef conference is "addressing the challenges" and it comes towards the end of a very tough year on beef farmers. Beef farmers have faced many challenges so far in 2018, with snow storms in March and drought over the summer. This has meant some are under severe financial strain as a result of increased costs.
Recent beef price pressure has compounded this issue, with many operating their farm business for little or no profit. While Teagasc is not able to provide all the answers, this year's conference aims to alert farmers to how things can be tweaked inside the farm gate to improve profitability.
Presentations
ADVERTISEMENT
The first presenter, Dr Maria Guelenzo from Animal Health Ireland will outline some recent results from an IBR pilot programme that has taken place on the Teagasc/Irish Farmers JournalBETTER farm programme demo farms. IBR is a national issue and its eradication is critical to high health status, high productivity gains and ensuring Ireland retains access to important export markets.
Professor Donagh Berry will present details around the dairy beef index. The index will aim to inform dairy farmers how to select bulls with short gestation, easy calving but also retain some profitable finishing traits through carcass weight and carcass quality.
The final part of the first session will be presented by Teagasc advisor Tom Coll, who will outline how a group of beef farmers in Sligo and Leitrim have come together to form a contract-rearing discussion group. He will also go through some of the positives and negatives of contract rearing from a beef farmer’s perspective.
Resistance
The second session will see Dr Orla Keane from Teagasc Grange present some recent research findings on anthelminthic resistance on dairy calf to beef farms. She has found some alarming results especially in relation to ivermectin resistance on farms and will outline how farmers can overcome the resistance issue.
Nicky Byrne, also from Teagasc Grange, will outline how beef farmers should select grass varieties when choosing grass mixes for their farm and will also present some results from the Teagasc on-farm cultivar trial.
Finally Alan Dillon, Teagasc will outline some of the coping mechanisms employed on some of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers JournalBETTER farm beef programme farms during what was a very tough 2018. He will also outline how 2018 has impacted financial performance and how it has changed farm plans.
This content is available to digital subscribers and loyalty code users only. Sign in to your account, use the code or subscribe to get unlimited access.
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
CODE ACCEPTED
You have full access to the site until next Wednesday at 9pm.
CODE NOT VALID
Please try again or contact support.
The theme of this year’s Teagasc national beef conference is "addressing the challenges" and it comes towards the end of a very tough year on beef farmers. Beef farmers have faced many challenges so far in 2018, with snow storms in March and drought over the summer. This has meant some are under severe financial strain as a result of increased costs.
Recent beef price pressure has compounded this issue, with many operating their farm business for little or no profit. While Teagasc is not able to provide all the answers, this year's conference aims to alert farmers to how things can be tweaked inside the farm gate to improve profitability.
Presentations
The first presenter, Dr Maria Guelenzo from Animal Health Ireland will outline some recent results from an IBR pilot programme that has taken place on the Teagasc/Irish Farmers JournalBETTER farm programme demo farms. IBR is a national issue and its eradication is critical to high health status, high productivity gains and ensuring Ireland retains access to important export markets.
Professor Donagh Berry will present details around the dairy beef index. The index will aim to inform dairy farmers how to select bulls with short gestation, easy calving but also retain some profitable finishing traits through carcass weight and carcass quality.
The final part of the first session will be presented by Teagasc advisor Tom Coll, who will outline how a group of beef farmers in Sligo and Leitrim have come together to form a contract-rearing discussion group. He will also go through some of the positives and negatives of contract rearing from a beef farmer’s perspective.
Resistance
The second session will see Dr Orla Keane from Teagasc Grange present some recent research findings on anthelminthic resistance on dairy calf to beef farms. She has found some alarming results especially in relation to ivermectin resistance on farms and will outline how farmers can overcome the resistance issue.
Nicky Byrne, also from Teagasc Grange, will outline how beef farmers should select grass varieties when choosing grass mixes for their farm and will also present some results from the Teagasc on-farm cultivar trial.
Finally Alan Dillon, Teagasc will outline some of the coping mechanisms employed on some of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers JournalBETTER farm beef programme farms during what was a very tough 2018. He will also outline how 2018 has impacted financial performance and how it has changed farm plans.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team, please call us on 01-4199525.
Link sent to your email address
We have sent an email to your address. Please click on the link in this email to reset your password. If you can't find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you can't find the email, please call us on 01-4199525.
ENTER YOUR LOYALTY CODE:
The reader loyalty code gives you full access to the site from when you enter it until the following Wednesday at 9pm. Find your unique code on the back page of Irish Country Living every week.
SHARING OPTIONS