As well as sheep, we’ve also got a forestry enterprise on the farm. Following on from the recent forestry conference to tackle wood mobility in Ireland, now seems a good time to announce that I was recently selected to join a new EU-level focus group called Sustainable Mobilisation of Forest Biomass.

For the non-forester, forest biomass essentially comprises thinnings and branches taken out from the plantation before the main tree crop is harvested.

The group’s main task is to consider how to improve the sustainable mobilisation of biomass from forests around Europe. There are 20 members, from various EU member states, and they represent different sectors along the biomass production chain, including primary producers like myself, timber processors, policy advisers, and scientists.

Over the next 12 months, we’ll try to come up with some ideas and recommendations around how small forest owners can co-operate better, how and why some regions can add value to biomass while others cannot, and how to overcome challenges in improving biomass use.

Our kick-off meeting takes place in Tampere, Finland, from 21-23 June, and the group is being co-ordinated by the European Commission, through its agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI).

There are a number of different focus groups, covering all agriculture sectors from dairy and beef, right along to nutrient recycling and genetic resources. I’m looking forward to meeting others involved in forestry and in particular those from outside Ireland. It’s always useful to get different views on any of your enterprises and the more diverse the opinions, the better.

Before anyone asks, there’s no money involved in the groups. Your travel costs are covered and that’s it. This is more than enough for me and I’m glad there’s no mention of the Brussels gravy train!

Sheep front

On the sheep front, we’re still slowly increasing the stocking rate. But the type of stock we’re looking for is scarce, so the chequebook has been put away for now. We’re looking for Belclare or Belclare-cross ewes and these will be the core of the flock we’re developing. They’re good mothers, with plenty of milk and high prolificacy, so are well-suited to our plan of focusing on replacement hoggets as our main product.

The summer sales will be starting in a while, so we’ll keep the chequebook on ice until then. Our accountant and bank manager will be pleased at least.

Kieran Sullivan and his brother farm part-time in Co Waterford. You can follow him on Twitter: @kieran_sullivan

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