Farmers are encouraged to pop into the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm village, where advisers will discuss new technologies implemented on the programme farms and how this has improved profits. Programme farmers will be on the stands to speak about their experiences of grass budgeting, two-year-old calving, bull beef systems, breeding your own replacements and many other topics. The village will comprise four main areas:

  • BETTER financial performance: Improving the bottom line.
  • BETTER grass: Grow your profits.
  • BETTER breeding: Increased output and efficiency.
  • BETTER health: Reduced costs and increased performance. One area where farmers have made gains is grassland management and the use of paddocks in drystock systems. Beef farmers have been slow, in general, to take up grass budgeting and programme farmers will discuss the benefits of managing grass correctly.

    Other attractions include interviews with four of the programme participants on topics such as profitability, the right cow type for you, BVD PI retention and growing more grass. A live demo of important points to look for in a functional suckler cow will be covered on the breeding stand. These points will be discussed as part of an interactive discussion between farmers and advisers.

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    Demos and interviews will take place at various times.