This mornings line up

Ger Dineen, suckler farmer

The well-known former participant in the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm beef programme is farming in Kilnamartyra just outside Macroom in Co Cork. Ger is a suckler farmer finishing all bulls to beef and selling excess heifers as breeding heifers. In 2017 he had 60 cows and 15 in-calf heifers. He farms full time on 31ha, 10ha of this is an out-farm. Farm output is high at 999kgLWG/ha in 2017. Ger was Beef Enterprise winner in the Grass10 Grassland farmer of the year competition in 2017. The title of Gers presentation is “Maximising grass growth on my farm”. Ger will give some of his views on how he manages grass on his farm and how he maximises profit in his suckler to beef system

Donagh Berry, geneticist, Teagasc

Professor Donagh Berry is statistical geneticist at Teagasc, Moorepark, Co Cork. Following on from his ag science degree at UCD, he undertook a PhD in dairy cattle genetics in Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He is responsible for the research on national genomic evaluations in dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep in Ireland. In 2013, he was recipient of the British Society of Animal Science Sir John Hammond Award for significant contributions to animal science research. Donagh contributes his animal genetics expertise as a lecturer in quantitative genetics to UCC’s BSc in genetics and also lectures on animal genetics for UCD’s dairy science degree programme. He is author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications and has supervised three MScs and eight PhDs to graduation. The title of Donaghs presentation is “Breeding the best with the best will always give you the best – right?” and promises to be a thought-provoking session for anybody involved in animal breeding.

Paddy Wall, UCD

Dr Patrick Wall is professor of public health in University College Dublin's School of Public Health. He is a vet and medical doctor and runs a one health programme in UCD and on the UCD branch campus in Malaysia. His teaching and research interests include food-borne diseases, lifestyle-related diseases and health-damaging consumer behaviour. Paddy is a regular contributor to TV and radio on topics related to public health and consumer behaviour. The title of Paddy’s presentation is “Connecting with the final consumer is essential for sustainability” and will give an insight into how farmers as food producers can connect more with the end user to benefit everybody.

Panel Discussion

Justin McCarthy, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal will moderate a final session where each of the three speakers will come back onto the stage for a discussion and questions on their presentations.

The farm visit in the afternoon heads to the farm of the O'Connor family outside Moone, who run a large beef operation including a 100-cow suckler herd and 200 cattle purchases annually. Attendants will see stands on grassland management, animal health and animal performance

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