The Teagasc Pig Conference takes place today, Tuesday, October 18, at the Hotel Kilmore, Cavan, and tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19, at Horse and Jockey, Co. Tipperary.
According to Teagasc, the past 14 months have been “the worst in living memory for Irish pig producers”.
Teagasc has said that the conference presents “a great opportunity” for pig farmers to meet with other farmers, industry and Teagasc personnel to discuss the issues facing the sector.
Topics to be discussed and speakers include:
- Sustainable pigmeat production: Gerard McCutcheon, Teagasc;
- Denmark – looking to the future: Dr. Jens Sorensen, Danish vet working with the Danvet Practice;
- Adopting best practices: Emer McCrum and Ciarán Carroll, Teagasc;
- Learnings from the downturn: Michael McKeon, Teagasc;
- Feed ingredients outlook: Philip Lynch and James Nolan, RandH Hall;
- Energy options: Short, medium, long-term: Louise Clarke, Teagasc;
- Key hygiene issues: Peadar Lawlor, Teagasc.
The international guest speaker at this year’s event is Jens Sorensen from Danvet. Jens is a Danish consultant veterinarian on the Teagasc Lean International Project, working with two Irish pig farms with the aim of reducing antibiotic usage on farm.
He will present a paper at the conference on ‘Denmark – Current and Future Perspectives’, giving an overview of how Danish farmers have dealt with the financial crisis over the past 12-18 months, and looking at the main challenges they see for the pig sector in the future.
Energy costs have surged over the past year and the paper on Energy – short, medium and long-term options aims to give pig farmers an insight into their current energy market options.
‘Adopting best practices’ is a technical paper that aims to highlight a number of relatively low-cost, but high-impact best practices, that can be implemented on farm to maintain and support improved performance.
Teagasc’s Ciaran Carroll said: “We encourage all those involved in the sector to attend this conference and for the opportunity to meet fellow producers and get the latest information that Teagasc Pig Development Department [has] put together.”
The conference will begin on both days at 2:00p.m and will continue until 6:00p.m.