Animal Health Ireland, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation and Teagasc will jointly host a number of suckler farmer information nights throughout the country.
The ICBF will be covering areas such as the new beef indexes and latest breeding developments. Teagasc will be covering the management of the suckler heifer to calf at 24 months
Speaking to AgriLand, Pearse Kelly, head of drystock knowledge transfer at Teagasc, said: “It promises to be a really informative event for suckler farmers and we’re delighted to be working with ICBF and AHI in this area.”
“The ICBF will be focusing on its new indexes as well as updating farmers on their breeding research,” commented Kelly.
“We in Teagasc will be focusing on the area of calving down heifers at two years old rather than three. We feel this is a crucial area were farmers can make more money.
Speaking about the events, Grainne Dwyer of Animal Health Ireland said: “We would encourage farmers to come to the event. We will be looking at IBR, which is particularly relevant this time of the year, but we will also be covering a verity of topics including: Colostrum Management, IBR and parasite control.”
Each information night commences at 7pm and will last for approximately two hours.
Venues:
29 October – Castleisland Mart, Castleisland
4 November – Cillin Hill, Kilkenny
7 November – Elphin Mart, Roscommon
11 November – Ennis Mart, Ennis
12 November – Ballybay Mart, Monaghan
Image Simmental suckler herd. Photo O’Gorman Photography