Teagasc has appointed a new cattle specialist, Niall Kerins, who will be based at Teagasc Moorepark, Co. Cork and will cover the south west of the country.
Niall Kerins is from a drystock farming background based in Co. Kerry.
He is currently a Teagasc business and technology drystock advisor in the Kerry or Limerick advisory region. He previously worked as drystock advisor based in Kilrush, Co. Clare, and as a dairy advisor in Listowel, Co. Kerry.
He has also worked for the national co-op Farm Relief Services as a Green Low Carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS) and Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) planner.
“This role gives me a great opportunity to bring technical messages to cattle farmers and I’m looking forward to working with farmers, advisors and the wider agricultural industry,” Kerins said.
Cattle specialist
Kerins graduated from the Cork Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree of science in agriculture. He went on to complete a bachelor’s degree of science in land management at Waterford Institute of Technology (now known as South East Technological University – SETU).
The Kerry man later went on and completed a Masters degree in agricultural extension and innovation with University College Dublin (UCD)/Skillnet.
His masters involved a study into the current use of agricultural media to transfer knowledge and implement change on farms.
“While I acknowledge beef farming in Ireland has its challenges, emphasising the importance of grassland management along with animal breeding or husbandry can aid farmers to enhance the environmental sustainability of their enterprises while also being profitable,” he said.
“I look forward to working with farmers and their advisors on the Teagasc Future Beef programme and the DairyBeef 500 programme where we continue to build resilient beef farming systems for the future,” Kerins added.
Pearse Kelly, head of the Teagasc drystock knowledge transfer department, congratulated Niall on his appointment.
He said: “I look forward to working closely with Niall and the rest of the cattle specialist team, as we provide the technical knowledge from the Teagasc research programme to help farmers on the ground meet the challenges facing the sector and to embrace the opportunities that are emerging.”