The 2022 Teagasc National Beef Conference is set to take place on Tuesday, December 13, at the Shearwater Hotel in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.
The theme of this year’s beef conference is ‘Profitable Pathways to Sustainable Beef Farming’ and the event will get underway at 6:00p.m.
The first speaker on the night will be Teagasc Galway regional manager Pat Clarke, who will welcome guests and give an overview of the night’s proceedings.
The opening address will be delivered by Teagasc director Prof. Frank O’Mara.
Following the opening address, a series of short presentations will be delivered by a range of speakers which aim to be brief, concise and informative.
This section of the event is titled ‘Key enablers to improving sustainability on beef farms’ and will be chaired by suckler beef farmer Trevor Boland.
Speakers
First up, at 6:20pm, will be Teagasc Grange beef enterprise leader Dr. Paul Crosson, who will deliver a presentation titled ‘Assessing the potential to improve key profit drivers on beef farms’.
At 6:45p.m, Animal Health Ireland’s Beef HealthCheck’s programme manager Natascha Meunier will then speak on abattoir lesions in cattle being associated with an increased age at slaughter.
Teagasc Grange beef researcher Dr. Colin Byrne and Co. Roscommon-based beef farmer Shane Keaveny will then discuss reducing the age at first calving for suckler cows, and how this can be a key profit driver for beef farms at 7:10p.m.
At 7:35p.m, a discussion titled ‘Has red clover a role in your beef production system?’ will take place with Teagasc Grange beef researchers Dr. Nicky Byrne and Dr. Peter Doyle, and Co. Roscommon-based calf-to-beef farmer Martin Connolly.
Following on from this, a panel discussion titled ‘Delivering sustainability at farm level’ will take place.
The panel participants and their topics are as follows:
- Prof. Sinead Waters, Teagasc: Current research and the potential of feed additives to reduce methane emissions.
- Dr. Dominika Krol, Teagasc: Protected Urea/ LESS/ Anaerobic Digestion research results.
- Dr. Andrew Cromie, ICBF: How improved breeding can help to reduce emissions from the Irish beef herd.
- Pearse Kelly, Teagasc: What measures are Irish beef farmers taking up to make them more sustainable, and what more can they do?
At 9:00p.m, the director of research at Teagasc, Prof. Pat Dillon will bring the conference to a close.
National dairy conference
The Teagasc National Dairy Conferences are also set to return as in-person events.
The first 2022 National Dairy Conference will take place on December 6, at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork and the second on December 8, at the Mullingar Park Hotel in Westmeath.
The theme of this year’s dairy conferences is ‘turning challenges into opportunities’.