In less than two weeks’ time, Teagasc Moorepark will open its gates to all farmers for this year’s National Dairy Event.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Growing Sustainably’ and is due to take place on Wednesday, July 3, at the Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, in Fermoy, Co. Cork.

Moorepark ’19 is an ideal opportunity for farmers and industry stakeholders to see first-hand the results from some of the research undertaken by Teagasc, and to meet research, advisory and education staff.

Previewing the event – on the Teagasc dairy podcast – was Pat Dillon, Teagasc’s head of Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation programme.

He said: “It is a really important day for all dairy farmers as well as key stakeholders within the dairy industry.”

The event will include four main boards, along with live displays, demonstrations and workshops.

The four boards will include:
  • Taking stock and looking to the future;
  • The sustainable expansion challenge;
  • Increasing grass utilisation;
  • High-EBI cows are more sustainable.

The live demonstrations – on the day – will be on grazing management, reseeding, farm infrastructure, body condition and locomotion scoring, calf rearing, high-EBI genetics and health and safety.

Additionally, there will be workshops on milk quality, anti-microbial resistance, new entrants to dairy farming and people management.

Also featuring at the event will be themed villages for farmers to visit.

The villages will cover:
  • Putting grazing management into practice;
  • Sustainable milk production systems;
  • Healthy cow – high-quality milk;
  • Next generation breeding and reproduction;
  • People farming smarter;
  • Dairy farm infrastructure;
  • Keeping you and your family safe.

A new aspect to the event – this year – will be a display of a large range of Irish dairy foods promoting their image, quality, taste and nutritional credentials.

Finally, the event will then finish up at the forum where there will be a panel discussion facilitated by RTÉ’s Sharon Ní Bheoláin.

“The forum is about meeting the challenges and opportunities for continued expansion. Here, we will have four industry experts to talk about this.

“The first one is Ciaran Fitzgerald who will look at the benefits of the expansion of the dairy industry to the Irish economy. Second of all, we have the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Matt Crowe, who will talk about the environmental challenge.

“Thirdly, we have Ola Walsh, who is a nutritionist, who will talk about the benefits of dairy to health and living. The final speaker is John Jordon the CEO of Ornua who will talk about the future market opportunities for dairy products,” explained Pat.

Opening the event will be the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, who will also contribute to the forum discussion.

The open day runs from 8:30am through to 5:00pm. A comprehensive booklet will be provided, while admission and parking is free.