111 Events found
The Irish Grassland Association in conjunction with its AutoGrassMilk partner Teagasc will host an open day on the farm of Aidan and Anne Power, Templederry, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday 7th October. This event will showcase the use of a robotic milking system in an intensive grazing farm. The Powers milk 95 cows through two milking robots on their 43 ha dry, hilly farm. On the day participants will be able to see the importance of cow trafficability to a system like this and how allocation of grass is the engine that drives it. Learn how to best utilise the robot to achieve maximum profit. And hear how much labour is really saved in automatic milking systems. With two of the three years of the AutoGrassMilk research project now completed, some of the research staff involved with this project will be available on the day to present and discuss some preliminary findings and answer questions. This is an event not to be missed for anyone considering purchasing a robotic milking machine.
IGA Dairy Summer Tour 2015 sponsored by AIB will take place on Tuesday 28th July in Co. Galway. Early booking for this event is strongly encouraged as this event sold out in 2014. So don't miss out and book your tickets today!
This year’s Irish Grassland Association Beef Conference and Farm Walk heads to Ballymahon in Co. Longford on Tuesday 30th June. The theme of this year’s conference is dairy beef and the title is “Dairy Calf to beef - exploring the potential profit”. The IGA are delighted to partner with Bonanza Calf Nutrition for the first time in sponsoring this important annual event. For those who have secured tickets please register at the Rustic Inn Hotel in Abbeyshrule at 10am sharp. Bus transfers are provided to the farm from the hotel.
Over 100 farmers attended this year’s Irish Grassland Association (IGA) sheep farm walk on Tuesday 19th of May on the farm of Ned Morrissey, Dunhill, Co Waterford. Ned runs a mid-season lambing flock of 370 ewes on 30.3ha (75 acres) in Dunhill, Waterford. The sheep enterprise is run alongside a significant tillage enterprise and focuses on finding the best balance between maximising output and reducing labour input. The farming system has witnessed significant changes in recent years with a switch to wintering ewes on grazing beet in-situ and outdoor lambing greatly cutting workload and costs. Grassland management is also excellent and combined with fodder beet provides the foundation to push stocking rate to the limit at 13 ewes/ha (5.26 ewes/acre).
The Irish Grassland Association Beef Conference and Farm Walk
The Irish Grassland Association beef conference for 2015 will focus on dairy calf to beef systems with a range of speakers from a research background and a farmer background with the following key areas being addressed on Tuesday 30th June
The Irish Grassland Association Sheep Farm Walk 2015 will take place on Tuesday 19th of May on the farm of Ned Morrissey, Dunhill, Co Waterford.
The Irish Grassland Association will hold a farm walk on the farm of Geoffrey Wycherley on Tuesday the 5th of May at 11.00 am sharp. Geoffrey has been dairy farming in Lislevane, Bandon, Co. Cork since 1989. This is a spring calving dairy herd with the majority of the cows calving in February. He is currently milking 220 cows. He is in machinery and labour partnership with his two brothers. Geoffrey is also part of the Teagasc Catchment Programme; therefore, soil samples have been taken routinely for the last number of years.
Irish Grassland Association Student Conference Review
Sponsored by FBD Trust
Adam Woods and Donal Patton, Teagasc and Irish Grassland Association Council
Adam Woods and Donal Patton
The 2014 Irish Grassland Association annual student conference was held on the Cavan/ Meath border to the dairy farm of Owen Brodie, Ryefield House, Virginia, Co. Cavan and the beef farm of Tom Halpin, Robertstown, Carlanstown,Kells Co. Meath. 265 students from UCD, Dundalk IT, Teagasc Kildalton, Teagasc Ballyhaise and Waterford IT and Teagasc, Clonakilty attended this year’s event. Conference attendees were split in two groups, one visiting a dairy farm and the other visiting a beef farm. This year’s conference had a forum at the end of the farm tours where students took part in a discussion about opportunities for both dairy and beef farmers in a post quota era.
The annual Irish Grassland Association 2015 Dairy Conference sponsored by Yara will take place on Thursday 8th January at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork. This year’s event has a very exciting line up of speakers covering a range of topics. The conference will focus on dealing with the last three months of quota, growing more grass, pathways into dairying and valuable lessons learned from New Zealand. The first 130 members were entitled to complimentary tickets to the private breakfast gathering with Prof Pat Wall - this element of the day is now sold out. Book early if you wish to receive conference tickets as this event sold out last year!!!
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