THE ROYAL Dublin Society has teamed up with Macra na Feirme to promote the Young Sheep Farmer Award for Macra members. In its fourth year, the award has a prize fund of €3,000. It strengthens both organisations’ commitment to promoting the professional development of young farmers in Ireland. Macra national president Alan Jagoe, a 28-year-old [...]
OUR cattle and sheep sectors in this country are hugely important to the Irish economy, as indicated by a new report which calculates that the €2.3bn output at farmgate level creates total output of €5.7bn. The two sectors support 100,000 farmers and over 50,000 jobs in the wider economy. The new report, carried out by [...]
By ANTHONY O’CONNOR, Teagasc Adviser, Galway-Clare Regional Unit. HERD HEALTH and management are hugely important in the run-up to the breeding season. Both play key roles in achieving breeding targets in suckler herds such as: an average calving interval of about 365 days; 0.95 calves born per cow to the bull; 60 per cent of [...]
By JIM CARNEY THE country’s largest farming organisation has appealed this week for its members to help each other cope with another very serious fodder shortage as the wait for grass growth goes on and on. On top of all the well documented problems of Winter-to-Spring, high winds added to farmers’ woes on Monday night [...]
THE NATIONAL Young Breeders competition, organised by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) and Teagasc and partnered by Connolly’s Red Mills, will take place on Saturday week, April 20 at Teagasc Kildalton College, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny. The aim of the competition is to encourage young people to become actively involved in breeding, presenting and assessing mares and [...]
By JIM CARNEY TEAGASC, moving with the times, recently introduced a new service — a ‘live’ online clinic providing detailed answers via Facebook and Twitter to farmers submitting questions on animal nutrition. It was particularly of benefit in recent weeks with low temperatures limiting grass growth and so many fields wet, causing a fodder crisis [...]
By Anthony O’Connor, Teagasc Advisory Unit Q. At what temperature will chemical fertiliser Nitrogen work? A. Fertiliser N will only work when soil temperature is above five degrees centigrade. Fertiliser N should never be applied on frozen or waterlogged soil. Q. For silage ground, how long should be left between spreading slurry and Nitrogen afterwards? [...]
By ANTHONY O’CONNOR, Teagasc Adviser, Galway-Clare Regional Unit. FODDER: the best option for most farms is to buy concentrate feed to supplement scarce fodder until grass is available. If you are completely out of forage, you will have to purchase some. Animals will not survive on concentrates alone. If finishing beef cattle, reduce the demand [...]
By JIM CARNEY CO. GALWAY I.F.A. say they are very concerned about proposals made by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney under the new Animal Health and Welfare Bill in the Dáil, involving the imposition of on-the-spot fixed financial penalties of between €250 and €1,000 based on the opinion of Dept of Agriculture authorised officers.*****You need to [...]
By ANTHONY O’CONNOR, Teagasc Adviser, Galway-Clare Regional Unit. GRAZED GRASS is the highest quality and cheapest feed on the farm in Spring. Advantages of Spring grazing include lower winter fodder demand and feed costs, high Average Daily Gain (ADG), increased silage quality etc. Not all animals need to be turned out together at the same [...]
