Teagasc National Beef Conference

Thursday, October 9th

Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, 3pm (Registration from 2pm)

Session One will focus on breeding in suckler herds and will have papers from:

Dr David Kenny of Teagasc, who will outline the key issues affecting fertility performance in suckler herds and what farmers can do to make improvements.

Dr Colin Penny from Zoetis (and formerly of the Royal School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh) who will give practical advice on how farmers can reduce the large numbers of calf deaths each year, before they reach 12 months of age.

Mr John Kelly a suckler farmer with a 90 cow suckler herd in Co. Longford will describe his replacement heifer breeding policy and how he will use the new Replacement Index to further improve the type of cow coming into his herd in the future.

Session Two will deal with feeding in suckler herds and will have papers from:

Dr Paul Crosson and Dr Mark McGee of Teagasc Grange who will outline the impact of turnout and housing dates on the cost of feeding spring- and autumn- calving suckler cows.

Mrs Margaret Lehane a well-known suckler farmer from Co. Cork who will give a breakdown of the management practices she has implemented to consistently calve all of her replacement heifers at 24 months of age.

Mr Paul Mooney a Nutritionist from Trouw Nutrition who will cover the importance of the mineral and vitamin feeding programme in the suckler cows’ diet.

Teagasc is providing this conference free of charge and refreshments will be available. Zoetis are kindly sponsoring the conference and it will also be a BTAP qualifying event.