The chief executive of Dunbia, Jim Dobson, has been named UK director of the year (large company) by the Institute of Directors in London.

Now with 13 sites across Britain and Ireland, a workforce in excess of 4,000 people and an annual turnover of £800m, Dunbia is ranked in the top 10 companies in NI. It has also increased sales by 6% since 2013.

Making the award, the judging panel described Jim Dobson as an innovative and focused leader with a strong understanding of the market and competitors. Dunbia was co-founded by Jim and Jack Dobson in 1976.

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Mourne blackface to 3,100gns

Ram lambs peaked at 3,100gns and shearlings to 1,700gns at the Mourne Sheep Breeders’ annual show and sale of Blackface rams at Hilltown Mart last month.

Leading the trade was Seamus Fegan from Hilltown, with his reserve champion lamb. This lamb was bred by a Hynes Ram and went on to to sell for 3,100gns to Branagan Brothers, Kilcoo.

The sire of this lamb was part of the first prize pair of shearlings and he himself sold for what was the highest price shearling of the day at 1,700gns, selling to new breeder Martin Johnston, Kilcoo.

Recouping some of their money spent earlier in the day, the Branagan brothers, from Kilcoo, picked up the second highest price with their overall champion lamb, by a Killen ram, which sold for 2,300gns to Dan Devlin, Kilcoo. They sold eight lambs to average 1,252gns.

Hedgecutting exemption sought

A case has been put by Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) president Ian Marshall to Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill that DARD should consider introducing exemptions to the hedgecutting closed period in NI.

Under current cross-compliance rules, hedgecutting is not allowed here between 1 March and 31 August. That position has been out of line with England, who have allowed hedgecutting in August, but, from 2015, they are also set to move to the same hedgecutting closed period as NI.

But in response to lobbying from farming organisations, Defra in England has agreed to consider a derogation that would allow hedgecutting in certain circumstances.

It is this same principle that the UFU would like introduced here It has proposed that an exemption could allow a hedge to be trimmed in a field which has been ploughed during August for grass reseeding or a winter crop. Also, hedges could be cut on severely disadvantaged area land in August (subject to checks for nesting birds) and trimmed in March if fencing is taking place.

AFBI research on wheat for broilers

A new study has been initiated at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) to develop a more accurate means of predicting the nutritive value of wheat for broilers.

The work is in partnership with DARD, HGCA, Moy Park Ltd, Aunir Ltd and Harper Adams University College and is funded by DARD, HGCA and Moy Park Ltd.

The experimental work is ongoing with wheat samples sourced from across NI, Britain, Europe and North America. Broiler trials are ongoing and it is hoped that some results will be available later in the year. This will be the first step in providing the local industry with an accurate means of predicting wheat quality and, hence, broiler performance on wheat-based diets.

Dairy Council secures EU funding

The Dairy Council for NI has been awarded two EU contracts for the support of exports in Third Country markets, and for the promotion of cheese in Northern Ireland. Each programme will run for three years and will have a combined value of just over €1m, 50% of which will be funded by the EU.

Commenting on the programmes, Dr Mike Johnston, CEO of the Dairy Council, said: “This is good news for the NI dairy industry. The decision last year not to renew our sponsorship of the Milk Cup was in line with our strategy of broadening our areas of activity, and released funds for these two programmes. The EU funding doubles the budgets available for each programme.”

The Third Country export programme will cover a range of products, including milk powders, butter, cheese and UHT products, and will target Middle East, China, Japan and southeast Asia. The cheese programme will provide NI consumers with opportunities to sample cheese in-store, and to receive recipe leaflets.