New pre-Dairy Day tours for discussion groups

What to expect at this year’s Dairy Day on 21 November.

Aidan Brennan

9 October 2024

New pre-Dairy Day tours for discussion groups

Dairy Day 2023 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork City. \ Philip Doyle

Dairy Day, brought to you by the Irish Farmers Journal with industry partners Bord Bia, National Dairy Council and Ornua returns to SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh on 21 November 2024.Last year was the first time we held the event in Cork and due to its success we return this November but this time with more trade stands, more seating, bigger stages and car parking closer to the site.

Dairy Day, brought to you by the Irish Farmers Journal with industry partners Bord Bia, National Dairy Council and Ornua returns to SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh on 21 November 2024.

Last year was the first time we held the event in Cork and due to its success we return this November but this time with more trade stands, more seating, bigger stages and car parking closer to the site.

Like in previous years, the event is a mix of over 100 trade stands selling products and services relevant to the Irish dairy farmer along with two stages – one on each floor of the South Stand. Each stage will have talks and panel discussions going throughout the day and attendees are free to move between the trade stands and stages at their leisure.

While the full schedule of talks is yet to be announced, we are pleased to announce that well-known New Zealand dairy farmer Corrigan Sowman is flying in to speak exclusively at Dairy Day.

Corrigan milks 700 cows on a family farm in the tip of New Zealand’s South Island. Along with the 700 cows, the farm does its own wintering and rears its own replacements and is involved in dairy beef also. Alongside running the farm, Corrigan is the farmer-elected chairman of LIC and sits on Fonterra’s sustainability advisory council. Corrigan is a Nuffield and Kellogg scholar and the 44-year-old is widely seen as one of the leading lights within the new generation of New Zealand farm leaders.

Pre-Dairy Day tour

Something new for 2024 is the pre- Dairy Day tour. This is a sideshow to the main event and takes place on 20 November, the day before Dairy Day.

The tour is aimed at discussion groups and those that take part will be entered into the discussion group of the year competition at Dairy Day.

The following is a rough outline of the itinerary:

Visit Dovea AI station in Thurles, Co Tipperary and get a tour of the new sexed semen lab and bull stud. Meet with representatives of Dovea and Sexing Technologies Ltd.

Visit Kerrygold Park in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Kerrygold Park is the state-of-the-art butter production and packaging site. See how butter is manufactured and meet with Ornua executives about the role of Kerrygold and Ornua in the Irish dairy industry.

Visit the Dairygold milk processing site at Mitchelstown. Get a tour of the site and meet with representatives of Dairygold on product mix and the future plans of the co-op.Depending on numbers and available time, it might be the case that farmers will visit two out of three sites. First-served basis

Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be no charges or costs involved, but transport and food is at farmers’ own expense. Bus transport is strongly advised to cut down on cars as parking spaces are limited in most sites.

Groups

After the tours, groups are recommended to travel to Cork city. The Irish Farmers Journal will assist in organising hotel rooms if required.

All those that participate will get free entry to Dairy Day the following morning and each group will be automatically enrolled in the discussion group of the year competition.

There will be two stages to this competition; Firstly, groups will be screened by ICBF based on herd EBI, commercial beef value (CBV) of dairy beef progeny in 2024, use of genotyping, etc.

Speaking at the session ' Dealing with the fallout from Nitrates' are Aidan Brennan, IFJ, Laurence Shalloo, Teagasc along with dairy farmers Enda Duffy and Conor O' Leary. \ Donal O' Leary

Groups will be shortlisted based on the above criteria to take part in a session at Dairy Day.

Each shortlisted group will be asked to nominate one member to take part in a ‘Know your dairy farming’ quiz. The winning group will be presented with the inaugural Dairy Day Discussion Group of the Year award for 2024.

For discussion groups or groups of friends or individuals interested in taking part please register your interest by emailing dairynews@farmersjournal.ie or by contacting the office on 01 4199525.