The Teagasc national lowland sheep conference takes place on Tuesday, 28 January in the Ard Rí House Hotel, Tuam, Co Galway, and on Thursday, 30 January in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, Co Meath.

A range of practical and topical sheep production issues will be addressed by speakers from the UK, Teagasc, and the Department of Agriculture.

The opening talk will be on ‘low stress handling for shepherd and sheep’, by Miriam Parker.

The Welsh woman set up Livestockwise, a company that provides specialist advice in the area of animal handling and slaughter.

Seamus Fagan from the Department of Agriculture, Regional Veterinary Laboratory (RVL) will make a presentation on the findings from the ‘Thin Ewe Scheme.’

The Regional Veterinary Laboratories and Teagasc undertook the study to provide information on the causes of ill thrift/poor body condition score in ewes. It investigated ewes from flocks where thin ewes were a substantial problem, despite receiving adequate nutrition.

Dr Frank Campion, Teagasc sheep research officer will deliver a paper on the importance for sheep producers to pay attention to ewe body condition score (BCS) and how to use this assessment to inform management decisions.

Sarah Woodmartin, grassland nutrition researcher at Teagasc Athenry, will speak about botanically diverse swards and how they play an important role in enhancing the environmental sustainability of pasture-based sheep production systems.

Woodmartin's PhD research focused on the addition of clovers or herbs to a perennial ryegrass sward in an intensive sheep production system.

Feed intake and digestibility, animal performance, sward quality, methane output and meat eating quality were monitored for the duration of the study.

New sheep movement app

A demonstration of the Department's sheep app to notify farm to farm movements will also take place.

The development of this new digital app means sheep farmers can now notify their farm-to-farm movements from their phone.

Flock keepers receiving or purchasing stock, no longer need to post the pink dispatch docket that accompanies the sheep to their local Department Offices.

Instead, once the app is downloaded, the receiving keeper will be able to submit a digital movement by submitting a photo of either the pink/white dispatch document that accompanied the animals.

They will, however, continue to be required to record the movement data in their flock register and to keep copies of the pink and white dispatch documents there for record keeping purposes.

The conferences will be addressed by Teagasc senior management. Professor Pat Dillon, director of research in Teagasc will speak to sheep farmers on Tuesday in Tuam, while Professor Frank O’Mara, Teagasc director will address the conference on Thursday in Trim.

Both events will kick off at 7pm.