Watch: Tullamore Farm opens its gates on Tuesday

The stage is set for our National Suckler and Sheep Open Day, which takes place next Tuesday 23 July on Tullamore Farm, the Irish Farmers Journal beef and sheep demonstration farm based just outside Tullamore, Co Offaly (Eircode: R35AT81). The event is being supported by Zurich Farm Insurance.

The farm is home to an 85-cow suckler herd and a 250 mid-season lambing flock.

Farm manager Shaun Diver said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming everyone to this year’s open day. A lot of work has gone in over the last few week’s getting the farm ready for next Tuesday.

"We’re generating a huge amount of information from the farm on a weekly basis and there’s a lot of good messages on sheep and suckler systems to be taken in on the day."

The farm moved to using sexed semen for the first time in 2024 and the first scan was completed last week and the full conception rates will be on display on the day. The full suckler herd will be on display on the day behind the main stands.

A number of changes have also been made to the sheep breeding programme, with the Easy-Care breed of sheep being introduced in the last 12 months to analyse how they fit into the farm system.

Safety

Next week is Farm Safety Week and we will have a number of health and safety demos on the day, including a live quad driving demo and a live tractor driving safety demo.

Laura Tully, a nurse from Co Roscommon, will run a health and wellbeing workshop for farmers at the open day.

Farmers are really good at looking after their animals, but sometimes not as good at looking after themselves. Laura will go through what the important points of note are in terms of health and wellness in farming circles.

Forum

The forum will kick off at 2pm, with the results of the Irish Farmers Journal/KPMG study on the effects of policy changes on the economic output of Irish agriculture.

There will also be a discussion on the future of the suckler cow and what challenges and opportunities exist in the sector.

A vast array of industry exhibitors will be there on the day and a number of workshops will take place on tractor safety, quad safety, Irish Cattle Breeding Federation indices, solar energy, sheep shearing, sheep dog training and farmer health and wellbeing.

It promises to be a great day out for all the family and all of the Irish Farmers Journal team look forward to meeting you on the day.