Let's Talk Sheep Webinars

Let's Talk Sheep is a series of webinars for Irish sheep farmers, hosted monthly by Teagasc.

Make sure to join once a month on a Wednesday evening at 8pm for timely, relevant and practical advice to allow you make better management decisions on your sheep farm.

And be prepared to get involved in the discussion – there will be an opportunity for you to pose your questions to each week’s presenters.

Please note that each webinar has a seperate registration link

2023

Practical tips to make lambing easier

Wednesday, 1 March | 8pm

On this episode of Let's Talk Sheep which took place on Wednesday, 1 March, host Ciaran Lynch, Teagasc Sheep Specialist was joined by Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep KT, Teagasc to give some practical tips to make lambing easier.

Lambing time represents the most labour intensive time on Irish sheep farms. Michael discusses the steps sheep farmers can take at lambing time to make life easier during this busy period.

Watch webinar recording below

Nutrition of the ewe pre lambing

Wednesday, 11 January | 8pm

On this episode of Let's Talk Sheep, host Damian Costello, Teagasc Sheep Specialist was joined by Dr Frank Campion, Teagasc and Shane Moore, BETTER Farm Sheep Programme Participant, Co. Roscommon to discuss the nutrition of the ewe pre lambing.

Nutrition of the pregnant ewe plays an important role in the successful outcome of parturition and subsequent ewe and lamb performance. In this webinar the panel outlined what are the key components of a flock nutrition programme in the run up to lambing and what are the pitfalls to look out for.

Watch webinar recording below

Flock Health Pre Lambing

Wednesday, 8 February | 8pm

On this episode of Let's Talk Sheep, host Ciaran Lynch, Teagasc Sheep Specialist was joined by Maresa Sheehan, DAFM RVL Kilkenny and Charles Chavasse, Zoetis to discuss flock health pre lambing.

Flock health or breakdown thereof plays a significant role in the performance of the sheep enterprise on all farms. This webinar dealt with the steps that sheep farmers should take to ensure that negative flock health issues are minimised.

Watch webinar recording below

Past Events

2022

Fluke and lameness control in sheep

Wednesday, 21 December | 8pm

This episode of Let's Talk Sheep focused on fluke and lameness control in sheep.

Speakers:

Dr. Orla Keane, Teagasc
Michael Gottstein, Teagasc

Flock health challenges are an important issues affecting all sheep farmers. On this webinar Dr. Orla Keane outlined what steps farmers should be taking to manage liver fluke infections in sheep. The webinar detailed how best to diagnose infections and how to treat infected sheep.

Michael Gottstein discussed how best to deal with the annual issues of lameness in the sheep house. Up for discussion was how to treat affected sheep and how best to reduce the spread from sheep to sheep with the sheep house.

2021

Thursday, 4 February | 8pm

Reducing Mortality at Lambing Time

During this webinar, the team of Teagasc Sheep Specialists covered topics such as:

Hygiene – reducing challenge from infection during lambing and early life
Nutrition – feeding the ewe to maximise colostrum quality and quantity
Nutrition of the new born lamb – stomach tubing
Health care – preventing infection and treating lambs with hypothermia

Thursday, 4 March | 8pm

Grazing Management from Turnout to Weaning

On this hour long webinar, Teagasc Sheep Specialist, Ciaran Lynch and Sheep Researcher, Philip Creighton covered the following topics:

Fertiliser Application
Pre / Post Grazing Targets
Grouping up lambs
Matching growth rate to demand

Thursday, 8 April | 8pm

Nematodirus / Coccidiosis in Lambs

Dr. Orla Keane from Teagasc discussed Nematodirus infection in young lambs. This is very timely as the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have just issued their Nematodirus forecast which has indicated that peak hatching and infection will be about a week earlier this year due to higher soil temperature this spring. Orla gave an insight into the symptoms of the disease, what control products to use and how to reduce the risk of infection to lambs.

Mr. Michael Gottstein from Teagasc discussed coccidiosis infection in young lambs. This is a condition which also occurs in the young lambs around the same time that we start to see issues with Nematodirus. Michael outlined the symptoms, control and hygiene measures.

Thursday, 6 May | 8pm

Silage Making on Sheep Farms

This webinar covered the area of silage production on sheep farms. Dr. Tim Keady, Teagasc joined host Ciaran Lynch to discuss the key factors impacting silage feed value. He also outlined key management factors in the production of high feed value silage, including fertiliser management, harvest date and wilting.

Thursday, 3 June | 8pm

Shane Moore Teagasc BETTER Sheep Farmer Virtual Farm Walk

On the 3rd June, as we sat down with BETTER Sheep Farmer Shane Moore in a hour long interactive webinar to discuss infrastructure required for flock expansion on your sheep farm!

Topics discussed on the night included:

Grazing Infrastructure
Grassland Management
PBI & Lamb Performances on Shane's farm
Sheep Shed Design, Costs and Building process
Footbath and Handling Facilities Design

This webinar was chaired by Ciaran Lynch, Teagasc Sheep Specialist and speakers on the night included Frank Campion, Teagasc Reseacher ; Damian Costello, Teagasc Sheep Specialist; Michael Conroy, Teagasc Advisor and Shane Moore, Teagasc BETTER Sheep Farmer.