Teagasc Virtual Sheep Conference

The annual national Teagasc Sheep Conference is going virtual this year and will take place across two evenings at 8pm on Tuesday, 26th January and Thursday, 28th January. An exciting line up of Teagasc and international speakers have been assembled for the two sessions.

Teagasc Virtual Sheep Conference on Tuesday, 26th January and Thursday 28th January

Speaking in advance of the virtual conference, Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc said: “As we face into 2021, this is an important opportunity for sheep farmers, and those in the sheep sector, to update their knowledge on a number of key aspects of lowland sheep production. I am particularly looking forward to hear from our international speakers, Paul Kenyon from New Zealand and UK vet Ben Shrugnal, on their respective topics.”

The speakers on the 26 January are Nicola Fetherstone, Teagasc Walsh Scholar who will provide an update on the INZAC trial in Teagasc Athenry comparing, Irish five star and one star ewes, with elite New Zealand ewes. Then, Professor Paul Kenyon PhD, Head of School, School of Agriculture & Environment/Professor in Sheep Husbandry, Massey University, New Zealand will present a paper on New Zealand feeding guidelines for growing lambs to target live weights on herbage.

The webinar on Thursday, 28 January is hosted by Damian Costello, Sheep Knowledge Transfer Specialist in Teagasc and he will be joined by Áine O’Brien, Post-doctoral Researcher on Sheep Genetics and Genomics, Teagasc and by UK vet Ben Shrugnal. Áine will focus on how farmers can look at reducing labour at lambing by improving lamb vigour and ewe mothering ability through breeding. This will be followed by Ben’s presentation on Laryngeal chrondritis, an obstructive disease of the upper respiratory tract in sheep, more commonly known as Texel throat.

For more details and to register for the Virtual sheep conference visit https://www.teagasc.ie/sheepcon21/