THIS EVENT HAS SOLD OUT SINCE NOVEMBER
PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND UNLESS YOU HAVE SECURED A TICKET NUMBER
Download our Annual Dairy Conference 2017 Brochure
The annual Irish Grassland Association Dairy Conference, sponsored by Yara, takes place on Wednesday 18th January 2017 at the Newpark Hotel Kilkenny at 9am. Addressing the conference will be a selection of dairy farmers, agri-consultants and researchers from Ireland and abroad.
Over the past decade milk price volatility has become an increasing feature of the Irish dairy industry. Farmers who recognise the challenges it presents and adapt accordingly will continue to operate profitable and viable farm businesses. This conference, focusing on the business of dairying, is divided into three parts: strategic development for the medium to longer term; tactics for the spring ahead; and budgeting for the current and future years.
Long-term business strategy: Mayo’sSean O’Donnell will describe how he operates his dairy farm; review strategies for overcoming fragmentation in dairy farming; and present his recommendations for profitable dairy farming on a fragmented holding. Dairy lecturer Dr. Karina Pierce will outline the rationale behind UCD’s decision to investigate the high EBI, high yield, high stocking rate dairy farm option and review the performance of year one of their trial. Welsh dairy farmer Chris Mossman will detail his system of milk production which incorporates crossbreeding with a high stocking rate and a late start to the calving season.
Short-term spring tactics: Cork manShane Fitzgerald will outline performance on his dairy farm focusing on the strategy employed in spring during the busy calving season to maintain a high health status and control disease. Teagasc researcher Dr. Michael Egan will report on a recent experiment at Moorepark on spring grazing and review the targets set in the spring rotation planner for different regions and soil types.
Business budgeting: Patrick Gowing, expansion consultant with Teagasc will describe his approach to business budgeting for new and expanding dairy farmers following a difficult financial year in 2016. Paul Tully will describe his path to leasing and owning his own pig business and his approach to budgeting in a volatile marketplace. Monaghan born Olin Greenan will describe his progression through the New Zealand dairy industry and his guidelines for budgeting in a volatile industry.
On the evening before the conference, there is an exclusive opportunity for the first 100 Irish Grassland Association members who book tickets to meet at an evening gathering/dinner in advance of the conference at 6.30pm. The 2017 guest speaker is Siobhan Talbot, CEO, glanbia PLC who will be interviewed by former Irish Farmers’ Journal Editor, Matt Dempsey. She will address the topic, ‘Future expectations for milk markets and milk price – a glanbia perspective’. This part of the conference is very popular and tickets have sold out within three days. Online booking is the quickest method to secure your tickets (plus you will also avail of the best discounted conference tickets detailed below). If you have any queries you can call the Office Manager, Maura Callery, on 087 9626483.
Early booking for the Dairy Conference tickets is strongly encouraged as places will be limited and this event sells out early every year.
A special 20% discounted registration fee (€40 for Irish Grassland Association members and €80 for non-members)applies to online registrations up to and including Wednesday 3rd January.
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