Sheep Ireland in conjunction with Teagasc held our third Sheep Breeding Workshop of 2019 on Tues 16th July, on the farm of John O’ Connell in Ballinamore, County Leitrim. John runs a mixed farm of sheep and beef with 2oo breeding ewes across 84 acres. John runs mainly Belclare cross Suffolk ewes and had 349 live lambs. John has a grass based system with little concentrates fed and only when necessary. Johns breeding strategy is focused on breeding replacements ewes. John is a member of the Ovidata project – to find out more info on Ovidata click here. There was an great turn out for this event with up to 60 attendees, mainly commercial breeders who want to improve the output of their farm through improved breeding practices. The importance of a breeding strategy when sourcing a high index ram as well as the importance of submitting carcase data was the take home message at this workshop. Sheep Ireland and Teagasc gave presentations on €urostar evaluations and the benefits of using them, how to use the evaluations to promote your farm business, maximising the use of EID, flock health, ewe and ram NCT and bio-Security on the farm.
The event began at 7pm and catered for both pedigree ram breeders and commercial sheep farmers, with tailored material for both groups. See advert below for the full listing of events and topics of discussion that will be taking place.
See some snapshots of the event below.