PRESS RELEASE: Sheep equipment and technology company Cotter Agritech, together with expert speakers from Sheep Ireland, the Irish Farmers Journal, Teagasc and the Easycare Sheep Society, are running a series of open days across the country on May 21st and May 22nd . The theme is “techniques, technology and equipment to tackle problems on a modern sheep farm”.
Each open day will feature a farm walk, an in-depth look at the farms brand new
handling facilities, a showcase of the latest sheep equipment and technology from
Cotter Agritech, interactive speaker sessions on Anthelmintic resistance and
breeding for a better bottom line, and a number of trade stands.
The May 21st open day will take place at Brian and Alison Nicholson’s farm in Co.
Kilkenny, which is a large operation running 1000 ewes on 100 hectares. Brian
finishes the vast majority of his lambs on grass only, performance records his flock,
and recently converted from a Shepherdsmate system to a Cotter Crate system.
The May 22nd open day will take place at Padraig Frasier’s farm in Co. Mayo. Padraig runs a smaller operation typical of the west of Ireland, with a flock of 150 Mayo blackface ewes who are crossbred onto Texel and Suffolk rams. Padraig recently made his first major investment into handling facilities, putting in a Cotter Crate system to reduce labour and hardship.
Each event will start with a farm walk where Darren Carty (Irish Farmers Journal)
and John Noonan (Teagasc) will chat with the farmer about 2024 lambing performance, flock management, farm KPIs, grassland management, what’s working well and what are the challenges, and future plans.
Participants will then move to the handling area to see each farmers new facilities, where the Cotter Crate Sheep + Lamb Handler will be demonstrated live.
Brian Nicholson drenching sheep in his brand-new Cotter Crate. Photo: Cotter Agritech
Farmers will also see the first public showing of the Cotter Crate Mobile models,
which are road-legal trailer mounted Cotter Crates complete with a mobile yard to
suit farmers with fragmented land blocks. The company will also showcase the
Automed automatic dosing gun product for the first time.
There will be a presentation on how to maximise the TAMS grants available for
investment in sheep handling equipment and yard design options.
Other presentations will include ‘Overcoming drench resistance’, delivered by Dr
Steven Johnston, a farmer and sheep advisor running Easycare sheep who
struggled with diagnosed drench resistance. Steven will share his story, results of
using the SmartWorm technology for the last few years (50% cut in drench use) and
how he is using data to breed for resistance to parasites.
An expert from Sheep Ireland will explain what performance recording can deliver to
farmers bottom line.
For the full info and to register click here - https://www.cotteragritech.com/pages/2024-summer-open-day-series or you can call 086 330 1490.
All are welcome to attend.
