Offaly farmer set to speak at major EU beef network event
An Offaly farmer will be among the panellists for the BovINE Irish National Beef Event being held online next week. Beef farmers and all stakeholders in the beef and livestock sector are invited to attend virtually.
The BovINE network links farmers, advisors, researchers, and all other relevant stakeholders, across nine EU Member States, to stimulate exchange of knowledge and ideas to address solutions to the challenges faced by the sector.
The BovINE project partners in Ireland are Teagasc and the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
The theme of the Irish Network Meeting taking place on Tuesday at 8pm for 2021 is Delivering a Sustainable Beef Sector.
Kieran Dooley, a beef finisher from Offaly will speak on managing animal health and welfare. He will be joined on the panel by Helen Sheridan from University College Dublin on the role of Multi-Species Swards on beef farms; Tom O’Dwyer from Teagasc on the new Teagasc Signpost programme on beef farms and carbon sequestration and Mick O’Dowd from Kepak on the Twenty20 Club and supplier/processor contracts.
Maeve Henchion, Teagasc and the BovINE project co-ordinator, will facilitate the panel discussion on research innovations and good practices that can make a real difference in improving the sustainability of the Irish beef sector.
The IFA President Tim Cullinan will present the opening address to the meeting.
Richard Lynch from Teagasc and the BovINE project manager will present an update on the progress of BovINE and the solutions from across Europe available on the BovINE Knowledge Hub.
The second part of the meeting will focus on participation from the audience and the selection of priority topics for the project to address in 2022.
Participants will be divided into four breakout rooms to discuss their challenges in being more economically resilient; animal health and welfare friendly; and environmentally sustainable.
Adam Woods, Beef Editor from the Farmers Journal, will summarise the outcome from the breakout sessions and identify the priority needs of Irish beef farmers for 2022.