Three Cumbrian Farms play host to special event to improve local beef, sheep and dairy (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Three Cumbrian Farms play host to special event to improve local beef, sheep and dairy
11:21am Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Farm & country
Three Cumbrian farms – two of them in South Lakeland – are playing host to a series of events aimed at improving the efficiency of local beef, sheep and dairy units.
Experts in various livestock areas will share their knowledge at the meetings, organised by the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in association with Rural Skills Cumbria.
They kick off on March 8 when Richard and Alison Maxwell open the gates at Howside Farm, Ennerdale. This event will consider animal health and nutrition and the use of modern technology.
On March 13, David Martin’s Lords Plain Farm and the Mason family’s Heaves Farm, both in Levens, will host a day exploring efficiency through improvements in calf rearing.
The meetings are part of a project encouraging new skills and knowledge exchange across the county.
Speakers at Howside will include SAC con-sultants Rhidian Jones, Dr John Vipond and Kendal’s James Hadwin.
They will cover farming efficiency, ewe nutrition in late pregnancy and the benchmarking of physi-cal performance.
Chris Harrison from Lakeland Vets will offer advice on tackling BVD and Lisa Bennett will look at the use of artificial insemination and sexed semen to improve beef herd efficiency.
At Lords Plain, Dr Jamie Robertson of Aberdeen University will look at ventilation in the farm’s calf rearing sys-tem.
Mark Stott of Farmgate Vets will discuss the farm’s steps to improve rearing, and Heaves Farm’s calf rearing facilities, erected for its rose veal enterprise, will be on display.
Richard Knight of Westmorland Vets will discuss the challenges of rearing high numbers of calves on a continual basis.
The sessions run from 11am to 2pm with lunch provided. To book or for more details, call Emily Maclean on 015395 66987, emily.maclean@sac.co.uk or call James Hadwin on 07825522930, email james.hadwin@sac.co.uk
