Teagasc Hill Sheep Conference comes to Ballybofey next week

The contribution of hill sheep farms to maintaining and enhancing the uplands environment will be the focus of the upcoming Teagasc National Hill Sheep Conference.

The conference will take place in Jacksons Hotel, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal, on Wednesday, February 19.

Opening the conference, Colm O’Muireagáin from the Regional Veterinary Laboratory in Sligo will deliver a presentation on ‘Ticks and tick-borne diseases of sheep’.

Cathal Buckley from the Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme will speak on ‘Sustainability and public good provision of hill sheep farms’.

He will outline the benefits of having sheep on Irish hill farms and the contribution those farmers make to public goods.

Sheep technologist at CAFRE Greenmount College, Co. Antrim, Eileen McCloskey, will present a perspective from Northern Ireland.

She will talk about an integrated approach to sheep farming in the hills and uplands.

Brendan Dunford, manager of the BurrenLife Programme in Co. Clare, will speak about supporting farmers to deliver better economic, social and environmental outcomes, drawing on their years of experience with the BurrenLife programme.

Declan Byrne from the ‘Sustainable Uplands Agri-environment Scheme (SUAS)’ in Wicklow will also deliver a presentation to farmers in attendance. SUAS is a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Project.

Another EIP project is ‘The Inishowen Uplands European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Project’, and Henry O’Donnell from Clonmany, Co. Donegal, will outline to the farmers attending the conference how it operates and what it can contribute.

The conference will conclude with a questions and answers session and a panel discussion, with Eileen McCloskey, Brendan Dunford, Declan Byrne and Henry O’Donnell all contributing.

The conference runs from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. All are welcome and the event is free to attend. More information is available on the Teagasc website.

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