Teagasc launches new programme of sheep research and advice
On this farm, the focus will be on prolific sheep, with an aim of increasing the national weaning rate from the current national average of 1.3 lambs per ewe. Two prolific groups of sheep will be evaluated at three different stocking rates to determine the optimum level.
The Sheep Better Farm programme of commercial sheep farms used for research and knowledge transfer is being expanded to 10 farms around the country. The data gathered from these commercial farms will be used to improve efficiency on other farms.
Two new researchers, Noirin McHugh and Philip Creighton, were recruited to the Teagasc research team earlier this year. There will be increased collaboration between the Teagasc sheep research team and UCD, as part of a new partnership on agriculture research, education and innovation that has been agreed between the two organisations.
Teagasc will also be collaborating with Sheep Ireland to increase the rate of genetic gain in the national flock.
Teagasc work closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on evaluating grass varieties on the Athenry campus.
At the launch of the new sheep programme, Teagasc sheep enterprise leader Michael Diskin said that there is significant scope to increase production efficiency through increased utilisation of grazed grass and faster genetic gain.
Michael McHugh, Teagasc, said a team of three sheep specialists and 23 business and technology sheep advisers are working with over 30 farmer discussion groups and three producer groups to transfer technical messages on to farms.
Ireland’s 30,000 sheep farmers keep a national breeding flock of 2.5 million ewes, and the Food Harvest 2020 report has set a target of increasing the output of the sheep sector by 20%.
