Curraghboy family farm visit part of Athlone sheep conference

The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) sheep conference will take place in Athlone tomorrow, Thursday, and will include a visit to the South Roscommon farm of father and daughter team Peadar and Aoife Coyle.

The conference, sponsored by Mullinahone Co Op, is being held in the Hodson Bay Hotel on Thursday, May 19.

Its format will involve an indoor conference in the morning, followed by the farm walk in the afternoon.

Peadar and Aoife Coyle farm 230 acres near Curraghboy in South Roscommon. The farm consists of 80 acres of owned land in one block and the remaining 150 acres is comprised of rented ground.

The Coyles have a number of enterprises on the farm including a flock of 575 mid-season lambing ewes, a 40 cow suckler to weanling system, and a dairy calf to beef system finishing 50 bullocks annually.

Peadar and Aoife make up the bulk of the labour force, with other family members lending a hand during the busy periods of the year.

Maintaining optimal grazing infrastructure is a key element to the Coyles' farm, with excellent facilities enabling good grassland management and reducing the labour requirement.

The 80-acre home farm is divided into 17 permanent paddocks. Grass isn't measured on the farm but instead is managed by eye and experience with heavy paddocks removed as baled silage, although this is rare due to the high stocking rate.

The Coyles are strong advocates for mixed grazing with the cattle and sheep grazing together achieving better grass utilisation and animal performance compared to grazing separately.

Registration for the conference will commence from 10am with the conference starting at 10.30 and proceedings wrapping up at 4.30.

The IGA said the indoor morning session will have an excellent line-up of speakers, with veterinary surgeon Ryan Duffy of HIPRA, Philip Creighton, Teagasc, and Roger Bell, a sheep farmer from Northern Ireland, taking to the podium.

Both the morning and afternoon sessions will address pertinent topics including mastitis control, incorporating clover into your sheep sward and the challenges and benefits of operating a large scale, multi-enterprise grassland livestock system.

Speaking on behalf of the event's sponsors, James Manley from Mullinahone Co-op said: "We at Mullinahone Co Op are delighted to support the IGA since the outset and in particular their sheep conference as it allows sheep farmers to look at efficient and sustainable production systems that will help overcome the challenges which will inevitably face sheep farmers over the next decade."

Tickets for the event can be booked online at www.irishgrassland.ie or by phoning Maura at 087 9626483.