UGS to hold summer meeting at Lisgoole

The Ulster Grassland Society (UGS) will hold a Summer meeting at Lisgoole Abbey Farm located outside Enniskillen on 24 June, commencing at 6pm.

The farm, owned by the McGuckian family, comprises 300 acres of grassland with an additional 60 acres of woodland and is currently managed by Connor Donaldson who was appointed to the position in 2020.

Connor is currently transitioning from an autumn-calving herd of predominantly Limousin x Belgium Blue suckler cows to a maternally-bred Stabiliser cow.

Herd numbers have now increased to 100 spring-calving cows, with the remaining Limousin-cross cows gradually being replaced with the Stabiliser animals.

Replacement heifers are reared on the farm and male animals finished as bull beef at 15 months. A small dairy calf-to-beef enterprise has recently been introduced to increase stocking rate.

The farm walk is open to UGS members and non-members, but prior booking is essential via the UGS website or directly with George Reid on 07920-037910.

MLAs to make case on A5 farmers

The Stormont Agriculture committee has agreed to make a case to DAERA for some flexibility in to be given to farmers along the route of the A5, when they are submitting claims for area based payments in 2025.

At last Thursday’s committee meeting, west Tyrone MLA Tom Buchanan said many farmers have been left trying to guess how much land has been removed for the road project.

“The wire fences that have been put up are not running straight. They are running all zigzagged everywhere,” suggested the DUP MLA.

He said if a small mistake is made, farmers should not be penalised by DAERA: “If the department are going to hold firm on this, it should have issued the farmers with the amount of land from every field that actually was being lost. Then there would have been no excuse for the farmer.”

AI Services and Cogent in supply agreement

AI Services Ltd and Cogent Breeding Ltd have announced they have entered into a logistics and service supply agreement to take effect from 1 August 2025.

Under the agreement, AI Services will provide the storage and distribution of Cogent semen stock to NI Precision and DIY customers. According to AI Services CEO Larry Burke, the agreement “will deliver efficiencies and economies of scale”.

AgriSearch beef and sheep farmer survey

AgriSearch has invited NI beef and sheep farmers to take part in a major survey being done on the research and innovation needs of the sector. The survey can be found on the AgriSearch website and will be open until Wednesday 16 July.

It has been 10 years since the last major survey of local beef and sheep farmers.

“There have been many changes in the sector since that time and this survey will give us an invaluable insight into how AgriSearch can best meet the present needs of the sector,” said Jason Rankin from AgriSearch.

The findings from the survey alongside those from the recent dairy farmer survey will be presented to government and academia.

Scotland keen to grow suckler herd

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) in partnership with the Scottish Red Meat Resilience Group (SRMRG) have developed a ‘Meat Our Potential’ campaign in order to increase production and secure the future of their red meat supply chain.

Economic modelling conducted by QMS forecasts a growth in demand for beef but a lack of supply up to 2030.

The findings show in order to meet demand and achieve full self-sufficiency, the UK collectively would need to produce an additional 278,000t of beef on top of what is currently projected.

For Scotland this equates to an additional 22,000t, requiring an additional 79,000 breeding cows.