Tipp venue for Teagasc Pig Farmers’ Conference 2022
The Teagasc Pig Conference takes place in person this year on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 18 and 19. While the past 14 months have been the worst in living memory for Irish pig producers, this conference presents a great opportunity to meet with other farmers, industry and Teagasc personnel to discuss the issues facing the sector.
Ciaran Carroll, Pig Development Officer in Teagasc said: “The face-to-face conference, the first since before Covid-19, is a welcome return to the pig farmer calendar. Teagasc Pig Development Department and guest speakers will present an array of topics, from the technical to the financial, relating to current issues within the pig industry.”
A much anticipated paper will look at the past 14 months, what was learned from the downturn, and what can be done to future proof businesses from further financial volatility in the years ahead. A significant part of the financial crisis of the past 14 months have been high feed prices. There will be great interest in the paper from guest speakers Philip Lynch & James Nolan, IAWS on the Grain & Feed Ingredients Outlook.
Energy costs have surged significantly over the past year and the paper on Energy – short, medium and long term options will give farmers plenty to think about, while ‘Adopting Best Practices’ is a technical paper that highlights a number of relatively low cost, but high impact best practices, that can be implemented on farm to maintain and support improved performance.
This year’s International guest speaker is Jens Sorensen from Danvet. Jens is a Danish consultant veterinarian on the Teagasc Lean International Project, working with two Irish pig farms with the aim of reducing antibiotic usage on farm. He will present a paper at the conference on “Denmark - Current & Future Perspectives”, giving an overview on how Danish farmers have dealt with the financial crisis over the past 12-18 months, and looking at the main challenges they see for the pig sector in the future.
Other current issues to be covered include a paper on Sustainable Pigmeat Production and some recent research from Teagasc Moorepark will address Key Hygiene Issues, specifically looking at the farrowing house and wet feed systems.
Ciaran Carroll said; “We encourage all those involved in the sector to attend this conference and for the opportunity to meet fellow producers and get the latest information that Teagasc Pig Development Department have put together. We look forward to seeing you there.”
The conference will be held in two locations; Tuesday, October18, in the Kilmore Hotel, Cavan and Wednesday, October 19, in the Horse & Jockey Hotel, Tipperary from 2 to 6pm.
See full conference programme at www.teagasc.ie/pigconference22