David Buckley from the Department of Agriculture is on this week’s OviCast to discuss key aspects of the new National Sheep Welfare Scheme.    David first gives an overview of the scheme, we discuss eligibility, reference numbers and the application procedure.    David then takes us through the various tasks explaining how they would work and what documentation is required for each.     We finish up discussing the payment dates, administrative checks and the help desk contact details.    For more information:  https://www.gov.ie/en/service/b253f-nat ..read more

Sheep Specialists, Michael Gottstein and Damian Costello, are on this week’s OviCast to discuss some of the key management tasks to do on farms at present.    We discuss fertiliser application, planning for silage and grazing management and we look at the scenarios where supplementation is needed.    In the second half we switch to dealing with the various health challenges highlighting the continued risk of grass tetany, treating for Nematodirus and Coccidia. We also discuss the challenge mastitis poses in ewes at the moment and the need to treat early where scald appears ..read more

For this week’s OviCast, we discuss grazing management with Dr Philip Creighton.    With the challenging conditions we discuss the grazing situation around the country, opening covers and the impact of delayed fertiliser application on grass growth.    Philip discusses managing supplies, targeted supplementation where supplies are tight and grazing strategies that can be implemented in the coming weeks. We also discuss fertiliser application rates when conditions allow for grazing and silage.    We finish up with Philip discussing having preventative measures in p ..read more

Sheep and Schemes editor from the Irish Farmers Journal, Darren Carty, is on this week’s OviCast to talk about the current sheep trade.    With prices hitting new highs we chat about the trade at the moment.    Darren talks to us about the hogget trade this spring, the start of the early lamb hitting the market and niche markets for milk lamb.    We discuss what’s driving trade, what’s happening on international markets and speculate for what may be in store in the coming months.    We finish up discussing the cull ewe trade and weighing up the option of ..read more

Grass tetany is one of the challenges in early spring and on this week’s OviCast, Teagasc Sheep Specialist, Damian Costello, talks to us about this in more detail.    Damian explains how it occurs, the pre-disposing factors and high risk periods.    We discuss the symptoms and treatment in acute cases and Damian describes the various preventative measures and how these can be implemented on farms.     Read more about it here: https://bit.ly/Grass_Tetany_24   For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/she ..read more

Sheep specialist, Michael Gottstein, is on this week’s OviCast to discuss some timely advice for hill flocks in the run up to lambing.    Michael discusses some of the key areas to focus on this spring highlighting how ewe condition is a challenge.    We discuss the basics of nutrition and some of the feeding strategies that might be employed.    We finish up on to discuss some health areas that require attention in the lead into lambing.     For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast ..read more

When focusing on improving fertiliser use efficiently, one often overlooked aspect for the return on investment is the fertiliser spreader itself.    For this episode of OviCast I’m joined by Teagasc machinery specialist, Francis Quigley, to take us through some of the practical considerations around this piece of equipment.    Francis explains many aspects from basic maintenance checks before the season commences, to correct set-up on the tractor and its impact that can have on the spread pattern.    We also discuss calibration, use of technology and the impact o ..read more

For this week’s OviCast, we catch up with Dr Frank Campion to get an update on the BETTER farm sheep flocks.  We discuss this year’s scanning results, dealing with issues and benchmarking performance. We move on to ewe condition score on the farms at scanning and since tupping and discuss the practical steps farmers can take to manage this.  We finish up discussing grass supplies, preparing for lambing and culling problem ewes.  For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast ..read more

For this week’s OviCast, we’re joined by Seamus Fagan from the Department of Agriculture’s regional veterinary lab in Athlone.    As a follow-on from his talk at the recent Sheep Conference, we discuss the importance of records to highlight flock health issues on farm and to help provide a better flock history, particularly in the case of abortion. We discuss the submission process and the timeline for results.    We also discuss some of the challenges seen in the lab this spring with a notable fluke challenge present on farms.    Finally we finish up discussing s ..read more

For this week’s OviCast, I’m joined by my Teagasc colleague, Catherine Egan, host of the Beef Edge podcast, as we discuss financial management tips on drystock farms with Teagasc Financial Specialist, Kevin Connolly. Kevin first explains the benefits of completing a profit monitor and we discuss what data is required and the ways to simplify this process.  Kevin takes us through the information the profit monitor can generate and how it can be used to highlight key areas to focus on, allowing farmers to benchmark their own farm performance.  We finish up with Kevin offering his three ..read more