• 9am: Registration at the Woodlands Hotel Waterford
• 10am: Session 1: New technologies for suckler beef production

Paper 1 – Developments in animal breeding. Francis Kearney (ICBF)

Paper 2 – The development of an integrated approach to herd health for suckler beef farms. Joe O’Flaherty (AHI)

Paper 3 – Grassland management for suckler beef farms. Dermot O'Connor, Carlow.

• 11.35am Session 2:
  Winter finishing – opportunities for profitable production

Paper 1 – Feeding strategies for winter finishing. Siobhan Kavanagh (Teagasc)

Paper 2 – My approach to winter finishing – a farmer’s perspective. Eamon Power (farmer, Waterford)

• 12.45: Lunch
• 2.00pm: Buses depart from Hotel to farm
• 4.30/5pm: Depart farm by bus to Woodlands Hotel

Speakers will highlight advances in herd health management, animal breeding and efficient finishing strategies. Farmer speakers will outline the benefi ts of the adoption of new production technologies in advancing their farming systems. The Duggan Family in Coolfi n, Portlaw Co. Waterford are the hosts for the farm visit portion of this years’ Irish Grassland Association Beef Conference. John and Anne Duggan are farming with their son Paul run a 100 cow suckler herd of Limousin cross cows, bred to some of the top Belgian Blue AI and also his own stock bulls with all of the progeny sold on the live export market at 9 to 11 months of age. Replacement heifers are bred to a Blonde bull. As well as breeding the Duggans put a huge emphasis on top grassland management and keeping costs low. This farm visit is an ideal opportunity for visitors to see for themselves what potential there is in aiming to produce for the upper end of the live export market.