AFBI announce plans for major Dairy Open Day

Date published: 15 July 2015

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) have recently announced plans to host a major Dairy Open Day later this year under the theme 'Surviving Today - Planning for Tomorrow'. The Open Day will be held on Wednesday 16 September at Hillsborough and is being organised in conjunction with AgriSearch, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) and the Ulster Grassland Society (UGS).

Speaking at the launch event for the Open Day, Dr Sinclair Mayne (AFBI) commented “We recognise the very severe financial pressure dairy farmers in Northern Ireland are under as a result of current low milk prices.  Whilst milk price is largely outside of producers’ control, managing costs of production is the key to surviving through the current difficult period.  The AFBI Open Day “Surviving Today – Planning for Tomorrow” will focus on a number of critical areas in relation to controlling production costs in the short term, based on the latest research findings from Hillsborough.  We will also highlight the need to refocus on milk from grass and forage and present key performance indicators for both low and high input production systems.  We are delighted that AgriSearch, CAFRE and the Ulster Grassland Society have joined with us in organising this event at a critical time for the dairy industry”.

Key issues to be featured at the Dairy Open Day include:

• Heifer rearing – reducing costs and optimising life time performance;
• Growing grass – Slurry and fertilizer management;
• Grazing management – Producing more from grass; and
• Controlling feed costs next winter – silage quality and concentrate feeding.

A 'must attend' event for all dairy farmers.