South Antrim UFU group focus

​At the end of June, over thirty members came together for a day trip to Fermanagh, visiting the farms of John Egerton in Rosslea and Stephen Maguire in Maguiresbridge. Members were given a highly informative tour of each farm, with John’s being a technology demonstration farm for beef fertility, whilst Stephen focussed on the benefits of grassland management.

The UFU’s annual cereal competition is a good way for members to get involved within their group and it was great to see a sizeable number of South Antrim members put themselves forward in the winter barley, winter wheat and spring barley categories. It was even more encouraging to have one of the group’s members, William Clark, come second overall in the winter barley category. Congratulations to

William and our thanks to our judges, Peter Hamilton and Chris Frazer, who gave of their time to judge the group competitions.

In July we attended the Antrim Show, alongside our colleagues from Ballyclare and Larne. With the rain holding off better than was forecast, an enjoyable day was had at the show, with many members coming along to the marquee for a cup of tea or coffee and a chance to rest their legs.

The group’s winter programme was recently published online, with a text of the link having been sent to members. A varied and interesting programme of events has been planned. In particular, we would encourage members to come along on Friday, 10 November to the Ulster v Munster rugby match at the Kingspan Stadium and to our annual charity table quiz at the Ballymac Hotel on Monday, 11 December. Funds raised at the quiz will be for the benefit of the Children’s Heartbeat Trust, Northern Ireland’s children’s heart charity.

If you wish to register for either event, please call the office on 028 9442 2185.