Farmers rewarded for best use of grassland and silage making

Prizewinners in the Fermanagh Grassland Club's 2021 Vaughan Trust sponsored grazing competition. Included are (front, from left) Robin Clements, winner of the Stevenson Cup; Trevor Dunn, Vaughan Trust and David Henderson, winner of the Todd Cup (back row) Nigel Graham, Roy Mayers, Derek Saunderson, Robert McCrea and Ian Brown.

The gathering of members and friends were addressed by Drew McConnell from Omagh, in his role as President of the British Grassland Society.

During the prizegiving the sponsors were the Vaughan Trust for grassland management and Barenbrug for silage making.

One of the awards is to present the Houston Trophy to a Club member who has made a significant contribution to agriculture to their activities. This year, the trophy was awarded to Eddie Rogers, a suckler beef and sheep farmer from Church Hill, not only for his farming activities but for representation on various agricultural organisations.

Alan Warnock, and Trevor Dunn, judged the grassland management competition during the warm weather of July last year when they said the overall standard was very good.

The results were;

Grazing Management

Dairying section – 1, Robin Clements; 2, Derek Saunderson; 3, Nigel Graham.

Beef and Sheep section –1, David Henderson; 2, Roy Mayers; 3(Joint), Ian Brown and Robert McCrea.

Overall winner – David Henderson.

Silage competition

Clamp silage – 1, Robert McCrea; 2, Robert Kettyle; 3(Joint), Robert Graham and James Murphy.

Baled silage – 1 Robin Clements; 2, Roy Mayers; 3, Ivan Kettyles.

The guest speaker, Drew McConnell, a dairy farmer explained his own farming activities and also outlined the role of the British Grassland Society which now has 410 members in addition to 51 affiliated societies with wider membership of 4,000 members.