Return to normality welcome at Ballyclare

It’s good to finally feel some normality back into the Ballyclare Group office, we are open for business as usual and glad to see our members calling back in to see us.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Mar 2022, 07:15 BST
Members of the Ballyclare Group office were among those who attended the UFU climate change rally in February.Members of the Ballyclare Group office were among those who attended the UFU climate change rally in February.
Members of the Ballyclare Group office were among those who attended the UFU climate change rally in February.

Unfortunately, due to staff shortages at the time, we didn’t hold the group cereal competition, but we were able to run the annual silage competition.

As always this proved to be very popular with our members with both our regular entrants and a few new ones. Once again United Feeds were the generous sponsors of the competition and must be thanked or their continued support. Alan Brennan from our neighbouring Larne Group kindly agreed to judge the first round, he was very impressed with the quality of silage making his job very difficult.

The results were:

Beef and Sheep : 1st Roger and Hilary Bell, Kells; 2nd Sammy Moore, Burnside; 3rd David Boyd, Slievetrue

Bales: 1st William Johnston, Templepatrick; 2nd David Boyd, Slievetrue; 3rd Gilbert Ashcroft, Glengormley

Dairy: 1st Wilson Jackson, Ballynure; 2nd Johnny Coleman; 3rd Alan McNair

The prize winners were then presented with their award at the Ballyclare Group’s recent AGM and group meeting. Thank you to the Five Corners for hosting us. It has been quite some time since we were able to hold a meeting together, rather than the dreaded Zooms or Teams. It certainly was great to see a great turnout on the evening.

The AGM was conducted by Alexander Kinnear, UFU parliamentary officer. The group welcomed Sammy Moore back as chairman of the group and the rest of proceedings were dealt with swiftly. The meeting was then briefed by Alexander on current topics, such as the proposed climate change bill, the future of farming in Northern Ireland, future support for the industry, and help for the pig sector. There were plenty of good questions for Alexander from the floor. Since our meeting there has been good news from the UFU. As a result of their hard work and commitment to their members, they helped obtain a much more positive outcome to climate change and an aid package announced for the pig sector.  

Our technical officers continue to be kept busy with problems and issues affecting many of our members. If you think you could use the services of a technical advisor, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we can put you in touch, no matter how big or small the issue might be.

We continue to communicate with our members by email and text message, if you are not receiving these, contact the office to update your records. Ian and Joyce, the Ballyclare group managers, look forward to arranging a new Winter programme or the end of the year.  

Members are also reminded to avail of discounts on your membership Plus cards and the benefits from numerous services and suppliers (details of all offers are found in your Union Diary or on the UFU website).

Related topics:AGM