This year’s Teagasc National Dairy Conference will take place in Cork on Wednesday, 25th November.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Developing Resilient Dairy Farming Systems”, and is taking place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Co Cork. The conference is focused on the latest developments and research in the Irish dairy sector. The first session, moderated by Dr Grainne Hurley, Teagasc Cork West Regional Manager looks at the resilience of Irish dairy farming with a paper presented by Professor Laurence Shalloo, head of the Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Programme. John Lancaster, head of EMEA Dairy and Food Consulting at StoneX, will provide an update on international dairy market trends. The second session of the conference will discuss ‘Farming in challenging years and how to build contingency into Irish dairy systems’. This session is moderated by Dr. Deirdre Hennessy, University College Cork and includes contributions from John McAuliffe, dairy farmer, Kiskeam, Cork; Matt Pilkington, grass-focussed dairy farmer from the UK; and Mark Treacy, Teagasc Dairy Specialist based in Clonakilty. Speaking in advance of the Teagasc National Dairy Conference, Dr Joe Patton, head of dairy knowledge transfer in Teagasc said: ‘We are looking forward to returning to Cork for this year’s National Dairy Conference.

“It has been a challenging year for grass and finances on dairy farms; our conference sessions will address these issues with longer term solutions in mind. We encourage active dairy farmers in particular to attend, and to book their chosen practical workshops early.” The afternoon of the event consists of a series of workshops where attendees can select to attend three of six different workshops, listed below: