AFBI announce plans for major dairy open day

The theme will be: Dairy Innovation 2018 - Profiting from AFBI Research.

The Open Day will be run in partnership with AgriSearch and CAFRE and will feature current research work at AFBI in support of the dairy sector. This will provide the opportunity to view the latest research and also to discuss how AFBI scientists are using the latest technologies to find new ways of optimising farming practices. Dr Sinclair Mayne (AFBI CEO) commented: “Given current and future market uncertainties, AFBI’s research is addressing new opportunities to control production costs, increase production efficiency and thereby enhance the competitiveness of the dairy sector in Northern Ireland. This Open Day is an important part of our strategy of engaging directly with farmers and the industry to ensure that the industry gains maximum benefit from our research, and will be held in conjunction with our partners in AgriSearch, Queen’s University and CAFRE.”

Key aspects which will be highlighted include the latest research on soil and fertiliser management and grass varieties to maximise grass production. A major focus of the event will include strategies to optimise the utilization of grass within environmental sustainable production systems and opportunities to achieve efficiencies at each step of the dairy production cycle, from birth onwards.

A further novel feature of this year’s Open Day will be a ‘Research Village’ with many other demonstrations on topics such as ‘Animal Health and Welfare’, ‘Forage Management’, ‘Enhancing Food Quality’ ‘Precision Farming’ and ‘Managing Nutrient Losses’. This will include a demonstration of slurry separation at the newly built Nutrient Management Centre.

This is a ‘not to be missed’ occasion to note in your forward planning for the summer.