Smart sheep farming open day to take place in Mayo

A smart sheep farming open day is set to take place in Mayo.

Sheep equipment and technology company, Cotter Agritech, together with expert speakers from Sheep Ireland, the Irish Farmers Journal, Teagasc, and the Easycare Sheep Society, are running an open day in Louisburgh on May 22. 

The theme of the event is ‘techniques, technology and equipment to tackle problems on a modern sheep farm’. 

The open day will feature a farm walk, an in-depth look at the farms brand-new handling facilities, a showcase of the latest sheep equipment and technology from Cotter Agritech, interactive speaker sessions on anthelmintic resistance and breeding for a better bottom line, as well as a number of trade stands.

The open day will take place at Padraig Frasier’s farm in Louisburgh.

Mr Fraiser runs a smaller operation typical of the west of Ireland, with a flock of 150 Mayo blackface ewes who are cross-bred onto Texel and Suffolk rams. 

The Mayo man recently made his first major investment into handling facilities, putting in a Cotter Crate system to reduce labour and hardship.  

The event will start with a farm walk where John Noonan of Teagasc will chat with the farmer about 2024 lambing performance, flock management, farm KPIs, grassland management, what’s working well and what are the challenges, and future plans.

Participants will then move to the handling area to see the farmers' new facilities, where the Cotter Crate Sheep and Lamb Handler will be demonstrated live.  

Farmers will also see the first public showing of the Cotter Crate Mobile models, which are road-legal trailer mounted Cotter Crates complete with a mobile yard to suit farmers with fragmented land blocks. 

The company will also showcase the Automed automatic dosing gun product for the first time. 

For more information and to register for the event, see the Cotter Agritech website.