The final summer open meeting at the Dumfries Monitor Farm will bring together practical advice, on-farm experience and farmer discussion focused on making inputs count and improving the profitability of lamb finishing systems.
The meeting, at Barnbackle Farm, Dumfries on Wednesday 6 August is now open for booking. It will provide a great opportunity to hear directly from three expert speakers and from Monitor Farm host Richard McCornick about recent developments, key decisions, and what’s shaping the future direction of his farming system.
He will share his practical experience of lamb finishing at Barnbackle, highlighting the management decisions that have had the greatest impact on performance, efficiency and profitability. Hear what has worked, what hasn’t, and the lessons learned along the way.
Ali Haggerty from Stewartry Vets will discuss how to get the best return from your animal health programme, covering parasite control, vaccination planning and targeted treatments for lambs at weaning. The session will focus on making informed decisions that improve flock health while ensuring inputs are used efficiently and cost-effectively.
Borders farmer and grazing consultant Graeme Lofthouse will look at growing more lamb from every hectare. He will explore how better grass utilisation, healthy soils and effective post-weaning nutrition can improve lamb performance and maximise output from every hectare. He’ll share practical strategies to help farmers make the most of home-grown forage and finish lambs more efficiently.
SRUC’s Paul Hargreaves will tackle soil health, covering the importance of soil pH and good soil structure for productive grassland. His session will include soil pit demonstrations and discussions about how to assess soil health and identify the characteristics of healthy, productive soils to support improved grass growth and farm performance.
The meeting ends with dinner, so booking is essential.
Iona Smith, Monitor Farm regional manager says: “Whether you’re looking to improve grass utilisation, review your animal health plan or benchmark your finishing system against other producers, this meeting offers practical ideas you can take home and apply on your own farm. We look forward to welcoming you to Barnbackle Farm on Wednesday 6 August.”