The importance of technical efficiency and animal health to low carbon farming will be highlighted at an ARCZero Farm walk being held on the farm of Ian McClelland near Banbridge on Wednesday 26th April 2023.
Ian runs a 90 cow dairy herd with an average yield of around 10,000 litres per cow. For the past two years Ian has been looking at means to reduce his carbon footprint while maintaining production and reducing costs. This includes stitching in clover to his swards, which will allow him to reduce the amount of manufactured N fertiliser applied.
Speakers for the McClelland Farm Walk will include experts from Queen’s University and CAFRE. Farm walks will leave at 10.30am, 11.00am and 11.30pm.. Each tour will last around 2 hours. Everyone is welcome but pre-registration is required and can be done via Eventbrite here: ARCZero - The Road to Net Zero - Farm Walk at Ian McClelland's Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite
Michael Verner and Gary Haslem from CAFRE will highlight how technical performance influences carbon footprint and Robert Patterson will discuss how to stitch in white clover into grassland.
Animal Health is also a priority area for Ian and for the last two years as part of another EIP project Ian which has been examining the role of targeted selective treatment of anthelmintics. Dr Chris McFarland from Queen’s University will speak at the farm walk on the results of this project. In addition, Dr Sam Strain from AHWNI will be speaking on Johnes Disease Control. Dr Strain will also highlight the strong correlation between animal health and carbon footprint.
ARCZero, a farmer-led European Innovation Project co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). The EIP group which is led by Professor John Gilliland of Brook Hall Estate and Queen’s University, is comprised of seven innovative farmers from across Northern Ireland together with academic and industry partners including Devenish, Queen’s University, AgriSearch and Birnie Consultancy. It has been investigating practical ways to measure, manage and reduce carbon in ruminant farming. ARCZero has created a robust baseline of both emissions and carbon stocks and is now looking at how these farms can further reduce their emissions while increasing their carbon stocks in a manner which will accelerate their journey towards Net Zero.
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