OviCast

Shane Moore, a Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep Programme participant who is farming outside Athleague in Co Roscommon, joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast. Shane starts by giving a quick re-cap on how mating went this year before discussing closing up his grazing ground this winter and housing the flock earlier than expected in December. Shane describes the new sheep house that he put up last year...

Tomás O’Toole, a Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep Programme participant, who is farming in Moyard outside of Clifden Co Galway, and sheep specialist Damian Costello, join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast podcast. Tomás runs a split hill and lowland flock and a suckler to weaning system which he explains in more detail. He discusses the changes in his flock over the past number of years and his decisio...

Drs. Tim Keady and Bríd McClearn join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to explain the EuroSheep project which is a thematic network involving eight partner countries. Tim gives some background to the project and its aims while Bríd explains how the project is being implemented, firstly by identifying the needs from each of the countries. Bríd also explains how they drew on the resources within...

Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep Programme participant, Eddie Gavin, his Teagasc advisor Eoin Wolfe and Programme manager Dr Frank Campion join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss wintering on forage crops. Eddie, who is farming near Bagenalstown in Co Carlow, gives a bit of background to his farming system and flock. Managing a split flock, Eddie discusses the performance of the early lambing...

Dr Tim Keady joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss various aspects of winter grazing and how it impacts ewe performance. Tim starts by discussing the potential mutual benefits of moving sheep to winter grazing both for the flock owner and host farmer and he also discusses the role of extended grazing before moving on to discuss the frequency of grass allocation with Tim offering his...

Sheep Specialist, Damian Costello, is on this week’s OviCast to discuss the Sheep Welfare scheme. Damian starts by giving some background to the scheme before discussing the changes to the reference number for the coming year and what this well mean for participants. He also reminds us of the various tasks in the current scheme and the proposed changes for the planned next phase as well as the sug...

Dr Noirín McHugh and postgraduate student Edel O’Connor join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss the ongoing project examining methane emissions in sheep. Noirín first highlights the importance of this work in the current climate, while Edel explains how they are using portable accumulation chambers to measure emissions from up to 72 sheep per day in Teagasc Athenry and on commercial fa...

As part of Animal Health Awareness week, on this week’s OviCast are Department of Agriculture Vets Caroline Garvan and Damian Barrett. Damian begins by explaining the objective of Animal Health Awareness week and its importance in the current climate while Caroline explains why Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major concern and the concept of the one health approach. They discuss the usage with...

Presenting lambs clean at the abattoir becomes more challenging as the year progresses and on this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch is joined by Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep in Teagasc to discuss this topic further. Michael starts by explaining the Clean Livestock Policy (CLP) and its importance, highlighting the key areas on the lamb that cause issues and how the industry has implemented changes...

As liver fluke is a large risk at the moment, Teagasc’s Dr Orla Keane joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss selecting the appropriate treatment for this stage of the season. Firstly Orla gives a quick recap on the risk that fluke poses and the stages of its development. She discusses the various classes of flukicide available with Orla explaining what stage of fluke they are suitabl...

Damian Costello, sheep specialist with Teagasc, joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss temporary grazing this back end. Damian highlights some considerations when taking on temporary grazing and how it can benefit both parties involved. He emphasises the need to ensure all animals are tagged before leaving farm and he discusses at length the various movement notification consideratio...

As we enter the final grazing rotation of the season, Ciarán Lynch is joined on this week’s OviCast by Dr. Philip Creighton who offers some grazing advice to keep us on track from now to set up our spring grazing. Philip starts by discussing the importance of achieving good graze outs and how that influences sward production next spring. Philip also offers tips on dealing with heavy covers that ar...

Sheep specialist, Damian Costello, joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss why farmers should consider raddling rams this breeding season. Damian discusses the two types used - either raddle paste or ram harnesses - and offers tips on their use and ways to leave it easier to catch rams to top these up. He explains which order different raddle colours should be and discusses how to mak...

This week’s OviCast is a farmer focus interview with Brian Nicholson who farms just outside of Johnstown in Co Kilkenny. Brian runs a large-scale sheep flock and is a participant CPT flock with Sheep Ireland. Brian discusses sales in this year’s lamb crop and his plans for finishing the remaining lambs this autumn before moving on to discuss the breeding plan for the farm and he takes us through t...

On this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch heads to Westport in Co. Mayo where he was joined by Tom Gill and Teagasc Advisor John Noonan to find out more about Ólas Hill Farms. Centred around Westport, Ólas Hill Farms was initially set up with a focus on breeding sales which then expanded to encompass a producer group that now has more than 400 members. Tom is a member and one of the co-ordinators of th...

Head of sheep in Teagasc Michael Gottstein joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast podcast to discuss the control of external parasites in sheep. Michael starts by describing how plunge dipping was common practice on many farms and now needs to be considered once again for external parasite control particularly to replace the use of injectable macrocyclic lactones (Group 3-ML) products for whole...

John Joe Fitzgerald, a participant in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme and the new Teagasc Signpost Programme joins Ciarán Lynch on the latest farmer focus on OviCast. John Joe first describes his farming system with some insights into the type of hill he is working on five miles west of Dingle in county Kerry. He then discusses his ewe flock, the breeds used and how it has transitioned dur...

Dr. Tim Keady joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss the subject of joining ewe lambs to lambs at 1 year old. Tim starts by outlining the potential to improve productivity by lambing ewe lambs at 1 year old, but he also highlights some of the challenges it can place on the system. He discusses the various effects of joining weight on productivity, the use of the ram effect and manage...

Dr Frank Campion and Mark Dolan join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss some of the ongoing work examining the role of forage crops in store lamb finishing systems. Mark starts by giving some back ground to his project, discussing the crops sown, when they went in and the type of lambs he is finishing while Frank highlights the role these crops have in store lambs finishing systems. As...

If someone was travelling along the Greenore Road in Carlingford on the first Saturday in September they would be forgiven for stopping to take in the spectacle of the Cooley Sheep Breeders Association annual sale. On a greenfield site the sale has become a focal point for local breeders to sell breeding ewe lambs and hoggets and on this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch is joined by Conor McCann, the...

Pre-breeding vaccination is one way to reduce lambs losses and barren rates next spring and is a key point highlighted by Sarah Campbell veterinary advisor with MSD Animal Health who joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to explain in more detail. Sarah starts by highlighting the need to identify the cause of abortion through the veterinary laboratory’s and highlights the common causes reporte...

When new animals arrive on farm they can potentially bring some unwanted health issues with them. To minimise the risk, it’s important there is a quarantine procedure in place and on this week’s OviCast, Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep in Teagasc joins Ciarán Lynch to discuss this issue in more detail. Michael starts by emphasising why this is an important consideration for any flock owner. He di...

Assessing if the ram team is fit for purpose is an essential task at this point of the season and on this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch is joined by drystock advisor Edward Egan to discuss this in more detail. Edward starts by explaining why this needs to be conducted now to allow for corrective action to be taken or a replacement ram purchased well in advance of the breeding season. Edward takes u...

With the rams sales season kicking into high gear, Dr Alan Bohan from Sheep Ireland joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss how genotyping has improved the genetic information available to breeders and farmers alike. Alan discusses the increase in the number of animals genotyped this year and explains the process and costs involved in genotyping. He then discusses the benefits of geno...

As the breeding season for early lambing and pedigree flocks is starting, Prof. David Kenny Head of the Animal Biosciences Dept in Teagasc, joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss various aspects of synchronisation in ewes. David starts by explaining the pros and cons of synchronisation in sheep and he discusses the role of sponging and PMSG in the synchronising process as well as the...