Drinagh Co-Op held its annual dairy workshop at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen recently.
DRINAGH Co-Op held its annual dairy workshop at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen recently.
The workshop, which offers advice on a range of topics, ran through the afternoon until late into the evening. Expert advisers were on hand to give information to milk producers on key areas of their business from herd health and nutrition to milk quality.
The key feature of the workshop is that the advisers are available to speak to individuals on a one-to-one basis. This allows time for issues to be discussed and problems solved.
This year a calf-rearing seminar was a new addition to the workshop and two sessions were run during the day. Vetrinary consultant Martin Kavanagh was the main speaker and chaired the seminar. He focused on calf health, disease control and optimum calf housing. Des Cronin of Inform Nutrition gave advice on calf nutrition, Pat Cahill of Volac discussed milk replacer and MSD’s Cara Sheridan spoke on vaccination programmes for calves. Dr Doreen Corridan of Munster Herd Health was as popular as ever on the day as was consultant nutritionalist Morgan Sheehy of Devenish Nutrition.
Caroline Buttimer of Drinagh was available to assist suppliers in accessing their online accounts and other online facilities at Drinagh. The co-op’s online facilities allow suppliers access their milk supply information as well as following their purchasing transactions with the Society. Drinagh’s pharmacists were also on hand to do health screening.
Local financial institutions, in the form of Bank of Ireland, AIB, Permanent TSB and Skibbereen Credit Union, were all present to advise on available banking facilities. Others in attendance included Drinagh personnal, Teagasc, Herdwatch and numerous trade stands.
Drinagh dairy manager Seamus Daly stated that ‘the annual workshop is the ideal forum to meet milk suppliers and allows them the opportunity to speak to experts on a range of topics. The calf rearing seminar went down really well today and the feedback from all who attended has been excellent.’
