Get hands on at NSA Sheep 2016

The NSA Sheep Event, held on Wednesday 27^th July at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern, will be hosting four hands on workshops based around this year’s theme of adding value.

“A hands on approach is often the best way to learn, so we hope to get people involved, asking questions and make the most of the experts on hand,” says NSA chief executive, Phil Stocker. “Each of the workshops will run twice through the day, meaning small groups of visitors can take advantage of the informal sessions and make them relevant to their own flocks at home.”

The first of the workshops will commence at 9:45am on the topic of Can you afford lame sheep? Know what you are up against and have a plan. Sheep vet Fiona Lovatt will be running this interactive session to help farmers consider their own situation with regard to lame sheep. The session will also include diagnosing lameness and developing a tailored industry-approved five-point lameness reduction plan.

Featuring next at 10:30am, farmers will have the chance to hear from a sheep vet, woodland creation advisor and a PhD researcher on Branching out: How trees on sheep farms can increase productivity and profit. This session will look at the role of trees in limiting threats such as neonatal lamb mortality, infectious lameness and liver fluke.

Following this, Ian Cairns of the Farming Advice Service will be offering a useful reminder of the payment rules for sheep keepers in England during the Protect your payments: Keeping on top of sheep identification, reporting and recording rules workshop starting at 11:15am.

Finally, at 12 noon, Cotswold Seeds will lead a workshop on Great grass: The role of over-seeding in grassland management. Here visitors can ask questions and gain a more technical insight, having also taken advantage of live over-seeding demonstrations taking place on the showground to show how to maximise the value of permanent pasture and non-rotational grassland. These will take place below the Avon Hall every 45 minutes from 10am.

All other workshops will take place in the Avon Hall and each will be repeated in the afternoon at the following times: workshop 1 – 3:45pm, workshop 2 – 1:30pm, workshop 3 – 3pm, workshop 4 – 2:15pm.

Phil concludes: “We’ve deliberately chosen topics that NSA members frequently ask us questions about. By worked with partnership companies we hope we can provide a unique opportunity for visitors to get the information they need to add value and maximise returns from their businesses.”

Go to www.sheepevent.org.uk for further information, and to download the full event guide.