Kildalton students study AFBI’s livestock research at Hillsborough

A group of approximately 40 students from Kildalton Agricultural College,
Co Kilkenny, visited Hillsborough as part of the annual exchange with students from CAFRE Greenmount. Students from both colleges spend approximately a week on the exchange, offering them a chance to undertake a number of agricultural visits within the locality of the campuses.

During their visit to AFBI Hillsborough, the students received updates on the latest research being undertaken within the dairy, beef and sheep sectors. As the students are coming from a strong background in grass-based milk production, the AFBI dairy team wanted to highlight the specific challenges that the higher yielding cow faces on Northern Ireland farms, both in terms of management during the winter months and during the grazing season.

Drs Peter Purcell and Andrew Dale summarised some of the key areas that Hillsborough research has been examining, including concentrate feeding strategies in early lactation and the challenges of getting a cow that is thin in mid lactation up to target body condition score before the end of the lactation. Brian Dawson and Robert Smith provided the group with an update on current beef research programmes including the work with the stabiliser suckler cows.  

Dr Aurélie Aubry provided the students with an update on sheep research, including the ongoing investigation of a novel 3-way breeding strategy undertaken at AFBI Hillsborough and at 11 co-research farms across Northern Ireland. Dr Aubry also presented some of the results of ongoing lamb feeding trials undertaken at AFBI in collaboration with Teagasc and UCD, indicating that lamb growth was greater for males compared to castrates, lowest for those lambs fed on silage, with highest growth rates achieved by lambs on concentrates and forage rape. 

This ongoing bilateral exchange with Teagasc has proven to be a very valuable educational initiative, benefiting agricultural students from both North and South and the AFBI visit provided the most up-to-date knowledge and latest scientific thinking through meeting the research scientists and witnessing their research studies in situ.

Notes to editors: 

AFBI carries out high quality technology research and development, statutory, analytical, and diagnostic testing functions for DARD and other Government departments, public bodies and commercial companies. 

AFBI's Vision is “Scientific excellence in Northern Ireland …  serving the world”.

All media enquiries to AFBI Press Office 

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