2025 Annual Conference

The 2025 Ulster Grassland Society Annual Conference took place on Tuesday 21st January at the Dunadry Hotel, Antrim with over 150 delegates attending.  The conference focused on “Addressing the challenges facing the agricultural industry”.

Prior to the conference commencing the Society held their 66th Annual General Meeting.

New UGS Office-bearers

President – Michael Graham, Co Antrim

President Elect – Ivor Lowry, Co Down

Secretary – George Reid, Belfast

Treasurer – Chloe Kyle, Co Tyrone

PRO – John Henning OBE, Co Armagh

Newly elected committee members – Michael Copeland, Masons Animal Feeds; Bill Harpur, beef farmer, Co Antrim; David Hunter, dairy farmer, Co Tyrone & Faith Stewart, CAFRE.

During the AGM the Society Presidency passed to Michael Graham who took the reins from John Egerton FRAgS who handed over the chain of office after a successful year in the role. Michael is originally from Dromara and following formal education at Greenmount Agricultural College he eventually commenced work at Enniskillen Agricultural College before being appointed Farm Manager at Castle Archdale Experimental Husbandry Farm where he was heavily involved in pioneering innovative farming practices for the benefit of farmers in Co Fermanagh and further afield. He was then appointed Farm Manager at CAFRE’s Greenmount Campus with that role having been significantly expanded in subsequent years during which time he oversaw the development of two dairy units along with other college facilities and innovation. A Past President of the Young Farmers Clubs of Ulster Michael is very active in the community and involved in Antrim Rotary Club and as a Council Member of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society.

Conference

The first speaker was Dr Jack Kennedy, Editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, set the scene by looking at many of the challenges facing the agricultural industry globally. Though the use of Journal headlines over the years he highlighted innovation in farming and the importance of the co=operative movement in marketing, particularly in dairy. He then examined the various sectors over the past year highlighting the impact of climate conditions and the benefits of innovation and the adoption of new technology. giving some pointers to the outlook for agricultural commodities through 2025. Mr Kennedy concluded by highlighting that ‘improved sustainability matched with production efficiency will continue to be the driver of good farm performance’ and also said ‘ trade deals and geo political movements will continue to evolve and impact on incomes’

He was followed by Alan Dillon from Teagasc who manages the DairyBeef 500 programme researching sustainable dairy beef production given that 60% of Irish beef now comes from the dairy herd. This work centres around commercial demonstration farms, a leased demonstration farm, knowledge exchange programmes and wider communication activity.

Following lunch the third conference speaker was Neil Eastham who is a Nuffield Farming Scholar. In addition he is a practising vet in Yorkshire and also involved in the family dairy herd in Lancashire. His presentation focused on how UK dairy farmers can benefit from genomic testing where he highlighted that genetic improvement is valuable. In his presentation Neill highlighted that breeding is not an art and the importance of not carrying passengers when rearing dairy heifers. By using genomic testing breeders and farmers can increase their confidence in the data used.

The final speaker was Jack Blakiston Houston, Managing Director at Blakiston Houston Estates based at Dundonald. Jack gave an informative presentation on work being undertaken as part of a three year DAERA project which aims to reduce excess Phosphorus from livestock slurry in Northern Ireland. This work allows the Blakiston Houston team to provide a separation service to local farmers and he gave excellent examples of how livestock farmers might benefit from the project.