NSA and NAAC Livestock Contractors Event
Date: 29th November 2013 - 30th November 2013
There is no doubt that the joint NSA and NAAC Contractors Meeting held at the end of November last year was very successful in many ways and much appreciated by those that attended.
There has not been a similar meeting for a number of years and was, therefore, overdue and heralds for a repeat annually, although perhaps a month earlier and in different locations around the country.
It was definitely a case of trying to fit too much into the Friday afternoon and we only stopped when it ran into the time we were due to sit down for our dinner! It was a great pleasure to hear guest dinner speaker, John Thorley, a previous Chief Executive of NSA, recount his long and varied career and finishing with an update on what he is up to now. It was so important for those who were not involved with the British Association of Sheep Contractors nearly 30 years ago to realise how instrumental John was in helping that organisation to start up.
The Friday afternoon programme of presentations had Colin MacGregor, British Wool Marketing Board shearing manager, inform us not only about shearer training and all the different facets to it, but also about the workings of BWMB along with its relevance and the importance of its continuation.
Peter Bates then gave us a very factual account of how we have to deal with sheep scab. Peter spent more than 30 years working at the Central Veterinary Laboratories on scab so it is doubtful that anyone else is more qualified to tell us ‘as it is’ when it comes to the issue. Although this was a ‘Stamp out Scab’ presentation funded by RDPE money, Peter was able to add in a lot of extras with relevance to contractors.
The session on ‘biosecurity in a compensation culture’ by Louise Silk, a vet from Salisbury, was hard hitting and made everyone realise they really have to address and minimise their risks in preventing the spread of disease by themselves and their equipment.
Old Mill Accountants had two young ladies encourage everyone to make use of their financial records to help them make business decisions as well as just providing information for a tax return. Catherine Nakielny then gave us an encouraging talk on the future of the UK sheep industry, which left us in no doubt that there is one!
The panel for a question and answer session on scanning involved Scot Cowan from BCF, Mike Owen an experienced scanner from Kent, and Colin Ottery from Devon who has only been scanning for four years. There were a number of subjects covered, including the amount of time needed for training and mentoring, probe design and using gel or water as a couplant, to mention but a few.
Onto Saturday morning and livestock handling expert Miriam Parker held a handing workshop for us at Cirencester Market. Miriam made us realise we have to think of viewing everything from a ewe’s perspective, which is definitely not the same as our own. She gave us various quizzes and crossword puzzles to make us realise that handling sheep can be a lot easier if we take into consideration those differences. Miriam’s famous dark glasses were also passed around for us all to appreciate a ‘sheep’s eye view’.
The one aspect that was very clear from the meeting in general was that there is a lot to be gained by everyone in the Industry by having a group working in the sheep sector that can be consulted with and used for knowledge transfer.
NSA and the NAAC would like to thank Agrimin, BWMB, Cirencester Market and Rappa for their generous support and all the speakers for their time.
