NSA Sheep N.I. 2009
All our plans for NSA Sheep N.I. 2009 are just about finalized. Let’s hope weather conditions and disease implications allow us to have a successful event on 6th July at Ballymena Livestock Mart.
This is a new venture for the N.I. Regional Committee and has been quite a learning experience and we are grateful for all the help and advice received from 'the experts' on the mainland who have been organising these events for a number of years. Our event is not likely to equal the equivalent events on the mainland but we have to start somewhere and we are confident it will be the largest dedicated sheep event in Ireland this year.
It includes seminars on topical subjects, a sheepdog auction and a very prestigious McCaughan’s Young Shepherd of the Year competition.
We are very pleased and grateful for the support from our main sponsors The Ulster Bank, McLarnons Feeds, Pfizer Animal Health Ltd, Dunbia and Sainsburys.
CAFRE and the staff at Greenmount Campus are looking after the Farm Tour just a few minutes away from the main venue, our thanks to CAFRE and The O'Kane Family at Crebilly Farms. Thanks also to the AFBI staff who are in charge of the Seminars. The main players in the whole event are the sheep breed societies and trade who are exhibiting at the event and without them we would;nt have an event.
Sale of Working Sheepdogs at Sheep NI 2009 As part of our sheep event to be held at Ballymena Livestock Mart on July 6th we are organising a sale by auction of working sheepdogs. Modern farming is increasingly high tech with computers and electronics now commonplace on most farms, but one part of sheep farming which has remained relatively unchanged for generations is the importance to the shepherd of a good, well trained dog. Even in these days of quad bikes and 4X4's the dog is an indespensible part of the shepherding team.
Farmers are being told that they must adopt lower labour, easier care systems, but these systems are impossible without an easy, one man method of gathering and moving sheep. Without a dog moving sheep can become a daunting and stressful operation often needing the whole family, but with a well trained collie it becomes much simpler, and with a little practice for both man and dog, it can become a pleasure. There are few more satisfying experiences than watching a good sheepdog at work, and knowing that he is saving you from running. Of course with increasing pressures on time, and the rise in part time farming many farmers find it difficult to find the time to train their own dogs, and this has given an opportunity to those farmers who have the skill and patience to train dogs for sale to others.
In recent years a number of auction companies in mainland Britain have started to run sales of working dogs, and many dogs have been very sucessfully sold by Northern Ireland trainers. With the increasing demand for good working dogs at home the NSA committee felt that a sale of dogs would add more interest to their sheep event, both for prospective sellers and buyers and for spectators who just wanted to see how such an event was run.
The site for the sale has been very kindly granted by John Anderson in a field adjacent to the market yard, indeed the action will all be viewable from the yard, and each dog will be put through it's paces over a short trial course before being offered for sale by local auctioneer Graham Loughry. An NSA spokesman said “ Hopefully the sheepdog sale will be another point of interest for sheep farmers and their families at the event which we are planning will be a celebration of the entire sheep industry.
McCaughans Young Shepherd of the Year As part of their 50th Anniversary celebrations this year McCaughans Animal Health are sponsoring The Young Shepherd of the Year Competition at NSA Sheep N.I. In addition to the generous prize money first and second prizewinners will be sponsored by McCaughans to complete an ATV Course at Greenmount Campus and expenses paid to compete in The NSA Young Shepherd Competition at the Main NSA Sheep Event held in Malvern in 2010
