NSA Eastern Region Farm Walk and Seminar
Date: 14th June 2023
Time: 4pm
Location: Park Farm, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8YW
On Wednesday the 14th of June, NSA Eastern Region was invited to visit Cambridge University’s sheep and dairy farm. With a good group of members attending the meeting, we first got introduced to the farm by the farm’s manager, Paul Kelly. Following the farm introduction, we begun the farm walk where the group were shown handling systems, the flock, and the farms parkland by the Universities shepherd Toby Wilson. Some members were also shown around the robotic milking parlour which really highlighted the advanced technology being utilised in the dairy industry.
After the farm walk, we gathered in one of the lambing buildings to hear presentations from Lead farm Vet Ian McCrone and farm vet, Andre Baptista on practical data collection and lamb mortality prevention. The presentations had some good interaction, and I am sure there were some takeaways from our members to be implemented on their own flocks.
We then enjoyed a BBQ of lamb burgers which gave our members a good opportunity to catch up. We look forward to organising the next farm walk.
We are now gearing up for our Next Generation sheep event which will be hosted at Godolphin on Saturday the 12th of August at 12 noon. This promises to be another lively event with young shepherds competing in various events to be crowned victorious. There will also be a stud tour and other events throughout the day to make sure everyone has something to enjoy. We also have two ram sales, the first at Rugby Livestock Market on the 25th August and the second on the 15th September at Melton Mowbray Livestock market.
