A shepherd's overseas adventure: a morning report from two NSA travel bursary recipients
https://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/events/reports/30859/nsa-breakfast-club-a-shepherds-overseas-adventure-a-morning-report-from-two-nsa-travel-bursary-recipients/With people not travelling much further than the end of their farm tracks at the moment, there was a welcome international feel to the NSA Breakfast Club this morning (Wednesday 10th February).
Young sheep farmers Marie Prebble and Charlie Beaty talked webinar attendees through the overseas trips they made in late 2019 and early 2020 as part of the NSA Samuel Wharry Memorial Award (SWMA) for the Next Generation. The two won the award on the strength of their research topics, spending time on international travel and pulling together meaningful reports on their findings.
Charlie spent six weeks in New Zealand researching the improvement and utilisation of permanent pasture. She spoke about how the threat of Brexit had shaped her topic as far back as spring 2019 and was just as relevant today – on both her own farm and others around the UK.
Marie’s study tour focused on shearing practices in the Northern Hemisphere. She travelled within the UK and surveyed both sheep farmers and shearers, before going to France, Norway and Iceland. Commenting on improving the experience for farmers, shearers and sheep, she provided practical messages, such as emptying sheep well in advance of turning them over on the shearing board.
The travel bursaries will be made available again later in 2021, thanks to an ongoing partnership with the Company of Merchants of the Staple of England.
To read the full reports from Charlie and Marie, please visit the NSA Next Generation website here. And to read a more in depth report on this webinar, click here.
