Farming - Thurles Information

Thurles Teagasc – Options – Improve Farm Income

Options For Farm Families

Picture hereunder shows a section of the large group attending the first ‘Options Workshop’ at the Thurles Teagasc Office. The workshop commenced last night under the guidance of Mr Michael White, Teagasc Options Co-Ordinator in the Tipperary Region.

Teagasc have been running some 12 ‘Options for Farm Families’ workshops nationwide beginning since September / October 2014. These Teagasc Options workshops are expected to provide attendee’s with new thinking, the ability to generate new ideas and hopefully generate additional income both on and off the farm into the future.

Through these workshops, attendee’s will be introduced, each night, to guest farmer speakers who has succeeded in other forms of associated business diversification, and Teagasc specialists will also be on hand to answer your questions and cover a large range of topics discussed.

Just some of these topics which will be covered over the coming weeks are: Assessing your enterprise, Developing your ideas, Food enterprise possibilities, Energy crops, Forestry, Renewables, Organic opportunities, Rural tourism, Marketing, Direct selling, A Business Plan – The Basics, Applications for Grant Aid, Family farm finance, Business supports and Succession.

Booking is essential for these workshops and there is no course fee required to attend, however a small charge will be made in respect of where a bus is required for future farm visits.

The Thurles ‘Options Workshop’ will continue to run for five nights over a period of five consecutive weeks.

For further information contact the Thurles Teagasc Office, (Tel: 0504 21777).

Thurles Could Be Your “Foot In The Door”

The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), latter through the ICOS Skillnet, together with its co-operative member organisations are inviting job seekers to a free ‘Foot in The Door’ training and advisory event in Thurles on Thursday, August 28th.

Launched in May by ICOS Skillnets and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Marine, Simon Coveney, the ‘Foot in The Door’ initiative is targeting potential new employees for the Irish Agri-food sector.

‘Foot in The Door’ events are happening nationwide, with Agri-food Co-Ops from each region taking part. The Thurles event will include a jobs advice clinic being provided by ICOS and co-ops including Dairygold Co-operative Society, Kerry Group, Cork Co-Operative Marts, and North Cork Co-operative Creameries.

Mr Billy Goodburn, ICOS Skillnets Manager stated: “The future growth and expansion of the Irish Agri-food industry requires additional human resources. In particular the dairy sector has considerable potential, given the industry expansion agenda that exists around the removal of milk quotas next year.”

This forthcoming event in Thurles will take place at the Anner Hotel, on Thursday, August 28th, 2014 from 2.00 pm – 5.30 pm.

NOTE: Advance registration is essential. To register to attend, candidates should please contact Breeda Flood or Billy Goodburn on Tel: 01 613 1348 or Email: billy.goodburn@icos.ie

Joe Maher Named North Tipperary Young Farmer Of The Year

Insurance company Farmer Business Developments (FBD) has named North Tipperary’s ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ county finalist 2014, as 23-year old dairy farmer Mr Joe Maher.

A native of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, Joe will now go forward to represent Tipperary at the semi-final of the 16th Annual FBD ‘Young Farmer of the Year Competition,’ organised by Macra na Feirme in close partnership with the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

Some 28 county finalists will now each compete in the National Semi-finals, latter which will take place later this month on August 20th to 22nd. Six overall finalists will then be chosen from these semi-finalists, to go through to the finals taking place on September 2nd next at the Westlodge Hotel, situated in Bantry, Co Cork.

Joe presently milks some 140 pedigree Holstein Friesians at his Roscrea holding and plans in the pipeline to increase his herd numbers to 160 in the future, subject to a settling down in present milk price volatility.

This prestigious ‘Young Farmer competition,’ supported by FBD Insurance, seeks to highlight and reward the top progressive young farmers annually in Ireland and entrants are judged on:- (A) Farm Business Initiative and Innovation; (B) Farm Efficiency and Enterprise Quality; (C) Farm Safety and Environmental Protection Awareness; (D) Overall Agricultural Knowledge; and finally (E) Community Involvement.

Prizes in this competition are awarded annually to first, second and third places and the overall national winner of the competition will receive a bursary, latter which will permit the same chosen individual to travel Internationally, while studying best farm practices abroad.

Prizes will also be awarded in the ‘Innovation’ and ‘Community Involvement’ categories and to each successful county winner.

Thurles Forestry Clinic January 20th 2014

Forestry

A nationwide series of 39 forestry advisory clinics for people who are considering forestry, or who are existing forest owners, has been organised by Teagasc’s Forestry Development Department. These one-to-one consultations on Forestry Development are being held between January 20th and January 31st.

The venue for the forthcoming Thurles visit is the local Teagasc Office, situated at Castlemeadows, Thurles, tomorrow January 20th between 10.00am and 4.00pm. (Office beside Semple Stadium on the main Thurles /Nenagh Road.)

Note: Interested party’s should please bring maps and other relevant information and prior booking is essential.

These 2014 Teagasc Forestry Clinics are an ideal opportunity to obtain details of how forestry might work for you personally. If you are already a forest owner, you are welcome to come along to discuss other forest management issues.

Landowners should consider introducing forestry for many reasons; supplementing farm income, farm restructuring or developing, and as a retirement fund. To this end a one-to-one forestry appointment with a Teagasc forestry development officer can provide private landowners with free, independent and objective advice.

Here is an ideal opportunity to get one-to-one answers to your forestry questions, so try not to miss it!

Tipperary – EirGrid’s Institutionalised Arrogance

As with most important issues currently being discussed /experienced in today’s Ireland, solutions are being left solely to those whom we pay the massive salaries and top-ups and why not, after all that is why we employ them, is it not? However, if the past is any guide as to what we can expect now into the future, this trend of continued silence and non democratic debate by all of our citizens, must now stop.

We as a nation can no longer ignore or indeed trust the final supposedly logical informed decisions being made by those we employ, as many of these same employees should find out come local elections scheduled for next May.

Of course in this instance I am particularly referring to supporters of EirGrid and their arrogance and institutionalised contempt for the ordinary tax payers of South Tipperary and those who have chosen to gamble with our health, which are intent on raping our natural scenery and hell bent on destroying the very future of our tourism sector.

Why should Co Tipperary, a county which has little large industry, massively high emigration with no real future employment prospects for our children, now be ordered to bear the brunt of what we observe as institutionalised contempt?

For the benefit of our overly silent majority, EirGrid has identified three corridors for their future network of proposed pylons. (Two in Waterford and one across the South of Tipperary). From these three corridors one will be finally chosen as the route for the Gridlink power line linking Wexford and Cork via Waterford city.

According to rethinkpylons.org, EirGrid’s Grid 25 project, (of which Grid Link forms part) some 750 to 1,500 pylons will be erected between 45m and 60m high. Same will carry 400kV overhead lines more than 500km and will be erected not more than 50m from some of our private dwellings.

“For what purpose?” I hear you ask. The most widely held view by those affected is that this Gridlink project, has to do with facilitating our new, and to my view, an unsustainable wind energy sector. Minister Pat Rabbitte’s recent memorandum of understanding with the UK government with regard to exporting wind turbine produced electricity, now makes Ireland a giant Wind Farm, producing cheap electricity for Europe and may have more to do with this proposed project than indeed it has to do with the upgrading of our own national electricity grid.

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