A series of open days focused on "smart sheep farming" are set to take place in Northern Ireland next month.

Sheep equipment and technology company Cotter Agritech, will be joined at the events by the National Sheep Association Northern Ireland, the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Elanco, Parklands Veterinary Group, TGM Software Solutions and BT Brotech by Sheep School.

The theme of the open days, taking place on September 1 and 2, is "equipment, data and advice to protect and improve flock performance on a modern sheep farm".

Each open day will begin with a farm walk at 5:30p.m, followed by an in-depth look at the farm’s handling facilities.

In addition, there will be a showcase of the latest sheep equipment and technology, interactive speaker sessions on performance data, dog worrying and drench resistance, and a number of trade stands.

Sheep farms

The open day on September 1 will take place at Martin Blaney’s farm in Cushendun, Co. Antrim.

Martin runs 500 Lanark Blackface and Mule ewes and 40 sucklers on hilly ground.

On September 2, the open day will take place at Paul McSwiggan’s farm outside Swatragh, Co. Derry.

Paul farms alongside his son Tiernan and together they run 550 horned Lanark-type ewes along with Swaledales and Lleyns on hill ground at the foot of the Sperrins.

Both farmers have invested in a Cotter Crate as part of their handling facilities.

Lambing performance, flock key performance indicators (KPIs), along with grassland management will be examined on both farms.

The farmers will discuss what is working well in their enterprise, where the challenges are and their future plans.

Participants will then move to the handling area for a live demonstration of the Cotter Crate Sheep and Lamb Handler, the Automed automatic dosing gun and the company’s new curved lead-up race options.

Open days

Nick Cotter will also cover the Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme (SFIS) which offers grant aid of 40%.

As the scheme closes for applications on September 3, the open days will allow farmers to see the eligible equipment working and ask questions before the deadline.

George McGarry of TGM Software Solutions will then speak about getting the most out of sheep weight and electronic identification (EID) data to breed more profitable sheep.

David Beattie and Rob Beattie of BT Brotech by Sheep School, will demonstrate Sheep Guardian, a collar that detects sheep worrying and notifies the farmer immediately.

Parklands Veterinary Group will cover drench resistance and barber’s pole worm, with an in-depth look at quarantine protocol for bought-in sheep and how technology helps avoid over- and under-dosing.

All are welcome to attend the events, with registration now open on the Cotter Agritech website.