OviCast

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Latest Episodes:

Farmer Focus: Brian Keane on his mixed enterprise, dealing with drought & sowing cover crops for the winter Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

Sheep BETTER Farm Programme participant, Brian Keane, and his Teagasc Advisor, James Doran, join Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to get an insight into the system he is operating and how he is managing this season.

Brian, who is farming near Enniscorthy in Co Wexford, first gives some background to his farming enterprise which comprises of sheep suckers and tillage.

He discusses how the dry spell has affected his farm over the past few weeks and James highlights what steps Brian has taken to manage through the dry spell.

Brian explains what cover crops he has put in for the winter and their potential to finish lambs with James also offering some tips on best management.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Sheep Market Update Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

Seamus McMenamin, Sheep Sector Manager with Bord Bia, is on this week’s OviCast podcast to discuss current trends and the outlook for the sheep market in the coming months.

Seamus begins by discussing current trade and throughput this year to date. Since spring, Seamus explains the impact reopening has had on lamb consumption both on the domestic and international market as well as the trends in international trade.

He then discusses the prospects for the lambs and ewe trade over the coming weeks and months.

Finally, Seamus highlights the potential market for organic lamb and some of the challenges both the organic and conventional lamb trade could face going forwards.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Tackling Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (OPA) in a hill flock Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

Patrick Dunne, who is a participant in the Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep programme, is on this week’s OviCast to discuss the impact of OPA on his flock and how he has addressed the issue over the past number of years.

Patrick goes back a number of years to explain how it was impacting the flock and the lack of awareness of what was causing it. He discusses how he went about getting a diagnosis and how he enlisted the services of Vet Patrick Grant to screen the flock via ultrasound scanning to detect infected ewes at an earlier stage.

Using this information, he was able to reduce the level of OPA in the flock and the impact that has had in subsequent years on the health and productivity of the flock.

He discusses OPA, or to give it its full title Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma, which is also referred to as Jaggsiekete or more commonly wheelbarrow disease, and it is an infectious cancerous tumour that affects the lungs of sheep.

The disease is spread through the inhalation of the virus from respiratory secretions, it is production limiting and as the condition progresses, the virus leads to the development of multiple tumours in the lungs which lead to the overproduction of fluid in the lungs and is nearly always fatal.

Early detection relies on the use of ultrasound to detect tumours in the lungs at an early stage thereby for culling of these infected animals at an early stage and limit the spread and incidence in a flock.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Grassland management focus Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

Dr Philip Creighton joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss grazing management as we head into the autumn.

Philip starts off by discussing grass supply and demand across the country and the need to take stock of these for the coming weeks and months. He goes on to outline the grazing targets for the coming weeks.

He discusses August fertiliser applications, the importance of targeting P & K and lime applications at key areas before finishing up with some grazing tips for newly established clover swards and explaining the impact this has on a successful establishment.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Buying a ram? Make use of the genetic information Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

With ram sales in full swing, Kevin Mc Dermott, Sheep Ireland Manager, joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss using genetic information when making your purchasing decisions.

First, Kevin highlights the benefits genetic improvement has in a flock as he discusses the results from on-farm validations.

There is a discussion on what information is available for recorded rams in sales catalogues with Kevin highlighting and explaining the key areas to focus on.

With over 1000 pedigree breeders recorded in LambPlus, Kevin explains the online ram search tool and how it can be used to identify rams right across the country.

Finally, Kevin discusses this year’s sheep Ireland multibreed rams sale.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Do companion forages influence intake, digestibility and methane production in sheep? Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

Post-graduate student, Sarah Woodmartin, and Dr Fiona McGovern join Ciarán Lynch on the latest OviCast podcast to discuss ongoing work examining the effect of companion forages influence intake, digestibility and methane production in sheep as part of a wider Grass2Gas project.

Sarah first gives a bit of background to the project before discussing what is being examined, some of the preliminary results and their implications as well as future areas of interest.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

The weights are in – BETTER farm update Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

Dr Frank Campion joins Ciarán Lynch for this episode of OviCast with an update of how performance has stacked up on the lowland flocks at weaning.

He discusses lamb performance and its implications for sales, feeding and finishing strategies on the farms.

Frank emphasises the importance of assessing the weight of lambs and their expected finish time at this stage of the season.

Finally, Frank highlights the importance of internal parasite control and monitoring worm burdens as the season progresses.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Time to check and cull for mastitis Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

With ewes being weaned across the country it provides farmers with an opportunity to check udders for mastitis and other issues and remove these problem ewes from the flock.

Ryan Duffy, Technical Vet with HIPRA, joins Ciarán Lynch on the latest OviCast podcast to discuss the implications of mastitis in ewes and offers some practical advice on the topic.

Ryan explains the different types of mastitis that occurs, the need to cull ewes exhibiting any signs of infection, as well as the impact of udder and teat structure.

He also discusses the drying off process and the impact that can have before moving on to discuss mastitis that can occur in the dry period.

Finally, Ryan offers his advice for flocks that encounter a high incidence of mastitis annually.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

Weaning - management tasks and performance checks Jun 28, 2022

Show notes

With weaning occurring around the country, sheep specialist Michael Gottstein joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss some of the key management tasks over the coming weeks and the opportunity it presents to benchmark performance.

They discuss various aspects of flock performance from ewe output to lamb performance to reasons for culling.

Michael advises as to why it’s a good opportunity to assess lamb weights, batch lambs accordingly and establish finishing lamb group early and plan ahead.

They discuss culling and taking advantage of the high cull ewe priced this season to tidy up flock performance.

Finally, Michael encourages producers to examine how their flock has performed and think about what changes could be made to improve for next season.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast

What you need to know about the Fodder Support Scheme Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

The Fodder Support Scheme opened for applications this week and sheep specialist Damian Costello joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to explain more about it.

Damian outlines the focus of the scheme and the potential payment and key dates involved.

He discusses eligibility criteria and maximum payable area plus explains how you can submit an application under agfood.ie and when payments are expected to be made.

For more episodes from the OviCast podcast, visit the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast