Sheep farmer Clement Lynch’s 525-ewe farm has been selected as the newest College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) Sheep Technology Demonstration Farmer (TDF), under the theme of Grassland management.
The Lynch family farm consists of 60ha of grassland and 155ha of rough grazing and hill-land, with a sheep flock of Suffolk/Texel, Mules and Scottish Blackface ewes.
Clement uses a range of technologies on his farm, including soil analysis; grass plate meter; EID weighing; Shearwell flock recording; CAFRE nutrient calculator; AgriNet software; and Faecal Egg Counting.
Commenting on his selection, the Northern Irish farmer said:
“I am really pleased to have been selected as a TDF farmer. I have gained so much over the years from the Northern Ireland Sheep Programme and also from being a member of my local Business Development Group, which has enabled me to visit other farms.
“I am looking forward to hosting farm visits both face to face and online over the months ahead.”
Technology Demonstration Farm
TDFs are part of the Technology Evaluation Demonstration Scheme (ITEDS), that recognises that early adapters of innovations and technology play an important role in convincing their peers to take more innovative approaches to traditional systems.
The first TDFs were appointed in 2019 and since then over 40 TDF farms have been appointed.
The farms, in Northern Ireland, demonstrate the technology they use to visiting farmers, hosting at least eight farm visits every year (less for smaller sectors i.e. pigs).
In return, each host farmer receives £600 for each visit. In addition, CAFRE will support TDFs by analysing the performance of their technology, providing appropriate diagnostic testing and arranging, where appropriate, for specialists to visit and speak on their farm.
