The National Sheep Association (NSA) has added a new series of webinars to its diary of virtual events.
Topics for the seminars, which are open to the wider public as well as NSA members, include Contagious Ovine Digital Dermatitis (CODD), sustainable parasite control and grassland management.
The NSA Next Generation is also planning a series of webinars aimed specifically at younger sheep farmers.
Previous online lectures have covered ‘iceberg diseases’ in sheep, as well as offering advice on how to get started in the sheep industry.
The next seminar is set to feature:
- Jennifer Duncan, senior lecturer at Liverpool University (widely considered to be the UK’s leading expert on CODD);
- Specialist sheep vet Liz Nabb, who is currently completing a PhD on the sheep foot rot; and
- NSA chairman Bryan Griffiths and his wife Liz, who have worked hard to try and eradicate lameness issues from their Devon farm.
The CODD webinar takes place on Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30pm.
The next seminar, tabled for Wednesday, July 1, is set to feature Moredun Institute as well as Elanco Animal Health to discuss sustainable parasite control. The webinar will be repeated again on Wednesday, August 5.
The webinar is designed to provide farmers with a practical overview of parasite challenges, covering:
- The wider impact of worms and liver fluke on flock and herd productivity and profitability;
- The importance of monitoring and testing;
- Practical application on how to make a difference on-farm.
The third in the online series will see the NSA join with the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) for the first time to deliver a webinar on the GrassCheck GB project.
Dr. Debbie McConnell from Agri-Food and Bioscience Institute (AFBI), will explain how farmers can use the information collated by the project to plan their grazing and conserved forage. Dr. McConnell will be followed by Helen Mathieu from Germinal who will highlight options to boost forage production.
The grassland webinar takes place on Wednesday, July 8 at 7:30pm.
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: “The popularity of the webinar has no doubt been one of the positive outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic as the sheep sector (as well as many others) recognises the possibility to partake in valuable knowledge exchange from the comfort and safety of their own homes.
“The NSA is proud to join up with so many leading bodies and companies to deliver, what we hope, will be truly worthwhile webinars.”
