Three Counties Beef & Sheep Group

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1 Three Counties Beef & Sheep Group 2013/2014 Membership Booklet Kindly sponsored by:

2 Committee: Chairman Craig Forsyth Vice Chairman Peter Aitken Secretary Susan Nash Membership Tonia Grinham Nutbeams Home Farm Leighton Road Northall Dunstable LU6 2HD Please note that any of the meetings could be changed nearer the date. Further fees may apply to certain meetings to cover costs, but information will be supplied prior to the event. Please ensure that we have your contact details so that you can be updated on any changes.

3 A warm welcome to you all. I have a great honour and responsibility in being the first chairman of the three counties beef and sheep group. The group has been formed by farmers for farmers and can only be a success if you feed your meeting ideas into us and we will do the rest. The need for us as an industry to keep up to date with disease challenges, health issues and new management practices are becoming ever more prevalent, especially as this year outputs have been reduced and margins squeezed we all need to take a proactive approach to our business and learn from one another. From the few meetings we held earlier in the year I could see we have a great amount of support and enthusiasm within our farming community and now with our rural partners (sponsors) behind us we really have a chance to stand up and be a local voice. It really excites me in what we are building together and can only bode well for us as a local farming community. Thanks Craig Forsyth

4 Tuesday 12 th November 2013 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club External Parasites A lot of emphasis is put on internal parasites, such as gut worms, fluke and lungworm, but very little is spoken about external parasites. Flies, lice, ticks and mange can lead to large production losses through poor dry matter intakes and can result in fatalities through blood loss of spread of other diseases.

5 Tuesday 3 rd December 2013 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club Biosecurity You may get sick and tired of your vets and the farming press harping on about biosecurity, but it is imperative to keep a healthy herd or flock. An outbreak of an infectious disease such as IBR, BVD or CODD, or being shut down with TB can have a serious effect on your business. Lead by Mr Peter Aitken from Westpoint Three Counties Vets we aim to discuss the best practices for biosecurity and how a biosecurity plan can be implemented to save your stock and save you money!

6 Tuesday 14 th January 2014 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club Periparturient Disease in Ewes Controlling and preventing diseases such as twin lamb disease, hypocalcaemia and prolapses are crucial to ensure your ewes feed your lambs well resulting in good weights at selling. Prevention is always better than cure, so we aim to start the new year thinking of how we can prevent periparturient diseases in our ewes before lambing starts.

7 Tuesday 18 th February 2014 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club Improving Calving Patterns We all strive to tighter calving patterns to make a more even batch of calves that will sell better as stores or fatten better. Using data we have amassed from previous years calvings and the national averages from EBLEX data, the aim is to discuss how we can reduce our calving periods using EBLEX expertise and individual experience.

8 Tuesday 20 th May 2014 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club Lambing Data Interpretation Recording scanning, lambing and finishing data allows you to identify areas in your business that may be costing you, or that could be improved. In this meeting we aim to discuss how you can interpret the data gathered and use it to your advantage. We also plan to use benchmarks from within the group and from the EBLEX data to start discussions about how you could improve your profit margins.

9 Tuesday 8 th July 2014 Monitor Farm Sheep Farm Walk and End of Year Review To end the year of meetings we are going to visit one of our local Monitor Farms to see what has happened during the last season. As with the beef farm walk, the plan is to walk around the unit discussing all parts of production and comparing it to your own set up. We will then end with dinner in a pub down the road and a review of the previous year s meetings with the 3CBS. Make sure you think of plenty of ideas for meetings for !!

10 Sponsors Hampden Veterinary Hospital (Farm Practice)

11 Sponsors Thrapston Livestock Centre Oakleigh House, High Street, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, NN14 4LJ Tel: Fax: