Farmers can get up close and personal with the parasites that could be costing their business thousands of pounds at a national sheep event next month.
Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) will be focusing on the subject of Parasitology at the NSA Wales Sheep Event being held at Maesllwyni, Penegoes, near Machynlleth in May.
Microscopes will be set up on the HCC stand showing farmers the types of parasites that could typically be found on a Welsh sheep farm.
Dr Peter Bates, an independent consultant, will be on hand to talk about how these parasites can affect sheep health and the impact they have on a farm business. Advice will also be made available on how to prevent and control the spread of parasites.
Neil Mackintosh, a research scientist at IBERS, will also be joining HCC at the event to discuss the problem of growing resistance to triclabendazole, which is a treatment for liver fluke.
Siôn Aron Jones, HCC’s Industry Development Manager, said: “Parasites can have a major effect on farm enterprises and unless measures are taken to prevent and control their spread, then it can have a significant impact on businesses profitability and animal health.
“HCC supports a number of research projects each year which aim to find ways to eradicate costly parasites from Welsh farms and stop their spread across Wales.”
Staff from HCC will also be speaking with farmers about other projects currently being run by the Industry Development team.
Maesllwyni, the host farm for this year’s event, has been taking part in the HCC Lamb Losses project delivered by Innovis, which aims to identify the main reasons for lamb losses on Welsh farms and give advice and support that can help reduce the impact that lamb mortality has on farm businesses.
Information will also be available on the new G4ce project which was launched recently as part of the Red Meat Development Programme, delivered by Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales on behalf of Farming Connect, which aims to get farmers to make more efficient use of their grass.
Notes to Editors
The NSA Wales Sheep event will be held at Maesllwyni, near Machynlleth on Wednesday May 18th 2011 thanks to brothers John and Dafydd Parry Jones.
Further details on NSA Wales Sheep 2011 are available via the following website link:-
http://www.welshsheep.org.uk/wow-factor-at-nsa-welsh-sheep-2011/
Further details on the work of the HCC Industry Development Team are available on the HCC website:-
http://www.hccmpw.org.uk/
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For further information please contact Adam Wheeler on 01970 625050 / 07545 211037 or Alan Morris on 01970 625050 / 07595 710232
