Grass management is praised during difficult farming year

Editorial Department • Published 18 Feb 2010 10:20 0 Comments

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Excellence in grassland management was celebrated last week when Fermanagh Grassland Club announced the prizewinners in the Grazing and Silage Competitions.

In what was described as an extremely difficult year for farming during 2009 with exceptionally high rainfall, there was praise for the quality of farm management during the judging of both competitions.

The Grazing Competition was judged by the Ulster Bank, represented at the Club's prizegiving and dinner by its senior agricultural manager, Cormac McKervey.

The judges were Alan Coalter of Ballinamallard and William Johnston, the Club Secretary and Beef and Sheep Adviser.

Mr. Johnston explained how they judged the grazing competition over the two days of September 24 and 25, during a spell of fine autumn weather. He said he was surprised at the ground conditions after such a wet summer and they saw good utilisation of grass.

"We found it a challenge because there was a number of people who did a good job and there was very little lasting damage done to swards," said Mr. Johnston.

He also reported that every farmer was upbeat and they were surprised by the attitude generally.

The results of the Grazing Competition sponsored by the Ulster Bank were as follows;

Beef section - 1,(Todd Cup), Ian Brown, Macken; 2, Robert McCrea, Fivemiletown; 3, Ivan Henderson, Lisnaskea.

Dairy section - 1(Stevenson Cup), Trevor Dunn, Brookeborough; 2, James Murphy, Tempo; 3, Brendan Boyle, Rosslea.

Overall winner of Grazing Competition - Ian Brown.

The results of the silage competition, sponsored by Barenbrug UK represented by Northern Ireland manager, David Linton, was as follows;

Under 700 tonnes - 1(Tisdall Cup), Mervyn Gould, Kinawley; 2, Robert McCrea, Fivemiletown; 3, George Darling, Aghalane.

Over 700 tonnes - 1(Hermon Cup), Reggie Alcorn, Omagh; 2, Kenneth Alcorn, Omagh; 3, Kevin McGrade, Trillick.

The last prize awarded was the Houston Trophy for someone who has made a significant contribution to agriculture in Fermanagh. The recipient this year was Joe Pat Prunty, who developed the drainage system used on many farms over the years.

Mr. Prunty, receiving his award, said he recalled being a former Chairman of the Club and it was great to be back among friends at the Club. He recalled when the Club was founded and the contribution made by one of its founders, Robert Houston, who had donated this trophy.

He said he was delighted to have been presented with this and although he had received numerous trophies over the years, this one was special to him. He said it gave him great pleasure to receive the trophy for the coming year.

The guest speaker at this year's dinner was Mr. Denzil McDaniel, Managing Editor of The Impartial Reporter who spoke on "The Changes and Challenges Facing the Modern Media". He reminded the Club members that the founder of The Impartial Reporter, William Trimble, established the newspaper in 1825 to promote agriculture at the time. Agricultural content continues to be part of the extensive coverage of events in the county to-day.

Mr. McDaniel referred to the changing scene of newspapers across Ireland with the demise of local family owned titles and with the emergence of newspaper groups. The Impartial Reporter is now owned by Dunfermline Press based in Scotland and staff in Enniskillen work closely with the Scottish owners' site at Greenock.

He told members of the Club how between 2000 and 2005, an estimated 600 million euros of newspaper deals were done in Ireland.

Despite the challenges which the newspaper industry faces, Mr. McDaniel said he was confident that local newspapers would continue to play an important role in the community but reminded Club members that as a business, they too were subject to the pressures of business.

The next meeting of Fermanagh Grassland Club takes place on Tuesday, March 9 when the speaker will be Justin McCarthy of the Irish Farmers' Journal.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Feb 10

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