The Teagasc Pig Development Department held their Pig Open Day in two locations, Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research & Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, County Cork on Wednesday, 22nd May and Friday, 24th May in Ballyhaise Agricultural College, County Cavan.
Delegates were welcomed to the event in Cork by the Director of Teagasc, Professor Frank O’Mara. The opening session also included an overview of future research by the Head of the Teagasc Pig Development Department, Dr. Edgar Garcia Manzanilla.
Over 180 pig producers and industry stakeholders attended the event over the two days. Attendees were guided through interactive stations providing an ideal opportunity to see first-hand the results of the comprehensive research programme undertaken by Teagasc, and to meet and discuss with the researchers, postgraduate students and technical staff who carry out the work.
Much of the research on show had an emphasis on management and nutritional strategies as well as sustainable pig production. This event provided attendees with an update on the Teagasc Pig Research Facility, our state of the art pig research farm, where we also detailed some of the new technologies employed in the unit. This year we introduced the Pig Nutrition Feed Lab and the early results from wet chemistry analysis of feed ingredients from the Teagasc pig sector feedstuffs analysis programme.
Speaking at the event, open day organiser and Teagasc Specialised Advisor, Dr Amy Quinn said, “We were delighted to welcome such big numbers to this year’s event. Attendees really enjoyed the interactive structure. This type of engagement and feedback benefits both the attendees and our research staff and students, strengthens our programme and ensures our future research continues to be both applicable and of high quality.”
