Mole Valley Farmers, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Elanco are set to jointly host an event focused on the internal effects of parasite damage in sheep.

This will be done via demonstration of sheep post-mortems.

The event will take place at the Mole Valley Farmers agricultural centre in Cirencester on Friday, December 8, from 6:00p.m until 9:00p.m.

Ben Strugnell of Farm Post Mortems Ltd will lead the event and will cover:

Why, when and how post-mortems take place and the benefits of them;
What organs look like and the common causes of death in lambs;
How worms can affect your flock and current best practice on effective worm control.

Deadstock will be present at the meeting.

This event is hosted by Voyce Pullin Markets, with Mole Valley Farmers, AHDB Beef & Lamb, Elanco and Benson & Babb.

Those interested are urged to register for the event before Monday, December 4.

Pig unit presentation

The following week, AHDB has organised for a pork production manager to give a presentation on his pig unit, which includes a new dry sow house, a service house and farrowing house.

Ben Golledge will discuss sow management pre- and post-weaning and explain the feeding regime in the farrowing house and how they use milk cups.

The event will take place on Monday, December 11, from 7:00p.m until 10:00p.m at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

Hugh Crabtree, AHDB pork sector council member, will also be present to take attendees through what has been happening in the pork sector in the past year.

AHDB said those who attend will:

Get a better understanding of how a modern pig unit works;
Take away useful tips about the products Golledge uses on his unit;
Learn about the potential levy increase;
Catch up with other pig producers in the region.