YDP Senior Conference
The YDP Senior Conference took place in Ireland on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th January. We had 22 participants from Ireland and Scotland, as well as a participant who travelled from Italy, who enjoyed a super weekend of technical talks, demonstrations and farm visits.
Starting on the Friday, participants first arrived at Teagasc Grange in Co. Meath, Ireland’s largest beef and suckler research centre. After a brief introduction to the research centre and the history of Grange, participants were brought out to the farm where they saw the various parts of the enterprise. Researchers on the farm gave talks and demonstrations on feed efficiency, high genetic merit Angus versus low genetic merit Angus, and dairy calf-to-beef research. We wish to thank John Smyth and all the researchers at Grange for their support in allowing us to visit such a wonderful facility.
Saturday was a full-on day with an early start, with the first scheduled visit taking place at 9am. The first visit on Saturday was to the Liffey Meats feedlot, based just outside of Kells, Co. Meath. Owned by the Mallon family, they are finishing approximately 10,000 cattle per year, with the majority being Angus or Angus-cross animals from the dairy herd.
On arrival, we were treated to tea and coffee along with a welcome from Frank Mallon, owner of Liffey Meats, as well as his farm manager and beef production manager. The tour of the facility brought us through every step of the feedlot, from the day the animals arrive and the protocols they go through, right up to the day they leave for slaughter. The diets and different stages of the fattening process were big discussion topics between all parties over the course of the tour. We would like to thank the Mallon family, their staff and Donal Gilsenan of Angus Beef Ireland for facilitating our visit and for the fantastic lunch we received while we were there.
After our visit to Liffey Meats, we made our way to the famous Gigginstown herd and bloodstock enterprise owned by Michael O’Leary. We were shown around Gigginstown by Stockman and YDP Coordinator Niall Lynch, along with our wonderful bus driver, William Bligh, who also works there.
Firstly, we were shown some of the famous Gigginstown racehorses, including dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Don Cossack. After this, we had a look at various parts of the farm, including their purpose-built bull shed, which houses their bulls for the annual bull sale. We then made our way to their other yards, which house their 250-cow herd. The herd calves approximately 150 cows in the winter and 100 in the spring and is 100% pedigree, running mainly stock bulls along with some AI. There are also 1,200 acres of winter crops grown on the farm, mainly wheat, barley and oilseed rape.
After the tour of the farm, it was back to the bull shed where we had an afternoon snack of soup and sandwiches. We wish to thank the O’Leary family, Niall and William for taking us in for a visit and for all their help over the weekend.
The YDP hopes to build on this fantastic Senior Conference and hopes we can continue to go from strength to strength. Keep an eye out for updates on future YDP events on our Facebook page and website.
The Godfrey Neale Trophy for Endeavor
The Godfrey Neale Trophy is awarded at the YDP Senior Conference in memory of Godfrey Neale and in recognition of the fund he generously left to support the next generation of farmers. The fund is used to directly benefit young people by helping them gain valuable insights and practical skills that they can take back to their own farms through their participation in the Senior Conference.
The Trophy for Endeavour is awarded to an individual/s who actively engage throughout the conference, demonstrates strong knowledge and communication skills, and shows exceptional enthusiasm and potential for contributing to the future of beef farming.
The winners of The Godfrey Neale Trophy for Endeavor for 2026 are Graeme Rhind and Niamh Sullivan congratulations to our well deserved winners.
