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Crowds Turn Out For Scotgrass
Crowds at Scotgrass 2010 (opens in new window)
The Scotgrass event held on SAC’s Crichton Royal and Acrehead dairy units this week attracted over 5,000 visitors to a very significant working exhibition of the technology involved in growing and harvesting good quality grass.
Hosted by SAC and co-organised with the Agricultural Engineers Association the 140-acre site was busy from the start with farmers travelling from as far as Devon and Cork.
Speaking as various manufacturers demonstrated silage making machinery Dr Dave Roberts, Head of SAC’s Dairy Research Centre at Crichton and President of the British Grassland Society, stressed the importance of working events where farmers could see the latest techniques for themselves.
“Good grass management is not just important to the dairy farmers here in the south-west. Beef and sheep producers could learn something new as well. With farmers coming from so far afield it was also a good shop window for SAC.”
The man with the job of providing sufficient grass for all the demonstrations – despite the late spring - was SAC’s Farm Manager at Crichton, Hugh McClymont. He also had to find the overflow car parking space when the first large site became jam-packed! Hugh was particularly pleased with the new demonstrations on slurry and muck handling, an addition to the Scotgrass format.
“Slurry isn’t waste,” he said. “It is an important source of nutrients which we must use to maximum effect.”
On the SAC stand inside the Knowledge Exchange marquee, Beef and Sheep consultant Rhidian Jones urged beef and sheep farmers to take home lessons about making the best silage they could, while Chris Duller of DairyCo warned farmers against waiting too long to get started on silage making despite the late spring.
NOTE: In next week's SAC News there will be podcast interviews from Scotgrass.