The British Grassland Society has teamed up with the NFYFC to provide grassland training and an exciting competition for young farmers.

Following the success of last year’s pilot training day we have organised the second event to be held on 17th September 2014 at Eastfield Farm, North Perrott, Somerset, kindly hosted by dairy farmer, Matthew Senior.

Participants of the training day will have the chance to enter the Grass Farmer of the Future Competition by submitting a grassland based business plan for a set livestock farm scenario. The prize available to the successful entrant is a scholarship for the BGS Summer Meeting 2015 in Cornwall. Winners will also be invited to attend the BGS Grassland Farmer of the Year Awards Evening in Cheshire in October.

Believe it or not, GRASS is still the cheapest, most versatile, and profitable crop we grow and feed to our animals with in the UK today. This crop, which was domesticated over 12,000 years ago, accounts for 70% of UK farm land but is still largely underutilised despite being a profit driver in all systems.

BGS have teamed up with the NFYFC to run a young grassland farmer competition which offers a training opportunity to build a skills base for future grassland farming as well as the chance for the successful participant to win a sought after prize. The training will cover grassland management for sheep/beef/dairy as well as considering environmental issues and business management skills.

The training event will be held in Somerset, kindly hosted by Matthew Senior; dairy farmer and BGS Grassland Farmer of the Year Finalist 2012. Matthew farms organically on medium – heavy soils in the headwaters of the River Parrott.

Key aspects that participants will see on his farm include the utilisation of fertility building grassland mixtures and successful farm infrastructure design and management. Matthew has also adopted a range of soil management practices to cope with the prolonged wet weather experienced by the region in recent years.

There will be a range of speakers organised by BGS who are experts in the various factors of grassland management. There will also be the opportunity to walk the farm and quiz Matthew and the other speakers on their techniques.

The aims of the day are for participants to come away with improved knowledge and ideas to implement on their current or future farms to improve their grassland management and therefore increase profitability of their businesses.

This day is a fantastic opportunity for anyone in the livestock industry to further their knowledge.

The training will start at 10am with presentations from the speakers and a chance for questions and answers. There will be a break for lunch which will be provided and then a farm walk in the afternoon with a chance to take a practical look at grassland management techniques. There will also be an information booklet to accompany the course.

A £10 deposit is required, this is refundable upon attendance.

Booking forms can be obtained from the NFYFC website: www.nfyfc.org.uk/grasslandtraining