Towra Livestock Services have received funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to run two new practical training sessions on livestock handling and welfare.

Jim Dockery, the owner of the Co. Offaly company, secured the funding through the open farm safety call.

Speaking to Agriland, Dockery, who has being involved in health and safety for over 25 years, outlined the importance and structure of these free sessions.

One of the courses will be on the safe handling of livestock, while the other session will focus on animal welfare officer training.

Dockery highlighted how there is currently no training like this available in Ireland, despite it being a DAFM requirement to have an animal welfare officer present in marts and at cattle shows.

The first safe handling of livestock session will take place on Monday, August 25 at 6:00p.m, while the first animal welfare officer training course will take place on Monday, September 8 at 6:00p.m.

The programme is open from now until November 15, with farmers, spouses, family members, employees, students, or anyone else working with livestock encouraged to sign up.

The practical courses will be approximately three hours long, and will feature different speakers such as vets, breeding experts, agri-specialists and mental health advocates.

Dockery advised people to get in touch prior to the events, saying there is only capacity for 10-15 people per session, with overall spaces limited to 250.

As a qualified health and safety professional, Dockery will issue certificates to those who complete the course, with a three-year expiry date.

Dockery plans to do the majority of courses on his farm, as it is already set up with good quality and modern facilities.

The farm is fitted with a good crush, along with a 40ft long catwalk for safe observation, according to the Towra Livestock Services owner.

He also has a squeeze chute, a centre pen calving gate, a head scoop for dosing, and a sweep gate for loading bulls.

Dockery explained how he wishes to travel to different regions with the course, but said he must find suitable farms in order to do so.

He also plan to do a demonstration on moving animals between paddocks while the weather is fine.

After completing the safe handling course, the animal welfare course will be offered seperately.

With marts and shows requiring animal welfare officers, this course is essential.

Dockery told us how he already provides drover training in marts, and said the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) offers some training to their marts.

The welfare training aims to help participants develop a keen eye and innovative thinking through a series of tests.

For example, for the purposes of the course, Dockery would set up an exercise where bulls are held in a pen bedded with straw but no hay. In another pen, they may have water and hay but no straw, while in another pen the water could be turned off.

The course aims to get people to notice simple issues such as this, as well other problems like overcrowding, and sick or sore animals arriving at marts.