Latest news with #StephenConnolly
Irish Examiner
01-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
€36,000 prize up for grabs for Beef Bull of the Future Championships
A new €36,000 prize fund to reward top pedigree bulls across all beef breeds will be awarded at this year's Iverk Show. ABP Ireland will continue its 13-year history of supporting the Iverk Show, which was first held in 1826, making it Ireland's oldest agricultural event, drawing over 25,000 visitors annually. The show will return to Piltown, Kilkenny, on August 23. This year marks a significant evolution in the show's cattle programme with the expansion to all beef breeds, under the Beef Bull of the Future Championships, a new initiative from ABP that aims to recognise and reward excellence in pedigree beef breeding across all breeds. Under a new format, the show will continue to offer an extended range of Bull Calf Championships and will incorporate five new championships to the three existing Angus Bull Calf Championships. The new championships are two new Hereford Bull Calf Championships, a Limousine Bull Calf Championship, and two new Bull Calf Championships to accommodate all other beef breeds. Diversity in sector The final category, Supreme Bull Calf Championship, will be contested by the champion and reserve champion of each of the eight championships. With the €36,000 prize pot up for grabs, the decision to open the competition to all breeds reflects the diversity of the Irish beef sector and the essential role each breed plays in a profitable and sustainable production system. ABP agri-sustainability manager Stephen Connolly said: "We are proud to support the Iverk Show again this year. By including all breeds in this year's Beef Bull of the Future Championships, it signals our recognition of each breed's strengths in Irish beef production. Breeding is central to improving carcass quality, and this show is a fantastic platform to highlight that All bulls entered in this year's show must meet the minimum genetic merit criteria for carcass weight and conformation within the Terminal Index or Dairy Beef Index. All bulls will be judged on their visual characteristics and breed traits to ensure the best bulls are crowned winners on the day. The championships are supported by Certified Irish Angus and Irish Hereford Prime, who will be represented at the show. ABP suppliers will also benefit from a €500 voucher towards the purchase of the top prize winners in selected angus and hereford classes, offering a real opportunity to invest in superior genetics.
Irish Examiner
11-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Demo farm reports 32% lower emissions with more profitable cattle
Research produced by ABP, from the 5,500 cattle that have gone through its Demonstration Farm over the last decade, has shown producing younger, heavier animals leads to earlier finishing times, potentially significantly reducing carbon emissions by 32%. The announcement came as ABP Food Group marked a decade of research on its Demonstration Farm in Co Carlow with a special event highlighting the progress made to date in reducing climate emissions and improving on-farm efficiency. The 280-acre dairy-to-beef farm, which is owned by the Sheppard family, has partnered with ABP since 2015, with the aim of testing and validating practical on-farm solutions in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from beef production, while increasing on-farm efficiency. The ABP Demonstration Farm's research is in collaboration with, and is independently verified by, Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). The establishment of the ABP Demonstration Farm followed findings from ABP's work with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which revealed more than 90% of emissions across its supply chain occurred at farm level. So far, more than 80,000 liveweights have been recorded from the trial farm alone. Its key achievements include the findings the farm's carbon footprint is 32% lower than the average beef farm in Ireland, based on Bord Bia data, with steers finished 180 days earlier. It also found high genetic merit beef sires, compared to lower merit sires, produce cattle that are on average 38kg heavier and worth €301 more at the same age. The gap between the best and worst sires reached 62kg in carcass weight and €511 in carcass value. Hereford cattle ranked in the top third of the Commercial Beef Index delivered €220 more in returns than those in the bottom third. About 150,000 doses of semen were distributed through the Gene Ireland Programme. Progeny from 279 AI beef bulls have also been tested, with calves sired by these bulls resulting in 885,000 calves born on Irish farms. ABP agri sustainability manager Stephen Connolly said: 'The ABP Demonstration Farm is a long-term investment in the future of sustainable beef production in Ireland. Our objective is to develop systems and share solutions that support farmers and allow their businesses to grow. The key focus of our projects is economic and environmental sustainability, and in this, our key areas are animal breeding and grassland management. Although this farm is focused on dairy beef, many of the practices developed here can be transferred to suckler beef systems, which remain an integral part of Ireland's beef sector. The research findings from the ABP Demonstration Farm have directly contributed to the creation of the ABP Beef Benchmark Report, and support the ICBF Gene Ireland Beef Programme, which aims to identify the most suitable beef bulls for use on the dairy herd. The success of the ABP Demonstration Farm has also led to the creation of the ABP Advantage Beef Programme, an enterprise partnership that assists farmers to build a sustainable beef business. The programme now includes more than 1,000 participating suppliers and is a key element in expanding the research findings of the ABP Demonstration Farm across the family farm supply chain. In 2024, the 35,000 cattle produced as part of the ABP Advantage Beef Programme were on average 85 days younger at finish, with just a 4kg lighter carcass weight. ABP is currently working with Teagasc, ICBF and Meat Technology Ireland on new projects focused on genetic selection for earlier finishing and animals that emit less methane per day, as well as projects focused on improving water and soil quality. The firm is also participating in the Water EIP Programme with Teagasc and LAWPRO to enhance water quality without compromising productivity, and currently has three ABP team members training to support farmers through this scheme.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
New report finds Modesto Police oversight system sound, offers areas for improvement
The second independent assessment of the Modesto Police Department's oversight system largely praises MPD for its accountability and willingness to adopt reforms, though it also outlines several areas for improvement. Compiled by the OIR Group, a Southern California-based law firm that specializes in police oversight, the report evaluates how the Police Department handled internal investigations throughout 2024. Unlike the firm's first review, which covered just the last half of 2023, this report spans an entire calendar year and reviews a sample of 28 cases involving misconduct allegations, public complaints and internal affairs investigations. The independent police auditor's role is to 'bring a new level of transparency and accountability to the operations of the Modesto Police Department.' 'We can say with confidence that the fundamentals of MPD's internal review mechanisms are sound,' the report reads. It adds that the department takes public complaints seriously and has established a formal process for investigating them. OIR Principal Stephen Connolly presented the report to the Modesto Community Police Review Board on April 16. 'We make our report, we make our recommendations, and then it just doesn't end up on a shelf somewhere thanks to your board's engagement with it and the department's willingness to engage,' Connolly said in his presentation. He said the department took the initial recommendations seriously and implemented concrete policy and practice changes. The report highlights MPD's use of body-worn cameras and praises the creation of the Major Incident Review Team, which creates presentations after serious incidents to assess what occurred and determine whether any changes are needed. Two officer-involved shootings — one in June 2023 and another in February 2024 — were reviewed in detail. In both cases, the suspects were armed and survived their injuries. The officers were found to have acted within department policy. However, the report offers a recommendation regarding officer interviews following such incidents. Currently, MPD allows officers to delay their Internal Affairs interviews by at least a full day. OIR suggests requiring these interviews before the end of the officer's shift to preserve the 'investigative purity' of their accounts and reduce the risk of outside influence. The report commends MPD for requiring officers to provide statements before viewing body camera footage, allowing them to review the footage afterward only to supplement their initial accounts. While the department found no policy violations in the majority of complaint allegations reviewed, the report notes that some allegations were partially substantiated — even if the overall complaint was unfounded. For instance, some investigations revealed secondary issues such as delayed activation of body cameras or unprofessional comments from officers. The report applauds MPD's improvements in its complaint intake process, such as making it easier to file complaints in person or online and prioritizing follow-up interviews with complainants. Still, it recommends conducting those interviews more promptly. When it came to allegations of biased policing, none were sustained within the sample cases. The report notes the difficulty in proving officer bias and suggests that many allegations reflected broader dissatisfaction with an encounter rather than clear evidence of discrimination. Nonetheless, the report urges MPD to evaluate the value of pretextual stops — traffic stops used as a reason to investigate unrelated suspicions — given their potential to erode community trust. Pretext stops are legal, but Connolly said 'there are some communities where that has been a friction point, and there's a concern that that is not done in an evenhanded way.' To further address concerns about bias, the report recommends analyzing patterns in officer stops and arrests and considering additional strategies to assess bias. Regarding use of force, OIR generally agreed with MPD's conclusions in reviewed cases, even though the auditor expressed 'hesitations at the edges' of some analyses. None of the reviewed cases appeared to show demographic bias, the report said. However, the report identifies several shortcomings in the department's handling of force incidents. These included interview questions that assumed wrongdoing by subjects rather than maintaining an objective tone, as well as ineffective Taser use, lack of warning before deploying Tasers, and delays in activating body cameras. In some cases, officers failed to unmute body-worn recorders. Additionally, there were concerns raised about the use and efficacy of police dogs — including one case where a dog continued biting a subject after being ordered to release. The report concludes by encouraging MPD to improve its documentation of deescalation efforts during force incidents and to continue refining its internal practices. 'The basic impression that I have and that the report is meant to convey is that these processes, while there's always room for improvement, the department absolutely takes these things seriously,' Connolly said.
