Dairy Women Ireland (DWI) has announced that its fourth annual conference will take place next month in Co. Cork.

The event, scheduled for Friday, November 21, at the Charleville Park Hotel, will bring together women in the dairy industry from across the country for a day of “learning, connection, and celebration”.

The theme for the 2025 conference is ‘Building Success, Breaking Barriers’.

This year sees the introduction of a new addition to the programme – a gala dinner and fashion show.

The DWI said the new addition is intended to offer attendees the opportunity to “come together and continue on the conversation in a relaxed and celebratory setting after a day of thought-provoking discussion and networking”.

The conference agenda will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions, and workshops designed to inspire and empower women working across all aspects of the dairy industry.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mary Kinston, DWI president said: “Our annual conference has become a key date in the calendar for women in dairy, and this year we are thrilled to introduce the gala dinner and fashion show as a brand-new element.

“It’s an opportunity not only to share knowledge and ideas but also to celebrate the strength, resilience, and style of women in agriculture.”

Dairy Women Ireland

Separately, DWI will hold a Cow Signals Training day involving workshops on Saturday, November 8, in Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

This knowledge transfer event will allow participants to “observe, interpret, and respond” to cow behaviour and environmental cues to boost health, welfare, and productivity on their farm.

Topics covered on the day will include:

Cow comfort and welfare;
The six freedoms – feed, water, light, air, rest, and space;
Housing and handling improvements;
Practical checklists for disease prevention and longevity.

Hazell Mullins, a vet and dairy farmer from Co. Cork will be providing training on the day, after spending four days learning how to be a Cow Signals Master Trainer in September of this year.

The course was provided by Dutch vet, Joep Driessen in The Netherlands.

Cow signals training. Source: Hazell Mullins

She also has quite a substantial social media presence on her Instagram page, where she posts all things agriculture, from cow health to silage season 2025.

Agriland spoke to Mullins to find out what exactly is involved in cow signals training.

She said: “Cow signals for me has been part of my veterinary career, I studied it in college, and from then I’ve always had an interest in it.

“And when you don’t use it you lose it; there’s a lot of basic principles of cow signals looking at the cow and looking at their environment, and how they’re interacting with their environment, and how that impacts on the welfare and productivity of the cow.

“So it’s about taking a step back from your day-to-day routine and actually looking to see is there a reason why this illness has been caused and actually just trying to broaden our thinking and think outside the box a little bit.”

Mullins also highlighted how cow signals link in with the sustainability of dairying, explaining that as a cow with better welfare is more productive, the environment also benefits from that.

The vet noted that traditionally cow signals are mainly aimed at housed animals, so it is very important in Ireland coming into the housing period that cow comfort is brought to the forefront.

When asked what advice she would give to a woman starting out in dairying, Mullins said: “Forming a community is really important, and actually having likeminded friends that are maybe going through similar things as you.

“As a woman in dairy, I think that we should be very proud of it.

“Technology is up and coming, there’s more and more advances in farming that makes farming easier, but there will be hard days, bad weather, and what-not.

“We should be very proud of what we do, but to not be afraid to reach out for help as well.”

Dairy Women Ireland

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Cow Signals Training

Dairy Women Ireland to hold 4th annual conference in Cork