Organised by Staffordshire county adviser, Jeremy Lowe, the Safely Handling Livestock event was held at the ultra modern headquarters of leading fencing manufacturer IAE in Adderley Green.
Members were treated to an speaker session bristling with farm safety experts, chaired by NFU Deputy President David Exwood.
The audience heard from Wayne Owen of the Health and Safety Executive, John Berrisford from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and LLM Farm Vets' Erica Pierce, who all gave informative and sobering talks on how vital staying switched on to farm safety is to members and those around them.
They had the chance to learn about the riveting history of IAE, which grew from humble beginnings with Polish immigrant Frank Klucznik Snr. in 1969 to become the UK's largest manufacturer of livestock handling and housing equipment, operating from a 38 acre purpose-built, environmentally conscious site in Stoke-on-Trent.
Visitors could also speak to organisations like FCN, Yellow Wellies, Peoplesafe, Defib and Everyonehealth who all had stands at the event.
The venue was packed with a wide variety of livestock handling systems and even featured a full-size replica of Mr Klucznik's original works van.
Members were then given a guided tour of the cavernous manufacturing site and given the inside line on how IAE produce the fencing that has made their name.
Jeremy Lowe said: "A huge thank you to IAE for the use of this amazing facility and to our speakers on the day who spoke from a very practical point of view with advice that farmers can implement in their businesses."
“We’ve heard some great messages from a whole range of people about how to work with animals safely and how to handle them safely.”
NFU Deputy President David Exwood