The hills of southwest Mayo once carried more Scotch Blackface sheep than almost anywhere else in Ireland, a new book reveals.

At 45,000ac, Dhulough Farm was not only the country’s largest sheep enterprise but also one of its most ambitious farming experiments.

A new book, Seventy Years in the Wild West by former Teagasc agricultural adviser, Sean Cadden, tells the story of this vast enterprise, the families displaced to make way for it, and the land that eventually returned to local farmers.

Established in the 1850s by Captain William Houstoun, Dhulough Farm stretched across 37 townlands between Louisburgh and Leenane.

Ruthlessly cleared of tenants in the wake of the famine, the land became the stage for a Scottish-style sheep system.

Houstoun stocked the hills with Scotch Blackface sheep, introducing the hardy breed that could thrive in Mayo’s tough terrain. For 70 years, Dhulough was run as a commercial sheep farm on a scale unknown elsewhere in Ireland.

Cadden, drawing on his career in Teagasc, highlights the innovations and challenges of this enterprise - the stocking rates, grazing management, and attempts to transplant Scottish methods to Irish hills.

While the Houstouns achieved a measure of success, the human cost was enormous. Whole families were forced onto poorer land, and emigration became the only option for many.

By the early 20th century, agrarian agitation and policy intervention forced the break-up of the estate.

The Congested Districts Board divided Dhulough into over 90 family farms, with some descendants of the original tenants returning to the land.

Rich in photographs, genealogical detail, and farm management insights, Seventy Years in the Wild West is both a human story and a farming case study.

For anyone interested in agricultural history, it shows how land, livestock, and livelihoods collided in one of Ireland’s most striking experiments in hill farming.

A Westport launch for Seventy Years in the Wild West will take place on Thursday, September 25 at 8:00p.m in the Plaza Hotel. Catherine Keena, head of countryside management with Teagasc, will launch the book.

The Castlebar launch will be part of the Wild Atlantic Words literary festival on Thursday, October 9 at 7.30p.m. Harry Hughes of Westport Historical Society will launch the book there.

Published by Mayo Books Press, Seventy Years in the Wild West retails at €25 per copy.