A noticeable number of younger people are getting into pedigree sheep breeding, more so than on the commercial side.
This is what Kieran McGee of Farm Relief Services (FRS) told Agriland he notices on his travels as a Bovine Ultrasound Technician.
Kieran said he has had a number of new customers this year who have entered pedigree breeding, and that “a good few” are younger pedigree breeders.
“A lot of the customers I’d be seeing are younger and new breeders that I wouldn’t normally have had, with older customers more so on the commercial side of it,” he said.
“These younger breeders who are getting into the pedigree side of it are keeping less numbers and keeping the quality up.
“They can’t compete with the dairy farmers for example, for renting land for example and are trying to make the most of what they have themselves by keeping less numbers and focusing on breeding better quality sheep.
“A lot of these in fact are working full-time off farm.”
Kieran said he has noticed a pattern developing that those getting into the pedigree sheep business are flushing and artificially inseminating the ewes.
“Then taking their few days annual leave off early in the year, as they are lambing early and lambing the ewes and then getting back to the off-farm job and then just be able to check in on them morning and evening,” he said.
“Rather than lambing down a big number of ewes and trying to take time off can be tricky to do and the workload is far bigger and then if you are tight for ground and trying to take ground to rent it can just be more difficult to do.
“That’s just the pattern I have noticed around the areas I do be based in.”