The latest census figures confirm that total sheep numbers have declined significantly across Europe over the past 12 months.
As a result, considerable reductions in lamb output have been recorded in all of Europe’s key sheep producing regions: the UK, Ireland, France and Spain.
The upside to this trend has been a significant strengthening of lamb prices. In fact, record sheep prices were set in Ireland during the early months of 2024.
Scottish flock owner, Brian Clark, judged the sheep classes at this year’s Clogher Valley Shows. He attributes the decline in sheep numbers to the impact of recent environmental policies, introduced by the UK government.
“It’s all about balance. Planting trees reduces the amount of available land available to sheep farmers.
“Yet, sheep farming has been shown to be one of the most sustainable production practices that can be followed within agriculture.”
Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) chief executive, Colin Smith, agrees. He spoke at the recent EasyCare open evening, hosted by Co. Antrim flock owner, Campbell Tweed.
According to the Commission, representative a number of factors are now contributing to the European-wide reduction in sheep numbers.
“These include: the age profile of farmers; access to land; access to labour; the cost of labour; policy changes driving land use; a real push towards environmental policy and environmental policies more generally.
“We have also seen increasing disease pressure across the UK and Europe. Meanwhile, input costs remain high,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, a lack of direct support has been specifically identified as a key factor in bringing about a decline in the size of Northern Ireland’s ewe flock.
As the transition to new, post-Brexit support measures takes place, no policies have been agreed for the sheep sector.
This has led to the establishment of a sheep industry taskforce. The new grouping comprises representation from the National Sheep Association (NSA); Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU); Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association (NIMEA); Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA); LMC, and Ulster Wool.
A key objective of the taskforce was to provide a robust, evidence-based report outlining the sheep industry’s vision for the future.
This has now been completed. The group hope to gain targeted support for its proposals for sustainability measures for the Northern Irish sheep sector.
The group has also looked at providing a vision for a stimulus package to support the development of the sector.
This will encourage capital investment and adopt best practice to drive resilience, animal productivity, skills development and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.