The Southeast Mule Breeders group is set to hold a show and sale at Tullow Mart, Co. Carlow on Saturday, September 2.
The show will take place first, with the sheep to be penned and ready for viewing from 11:00a.m onwards, with the sale then to begin at 12:30p.m.
There will be a total of 950 ewe lambs, 440 hogget ewes, and 80 aged ewes at the show and sale at Tullow Mart.
The Southeast Mule comes from a Blue Leicester ram out of Lanark and Swaledale ewes.
Eric Driver, mart manager at Tullow Mart said the Southeast Mule Breeders have sheep throughout the south-east, in the Co. Waterford area, and in Tipperary, as they are places where the Swaledale sheep and the Lanark sheep can be found, as they are more of a hill breed.
According to Driver, the Southeast Mule is “a robust ewe” and “brings prolificy” with “good hardiness coming from the Swaledale and the Lanark”.
“They are a great breeding sheep, very useful in the base flock. They do their job very well,” he added.
Southeast Mule ewe
The show will see the best pen of ewe lambs, hogget ewes, and aged ewes, before the champion pen of the day is selected.
Driver said the champion pen has been “heavily contested between the ewe lambs and the hogget ewes for a long number of years, but… the ewe lambs generally pull it off”.
Characteristics of the Southeast Mule ewe include longevity, as Driver added “she is well able to do her work into her fourth and fifth year”.
“She works into the flock very well, is not a big maintenance ewe, not a big heavy sheep that needs a lot of feeding for the winter.”
Lamb
In a testimonial provided to him, Driver highlighted a farmer who spoke highly of the Southeast Mule ewe and its lambing ability.
The farmer had said: “The mule ewe’s ability to rear a crop of lambs is outstanding.”
The importance of this was noted by Driver, who said “some of us can get very prolific ewes, but they are not able to walk the walk, but they can talk the talk.
“The mule ewe can scan a good crop of lambs, but also rear a crop of lambs.”
The lambs have proven to achieve a high kill percentage, as the Blue Leicester brings a long carcass.
“These ewes cross with these lowland commercial rams, the Suffolks or Charollais, all of these meat breeds bring the final part of the jigsaw for what is a good commercial lamb here,” Driver continued.
“They bring that conformation to it, whereas the mule ewe brings size, structure, length, and milk.
“Put all that into the mixing pot and you get a lamb that is excellent for the Irish market, especially for the killing trade.”