Last weekend, many farmers took advantage of the good weather to save first-cut silage, while others took the chance to commence sheep shearing for 2022.
With the shearing season on lowland sheep farms having commenced, Agriland was on hand to see a flock of ewes shorn last weekend in Co. Cavan.
Shearing contractor, Allen McManus from Co. Roscommon with the help of Sean McCabe from Co. Leitrim were busy shearing this flock of ewes (in the video below).
Allen and Sean shear sheep all across the country every year from Sligo to Meath.
Both have separate cattle and sheep farms, which keeps them busy when the shearing season draws to a close every year.
Speaking to Agriland, McManus said:
“Wet-weather conditions in May have resulted in many farmers who normally shear their sheep early in the season delaying shearing, leaving us running behind schedule compared to last season.
“Cooler conditions in May resulted in very few cases of flystrike on sheep but cases will increase when weather warms up as it has over the last week or so.
“From now until July, we will be mainly shearing on lowland farms before moving onto the hill farms for shearing then.
Concluding, he explained: “The sheep shearing season runs into August where we will have a break for about three weeks and shearing the lambs begins then.”