Rachel Maya Gallagher

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Rachel Maya Gallagher

On Tuesday, the yearling hogget ewes with lambs at foot were taken in from the field to weigh the lambs to get an idea of how well the group is performing. This batch consists of a mixture of Texel and Suffolk/Mule homebred hoggets and purebred Easycare hoggets bought in last August. Texel and Suffolk hoggets where joined with a Charolais sire, while Easycare hoggets where bred pure. There were a total of 59 lambs in the group, made up of 26 ram lambs and 33 ewe lambs.

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Rachel Maya Gallagher

The Black and White timed auction, that ran from 6 to 8 June on MartEye and in conjunction with Harrison and Hetherington, drew in huge interest from all across Ireland, the UK and Europe. The consignment of sheep came from Robert Cockburn’s Knap flock and the Limestone and Seaforde flocks of Mark Priestley. The sale was topped by a tremendous Texel ewe lamb from the Knap flock that sold for £8,200 (€9,698).

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Rachel Maya Gallagher

There was standing room only around the ring in Ballybofey and Stranorlar Livestock Mart on Saturday 7 June for the inaugural Show Stars Sale. The entry was small, with only 35 cattle in the sales yard, but the quality of these animals was extremely high, drawing buyers from all across Ireland to the mart. Bids flew in from both the ringside and online, leading to a very strong clearance rate of 98%.

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Rachel Maya Gallagher

The Shades of Spring online timed auction also ran from 6 to 8 June on MartEye, with an extremely strong list of vendors from across Northern Ireland and mainland UK. The quality of sheep put forward from these flocks shone through, leading to a flying trade from start to finish. Sheep will be heading to new homes throughout all of Ireland and the UK, to their successful purchasers.

2 weeks ago | farmersjournal.ie | Rachel Maya Gallagher

It was a wet day at Dundalk Show last Sunday, but it did not deter a large number of high-quality sheep coming out. They came from all across Ireland to battle it out for the championships that were up for grabs. However, there can only be one interbreed champion and, on this occasion, it went to a mighty Suffolk ewe lamb from Philip Lynch of the Glyde flock. It had also won the Suffolk championship earlier in the day.