On seeing the sheep in the field beside our house he asked about buying one. He explained how every Muslim family likes to sacrifice a sheep for the Eid-al-Fitr Festival which marks the end of Ramadan period of fasting. This year Ramadan runs from June 28 to July 27.

I first copped the importance of the Muslim market for sheepmeat when chatting with the owners of the former Halal Meat plant in Ballyhaunis Co Mayo. The fact that Muslims (and Jews) never consume the meat of the pig, on religious conviction, is fundamental to supporting global demand for sheepmeat. As a sheep enthusiast I say: “Long may it continue”.

The year round strong demand for ewe meat is now firmly based on the Muslim market.

After the feasting linked to the Eid-al-Fitr Festival at the end of July 2014 the next Muslim spike in demand for sheepmeat will be triggered by the Eid-Al-Adha Festival (commonly referred to as the Eid) which this year takes place on the 4 October 2014. Hopefully the timing of Ramadan ending in July plus the Eid demand in September will keep a floor under our Summer lamb trade. We want no more weeks where there is a 40c per kg price tumble.

My visitor selling the house security seemed to know a bit about his sheep. For the Eid-al-Fitr his preference was for a young sheep, not castrated, not tail docked and, wait for it, he preferred a sheep that had never been tagged!

I explained that not tagging a sheep leaving farm in Ireland was a mortal sin.

While this Indian born Muslim quite liked living in Ireland, he had a major issue with our 19 hours of daylight during the month of June. Why? Because Ramadan falls in June and he had to fast for the full 19 hours of daylight. Daylight in India is about 12 hours all year round.