Well it’s happened, the UK has voted to leave the EU. How this will affect our economy is speculation at the moment, but I’m sure there will be winners and losers on both sides.

For now, we will have to wait and see what terms are negotiated in their exit treaty, which could take up to two years to complete. From a sheep point of view, we need to look at how sheepmeat import quotas from non-EU countries will be divided up, and also what sort of mechanism will be put in place for trade with the UK. Although the French market is twice its size, the UK is still our second-biggest market for sheepmeat. In the short term, anyone looking to replace some farm equipment will probably benefit from a trip up north.

Proposed increase

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The recent announcement from Meat Industry Ireland (MII) regarding a proposed increase in lamb production of up to 1m lambs was something that many farmers got very annoyed over around here. Price is dictated by supply and demand and, as it stands, consumption is stagnant at best so where is the extra lamb going to go.

We see it every year – once throughput increases in the factories, price drops. So, unless we have access to new markets to send this extra lamb into, it is very unlikely farmers will increase the extra lamb they are looking for.

On the other hand, I take it that unless the factories can prove they can deliver a market with a year-round supply of quality product, they will find it difficult to get access with our product. I call it our product as that is what it is and the factories work on our behalf and theirs, sourcing markets. We need to respect each other as neither would be in business without the other.

Is it time for factories to start looking into fixed-price contracts for farmers who supply quality lamb outside the main season in an attempt to gain access to these markets and renew farmer confidence in them?

Weaning

Back on the farm things are a lot simpler, just the way I like it. We have started to wean the ewes and lambs with the first two mobs weaned last week. The repeats and the yearlings will be weaned next week now that I know where the gaps around the farm are and have them fenced after the first lot.

I find managing the stock from now on a lot easier as lambs are divided into four groups, with ewes following around behind cleaning out the paddocks.

The groups are made up as follows – I divide the male and female lambs into two separate groups. These are then divided into weight. The heavier male lambs will be put on the Red Start, while the other groups will be on grass. The group of heavy ewe lambs will be where I select my replacements from.

Information such as litter size, birth weight and average daily gain from their lambing to weaning will be used to select these.

As lambs are drafted from the Red Start I will introduce other lambs to maintain the stocking level.