I Farm: “100 acres in Caltra, Co Galway, where we keep 50 sucklers and 160 sheep, including 80 pedigree registered Charollais ewes. The sucklers are run with our own Charolais and Blonde d’Aquitaine bulls. We sell our weanlings every year.”

Education: “I am currently in the third year of my PhD in NUI Galway. The focus of my research is on the factors that influence the process of transferring the family farm from the perspective of the senior generation of farmers.”

Rare Breed: “Last year we participated in a UTV farming documentary series called ‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase and promote the Charollais Sheep breed in the public domain and demonstrate the level of commitment and dedication that goes into the farming occupation, particularly from a pedigree breeding perspective.”

Pedigrees: “On 25 July, the Irish Charollais Sheep Society premier show and sale was held in Tullow, Co Carlow. We had a pen of eight ram lambs for sale on the day and received a top price of €1,200. There was good demand for quality sheep at the sale, with increased interest from farmers for rams with Sheep Ireland euro-star ratings.”

Breeding: “The beginning of the breeding calendar year started again last week with the sponging of our pedigree ewes. Half of these ewes will be artificially inseminated with semen from our stock ram, Ballyhibben Rest, while the rest will be served naturally with a selection of our other stock rams.”

EID Tags: “As you have to be very particular when breeding pedigrees, this will make the process of keeping track of our animals’ identification easier, especially when we introduce new bloodlines into our flock.”

Family: “I farm with my parents, Liam and Marie. I have two brothers and a sister who are all attending university.”

Quotable quote: “Preliminary findings from my research suggest that previous Early Retirement Schemes, asking participants to cease all farming activity forever, had little or no understanding of the farming way of life and also disregarded the older farmers’ invaluable knowledge and skills gained through years of working on the farm.”