The Irish Texel Sheep Society celebrated 40 years of breeding in Ireland on Saturday night with an event held in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly. The proceedings gave a very interesting history of how the breed was first introduced to Ireland and became established in its early years.

Well-known journalist John Shirley, who was compere for the night, said the introduction of the first Texel sheep into the country actually happened by chance.

Three representatives from the Department of Agriculture travelled to the Netherlands in 1964 to source Dutch Friesian blood lines to incorporate into Irish herds. This, according to John, was standard practice at the time, with the Department responsible for sourcing and importing genetics that had the potential to improve Irish livestock enterprises.

While there, the Department officials came upon the Texel breed. Chief livestock inspector John Beatty, who John Shirley says was an excellent judge of livestock, decided that there was merit in testing Texels under Irish conditions.

His two colleagues on the breed sourcing expedition were Reddy Day and Dr Austin Mescal, both of whom also recommended importing a sample of Texel sheep to then Minister for Agriculture Paddy Smith.

John explains that about 20 Texel sheep (mainly female) were imported and quarantined on Spike Island, Cobh, Co Cork. Interestingly, he says the importation was also part of the first Charolais cattle to be imported into Ireland, along with Dutch Friesian bulls identified for use in AI. Once cleared from quarantine, the sheep were placed for performance monitoring in Department centres in Athenry and Raphoe.

Breed distribution

Early performance was favourable and further importations were made to expand numbers, breed lines and carry out more performance tests in 1972.

Dr Gerry More O’Ferrell was the society’s first secretary, initially taking up the role for a year at the inaugural meeting of the society on 18 June 1976, but remaining in this position from the society’s foundation in 1976 to 2003.

Listen to a discussion from the Texel society's 40th anniversary celebration in our podcast below:

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Guest of honour at the event and with a wealth of knowledge on the breed, Gerry gave an account of the breed’s early years. He said the breed was making good headway from the outset, but distribution of the second importation of sheep was delayed by an outbreak of Maedi Visna (causes chronic pneumonia) in the Netherlands in 1972 and, as a precaution, the Department quarantined the sheep in Raphoe until 1976.

In commending the Department for their foresight, Gerry said a decision to distribute Texel sheep to pedigree breeders was a valuable innovation to get the breed established.

“From the word go, one of the things that was always advocated in the Texel breed was recording and selecting high-performing sheep. At that time, there was recording in the Suffolk and Galway breeds and those members were invited to apply to receive Texel sheep.

“Fifteen breeders were granted four ewes and a ram, or the use of a ram, and the breed took off from there.”

Breed disciples

The 15 first breeders who came together to form the Texel Sheep Breed Society Ltd in June 1976 were Mr J Kenny, Mr J Mee, Mr T Keane, Mr W Murray, Professor & Mrs Geoghegan, Mr P Doyle, Mr L Blackmore, Mr H W Stanley, Mr M Donohoe, Mr J Flanagan, Mr M Ryan, Mr T Quirke, Mr M O’Mahony, Mr P Niland and Mr J Cummins.

An Foras Talúntais (The Agricultural Institute), which was succeeded by Teagasc in 1988, was also made a member of the society at the first meeting.

The minutes of that meeting saw decisions taken to breed after 10 August and subsequently lamb after 1 January, tattoo and record all lambs born and maintain production records to show the animals’ growth potential.

This, along with the establishment of a flock book, was put on the agenda for the next meeting to be held in Raphoe on 9 July 1976, where there would possibly also be an opportunity to purchase additional sheep from the Raphoe flock. A membership fee of £5 was set for registration of the flock, with Mr John Mee appointed chair and Mr Michael Ryan appointed joint-chair.

Lifetime of dedication

The breed quickly expanded, climbing to over 60 members at the start of the 1980s, to 350 in the mid-1990s and staying at a similar level since.

A number of the first 15 breeders, or the next generation of family breeders, who still possess Texel sheep were honoured at the 40th celebration for their flock’s lifetime dedication to the development of the breed.

Donal Mee from the Coolderry flock in Roscommon received the award for the flock set up by his father John (the breed’s first chair).

Johnny Donohoe from Cuffesgrange, Kilkenny, represented the flock set up by his father Michael, while Michael Murray, Four Roads, Roscommon, collected the award for the flock his father William established.

Sean Brennan, Lisgobbin, Roscommon, joined the society a few months after its establishment and he and his family remain heavily involved today, with his daughter Lorraine representing the flock in collecting the commemorative award.

There is only one of the initial 15 breeders still at the helm of a flock today – Galwayman Padraic Niland, who runs the Chessy flock along with his wife Margaret in Ardrahan.

The founding breeder has been a mainstay of the breed, claiming numerous top accolades over a very successful 40-year period. His drive and ambition to this day is testament to the foundations on which the society were built – to progress the breed through recording and identification of superior-performing sheep.

In a rare interview with Úna Sinnott, which can be read at www.farmersjournal.ie, Padraic commented that “it’s crucial to build towards the top rather than buying from it”, a goal that will remain in good hands in the flock, with his son Gerard claiming the overall title at the 2016 All-Ireland Texel Show in Dundalk.

Dedicated members

The Irish Texel Society has overcome many challenges to get to where it is today. The society is blessed with dedicated members who will help continue to drive the breed forward.

One example of this, according to current secretary Sinead Brophy, is the way the society has adopted to the new Sheep Ireland breeding programmes.