I farm: “Our 27ac of land with another 3ac rented between Claremorris and Knock in Co Mayo. This is a dairy sheep enterprise: I lived in France and Italy, where sheep’s milk and dairy products are very common.”

Sheep: “We have 200 milking ewes. Our breeds are Friesland from northern Europe, Lacaune from France and crosses of both.”

Lambing: “Lambing is about to start this weekend. Busy time for the few weeks ahead.”

Genetics: “Frieslands and Lacaunes have been bred over the years to produce milk. They’re not so good for meat. “Our original stock was sourced in Ireland, but we’ve also brought ram lambs from the Netherlands and France. The genetic pool for breeding dairy sheep is very small in Ireland, so I’ll go abroad again.”

Industry: “There are only five or six dairy sheep farmers in Ireland and most of them are in the south. I’m the only one in the west.”

Processing: “We have a small processing plant licensed by the Department of Agriculture. We’ve been making yoghurt for two years and we’re starting cheese this year, both sold under the brand Velvet Cloud. There’s a peak of milk in the summer, so we’re going to use it to make hard cheese that has a shelf life of several months.”

Family: “I work on the farm, my wife Aisling works on sales and marketing, and my eldest son (17) and daughter (16) help out. We also have two younger ones, aged 10 and 12.”

Profitability: “We’re not there yet, but it’s encouraging. There was a heavy set-up cost for milk processing. “We have a man working on the farm and a lady on the processing side, who currently work part-time and will be full-time in the summer. We’re milking twice a day, so the workload is similar to that of a cow dairy farm.”

Late Late: “We were on The Late Late Show three weeks ago. It was great to get the exposure. Not so many people are aware of sheep’s milk and its health benefits, and this kind of publicity costs money that you don’t have when you’re small.”

Quotable quote: “What we’re doing is very interesting and we can see a future in it. Conventional farming would be a lot more difficult.”