Whether in farming, sheep breeding or sport, one thing you can put your money on is that you will get 120% performance from the Coen family. Liam and his wife Mary farm at Lehinch, Hollymount, Co Mayo, on a mixed sheep and suckler farm, typical of many systems in south Mayo. The Lehinch prefix is synonymous with top-quality pedigree Texel sheep at shows and sales countrywide.

In 1989, Liam made the decision to start a pedigree Texel flock. At the time, he had a 220-ewe commercial flock. His first ram purchase was Sean Brennan’s champion ram at Ballina Show and from then he never looked back.

He immersed himself in the Texel society in the north Connacht region and has been involved at council level and in judging and showing over a 15-year period.

His father Pake was a huge support and encouragement to Liam in the preparation and showing of sheep. The knock on his bedroom window at four in the morning for a show in Wexford or Northern Ireland epitomised the dedication of Liam and also so many pedigree breeder families.

Judging at eight to 10 shows per year left little time for other activities. Two years as chairman of the society was a highlight for the Lehinch man.

Success in the ring came over the years. One of his animals claimed the male championship at the 2012 Texel Premier Sale held in Blessington Livestock Mart. His ram lamb, Lehinch Titan, sired by Derryvore Ranger, won the open ram lamb class and followed this up with the male championship.

The next generation

His sons David and Stephen have both been bitten by the farming bug. Stephen is currently studying agriculture in UCD, while David has completed his degree in animal science and is currently working with Iomlán Animal Science.

David is currently chairman of the Texel Young Breeders Club and a council member of the society. He has huge interest in the area of embryo transfer and has worked as a support technician with a company specialising in this area, Innovis, in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales, supporting the vets and learning the ropes.

Having inseminated top-quality ewes with top-class rams, the subsequent embryos are flushed out and then inserted by the vet into recipient ewes to carry the lambs.

This year, the Coens have 15 recipient ewes. All 80 pedigree ewes are served to AI in mid-September and the success rate with fresh semen is a very creditable 88%. David reckons that success rates with frozen semen is 50% to 60%.

David’s work in Wales, where he experienced recording, monitoring and culling for important commercial traits, was a terrific experience and an eye-opener for a young breeder and pedigree board member.

Well-grounded approach

For a number of years Liam ran a general shop and butcher’s in Mary’s home town of Ballindine. He learned a very valuable lesson there, that the customer is always right. This is the principle on which he built his pedigree flock.

“Success in the show ring is great, but my bread and butter is the commercial producer who buys my rams,” Liam said. Indeed, it is this loyalty from local producers who return religiously to replace their rams that makes local breeders like the Coens so important to the industry.

“Breeding decisions with an eye on the requirements of the final customer and the productivity of the commercial flock are paramount to successful pedigree breeding,” said David.

A very astute head on a young pair of shoulders, and with an attitude that bodes well for the future of the Texel society.

Sheep Ireland

Liam represents the flock books on the board of Sheep Ireland. This is a huge responsibility, particularly in the developing years of the organisation.

Liam’s positive, can-do attitude is refreshing. The nature of breed societies is naturally conservative and they can be slow to embrace change.

Liam is hugely supportive of Lamb Plus and sees a big change in attitude and demand for highly star-rated rams.

He gives full credit to the Department of Agriculture’s Sheep Technology Adoption Programme (STAP) for promoting the uptake of this.

Liam and David are enthusiastic members of the Pyramid sheep discussion group, facilitated by local Teagasc adviser Eamon Patten. This group also includes Sean Fair, producer group rep on Sheep Ireland’s board, and Richard Jennings, well-known BETTER beef farmer.

The future

Both Liam and David are very optimistic for the future. They see a massive future in genomics as the way towards reducing and eliminating production problems, such as lameness, prolapse and mastitis, and in improving more easy-care traits and higher productivity traits in our flocks.

Young Stephen Coen starred at the centre of the defence as captain of UCD’s freshers team recently, along with captaining Mayo minors to All-Ireland victory in 2013.

The future of sheep breeding, and hopefully of Mayo football, is in safe hands.