Over 300 farmers attended Wednesday’s Teagasc hill sheep conference in Ballybofey, Co Donegal. The hill sheep sector is a vital component of agricultural activity in Donegal, as is also the case in many other counties in the northwest.

In underlying the important role the sector plays in Donegal, local Teagasc B&T adviser and Donegal native Seamus Campbell said there is huge potential for improvement. However, he acknowledged that this is not a straightforward goal. “The problem for the hill sector is that farms are not uniform for land type, land mix (within farms) or breed type, so there are different problems for different farmers.”

One in three Donegal ewes on hill farm

There are about 110,000 hill ewes from a population of 305,651 ewes in Donegal (2014 census). Many of these are farmed on commonage lands, with approximately 73,000ha of commonage, or 22% of the total agricultural land.

Within this, Department of Agriculture records show 832 commonages with 5,032 shareholders. Excluding commonages under 10ha, there are 603 commonages with 4,429 shareholders. Along with this, Seamus says there is a significant area of privately owned hill lands in Donegal, particularly in the southwest of the county, signifying that there are a large number of farms with hill sheep outside of commonage areas.

Seamus says that as flocks are typically low-output, the aim has to be to keep costs low, while implementing a programme to optimise output and maximise efficiency. He outlined a number of areas where Teagasc sees scope to improve output on hill farms.

Increasing the weaning percentage

“Many flocks are not getting one lamb per ewe. The litter size is low and there are a lot of empty ewes. To say that one breed suits better is wrong, it depends on the type of hill you have. There is room to improve no matter what breed you have. Hill ewes in poor condition are the main area of loss; if you concentrate on getting this right, you can lift litter size substantially,” he said.

Crossbreeding

The level of crossbreeding possible is influenced by the replacement requirement and the existing level of ewe and flock productivity. “Even with a low weaning percentage of 0.8 lambs per ewe mated, in Donegal there is potential for crossbreeding in about 30,000 ewes. This means there could be 14,000 to 15,000 ewe lamb replacements that might suit lowland flocks and also producing higher value stores,” he added.

Producer groups

Seamus believes there is a huge opportunity to develop producer groups. “There is potential for a producer group in Donegal to take advantage of our good hill ewes and produce lowland replacements. The Mayo Mule lads in the west have done an excellent job at marketing their sheep and we need to be thinking of this as well. Farmers want sheep with a high health status and that are vaccinated, and many want to buy directly for biosecurity reasons. There is no reason we cannot take advantage of this.”

Hill sheep parentage initiative

Seamus said: “Teagasc is working with Sheep Ireland to improve breeding in hill and lowland flocks. This is happening in Mayo, Galway, Kerry and Waterford.

“There are 9,000 sheep recorded at present – about 6,000 in Mayo and 3,000 in Waterford, with one breeder having close to 1,000. It is happening in New Zealand, and now in Ireland, that stars are being used to select and buy sheep. You will always have looks and that is important, but bloodlines are also important in decisions.

“You don’t have to do all your ewes; do the best ewes that you want to be breeding from. If you don’t get into it, you could be left behind and that’s my worry for the Donegal flock.”

Learning from others

This was seen as providing huge scope and Seamus urged interested farmers to become involved in the upcoming Knowledge Transfer Programme for sheep.

“The programme gives access to the best information and farmers can see what is working best for others. There is a payment that will cover your costs and it can deliver a lot to your farm. Donegal is lucky to have a BETTER sheep farm in David and Linda McLaughlin. In five years, they have lifted the weaning percentage from 0.92 to 1.18. This shows what is possible to achieve.”

Land management and finishing hill lambs

“Managing the hills is important to make sure payments are not affected. Finishing hill lambs will not be an option for a lot of farms, but there may be ways to add more value. It is great to see Donegal-bred lambs in the trial in Athenry.”

Three goals

“If you only take three things from the talk: if you are a breeder, join Sheep Ireland; if you have some hill green ground, join or we’ll set up a producer group for crossbreeding; and if you are all-hill, look at condition,” he concluded.