The Irish Blue Texel Sheep Society is holding a national open day on Saturday, 22 July, on the Donohoe family farm, located between Mullingar and Delvin in Co Westmeath. This will be the Irish Blue Texel Sheep Society’s first ever national open day. The Johnstown flock was established in 2016 by Francis and Jennifer Donohoe, with the purchase of a number of ewes form Northern Ireland and Philip Crowe’s Powerful flock. The flock now stands at 25 breeding ewes. It’s had a lot of success in recent years at shows and national sales, the biggest highlight having the honour of breeding this year’s national Blue Texel male champion at Sheep 2023 in Gurteen – that also went on to take the reserve overall championship. This ram was bred by the flock’s stock sire, Derg Easy Peasy, and goes back to a homebred ewe with Powerful breeding.
The event
On the day, the full flock will be on display, including this year’s crop of ram lambs and ewe lambs, some of which are heading to the National premier sale in Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday, 18 August, at 6pm.
Blue Texel crossbred sheep will also be on display at the event, along with Kevin Swift doing a clipping demonstration for new and existing members.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Irish Blue Texel Sheep Society secretary, Philip Crowe said: “We’ve seen phenomenal growth in the breed over the last few years and Saturday’s open day gives both pedigree breeders and commercial breeders an opportunity to see what Blue Texel sheep can add to their system.”
Admission is free and everyone is welcome. The postcode for the farm is N91NW53.
The event kicks off at 3.30pm, with a barbecue being held just after the farm walk.
