I recently took part in a conference up in Greenmount Agricultural College organised by the Ulster Farmers Union on the efficient production of lamb.

This was a first for me and it definitely took me outside of my comfort zone of talking about my farm while not being able to look across my fields as I did. I don’t usually require Powerpoint and the laptop either!

During the panel discussion afterwards, a question was raised as to how farmers could market their lamb. At the time, I considered the main routes that we as farmers traditionally take, as in the mart or factory and letting the likes of Bord Bia, etc, market our product to the public.

But thinking about it as I drove home that evening, I thought of another method that we as farmers can use to market our lambs. As producers, we need to take a more active role in the marketing of our produce.

We now live in an age where most people are connected on the different social media platforms that are available.

Many of us have smartphones that never leave our sides. This gives us a great opportunity to tell our story of how we produce a product that is both ethically reared and beneficial to the environment to the wider communities, especially those that have no direct connection with the farming community.

We can also promote the work that our marketing boards are doing on our behalf by sharing any promotional campaigns or recipe ideas on social networks.

Maybe we should even use some of these recipes ourselves when we are entertaining family or friends over Christmas or at any time of the year. Simply put, there is so much more that we as producers can do in an active way to promote our product to the final consumer.

Back on the farm itself, the last of the mature ewes have now been housed and I will be starting to scan the ewes from this week on. I will divide the ewes up according to the raddle markings and after they are scanned split in line with expected litter size.

The ewe lambs are finishing up the last of the grass that remains on the farm before they start to graze the Redstart.

All the ewes are going to receive a fluke treatment over the next week or so. This year, I will probably end up treating for fluke a couple of times more than I normally would have, due to it being wetter than normal.

Christmas

The heavy snow and cold weather last weekend has had me making sure all water pipes are sufficiently insulated, and it is getting the children really cranked up for Christmas. Oh their excitement on seeing the fields covered with snow! Several hours had to be given over to snowman construction.

As we continue to build up to the excitement of the big day, I would like to wish all the readers a very happy and safe Christmas.