Big day for Ballysal flock in Blessington

The pedigree world is no stranger to following good family lines and from time to time this crosses into the breeders too. This rings true, when it comes to the family behind the Ballysal flock in Carbury, Kildare. The flock is run by father-and-daughter duo John and Sally Duffy, on a part-time basis, with Sally also working off-farm as a nutritionist.

They get help from John’s nephews, Ben (14) and Sean (nine), who are always there to lend a hand, especially for the local shows – which Sally and John regularly attend.

The Duffys have been breeding pedigree Texels since 2019, following the purchase of their first Texel ewe in the premier sale at Blessington Mart in 2018.

“The reason we went for Texels, was following how well they had performed in the commercial flock and what stood out for me was the cleanness and how quiet they are to work with. We got a lot of advice from breeders in Blessington and the vet inspection also gave us confidence when buying,” Sally said.

The breeding programme for the Duffys is centred around low numbers and higher quality, and they have grown their Texel flock to 15 ewes through buying in society sales and buying stock rams in Blessington.

They have mainly focused on natural mating and select a small number to AI.

They believe a ewe needs to prove herself before being a flush ewe and this has paid dividends for them, picking the mother of their show lamb last year for flushing this year.

This ewe crossed with the semen purchased from fellow breeder Paddy Morrissey of the 2022 premier sale champion – which has produced the best lamb the Duffys believe that they have bred to date, after taking Texel champion and interbreed champion at Mullingar Show this month.

They are now preparing for what is their most exciting premier sale to date, following their showing success with their ram lamb this year. They will be bringing this lamb to the sale and are looking forward not just to the selling of their two lambs, but the social aspect that comes along with pedigree sheep.

Sally said: “Even if you just want to see what it’s all about, I’d encourage all ages of people to come to the premier sale on 9 August. The society really supported us in the initial stages of breeding, which was really helpful.”

This weekend’s Irish Texel Sheep Society premier sale of 105 females takes place on Friday, 9 August, at 6pm, with the pre-sale show kicking off at 2pm, with 250 rams going under the hammer on the Saturday, 10 August, at 11am. The sale will be fully inspected, with the majority of the sale euro-star rated, along with all sheep being sire-verified. Transport can be arranged anywhere in the country for online buyers.