The Annakisha flock of Suffolk is one that will be known by many in the sheep showing circuit as well as further afield. Originally established in 1952 by Arthur O’Keeffe Senior, the flock has gone from strength to strength and now the family-run operation is one of the most successful in Ireland.

The farm also plays host to a 150-cow herd of milking cows, 60 cattle brought to slaughter each year, 100 crossbred ewes, along with a flock of 80 pedigree Texels which the O’Keeffe family has also become very well known for.

While the farm has this broad array of enterprises running together, it’s the long-standing 160-head Suffolk flock which takes pride of place.

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“We actually run three Suffolk flocks here together. We have the Annakisha flock, Susan my sister’s Clyda flock which was formed back in 1988 as well as my son Patrick’s Blackwater flock, which combined amounts to about 160 ewes on the Suffolk side,” Arthur says.

Achievements

The O’Keeffes are no strangers to the show rings. The flocks have a shared success record unrivalled, claiming 15 overall championship and 12 reserves at the RDS and national championships. The most recent addition to this list came from the nationals in Blessington earlier in the month, where the flocks claimed both top spots on the day.

When asked about lines running through the herd, Arthur notes one standout coming from Susan’s Clyda herd: “Susan has a ewe ‘L30’ who herself won the national championship in 2012, her daughter then went and won the National in 2014 and just this year another daughter of hers won the overall.”

These females surely helped a lot in one of the flock’s highest records in claiming the female of the year 16 times while taking up the reserve spot 15 times also.

A passionate breeder of good-quality stock, Arthur highlights one of his greatest achievements to date as standing as president of the UK and Irish society back in 2009. Due to the high profile position and record of the herd, Arthur and Susan have been asked to judge at many of the top-end shows and sales.

“I’ve got the opportunity to judge the three Royals – the Royal Highland, The Royal [England] and the Royal Welsh. The Royal I was particularly delighted with as it was the last to be held before being taken over by three counties.”

Sires

While the judging allows the O’Keeffe family to further enhance their flock profile, it also allows them to identify stock while at shows. Arthur tells of their fondness of buying stock from across the water in Scotland and England as a way of diversifying the genetics going into the flock. One of the more recent stock rams to come into the flocks was Rookery Classic, a ram Arthur picked out when he judged the National sale in Shrewsbury back in 2012. Having being purchased for 3,500gns, he has already left his mark, siring stock to 6,000gns as well as the female of the year in 2015.

While stock rams are purchased, the flock still uses majority laparoscopic AI, which allows the rams to get to more of the 160 ewes.

Sales

Stock on farm has been met with high demand, with the flock record standing at 6,800gns for one of Susan’s ram lambs in 2013, which went to Scotland. Another memorable day for the family was at the premier in 2014 when two rams sold for 6,000gns each, one by a Scottish privately purchased ram and the other by the imported Rookery Classic.

Altogether between the flocks, 120 rams find new homes each year. This is made up roughly from about 100 ram lambs and 20 shearlings. Around 60% of these rams will be sold at sales throughout the country, with the next big one being the Suffolk premier in Roscrea in a week’s time.

“We have the premier in Roscrea for the Suffolk next weekend and the following weekend we see the premier for the Texel taking place in Blessington. We have 18 of our top rams entered for the Suffolk premier between the three herds – Susan has eight, I have six and Patrick has another four.”

The titles have also mounted from these premiers with the herds clocking up a combined total of 10 supreme pre-sale champions and a further 11 reserves.

As an outlet for their best females, the family over the last six years has combined with the Barrowlands, and Shannagh/Castleisle flocks to run an in-lamb sale in Blessington. The O’Keeffes usually send around 35 females to this and to date they have been met with very good demand.

Insight

“Going back 10 years, the breed had too much head, bone and scale and would’ve lost some of their finishing ability. In the last five years however, breeders have bred for tighter-skinned softer fleshing animals then they were. All in all, it’s the commercial breeder who is our main man. We have to breed with him in mind all the time. The pedigree ram sale is just a bonus,” Arthur says.

While the family has seen continued success in the Texel breed over the last number of years, including reserve male championship at this year’s All-Ireland in Dundalk, something tells me the Suffolk will remain the legacy for a lifetime of breeding at Annakisha for many more years to come.