I farm: “In the Cooley Mountains. I have 200 ewes all on the hill, I own 20 acres and rent another 50. It’s a lovely part of the country, my grandfather and his brothers all farmed here too. You have to be bred into hill farming, it doesn’t come naturally.’’

This week: “We are gathering the ewes down from the mountain. They are dipped and dosed and the ram will be put out with them for five weeks on 14 November. They go back out to the hill after breeding.”

Breeds: “It’s not every sheep you put on the hill. We have blackface hornies crossed with a Texel and a Suffolk. This is the first year we sold stores in July – with the price of meal it made sense at the time. They went for €60 a head. Then we sold 30 ewe lambs at the Cooley sheep breeders sale in September.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Hill farming: “It’s hard to live on the hill, they’re ideal for sheep. We get a €10/ewe payment which isn’t enough; you need €25/ewe. We maintain the hills by keeping the ewes up there. In years to come young farmers won’t be there at that rate. We have to work as well to have enough income. I do odd days with other farmers. If we have a cross-compliance inspection we have 48 hours to get the sheep down which is not easy when you’re working as well.”

Schemes: “We are in GLAS and the adviser is very happy with how the Cooley Peninsula farmers are doing. I’m in the KT as well, which I find very good.”

Quotable quote: “There has to be incentives for young farmers like me to make an income that would keep us farming on hillsides across Ireland, keeping the countryside. Otherwise, the mountains will be overgrown.”