I farm:”Part-time with my parents John and Margaret and I’m the youngest of six. I work three days a week in Tommy Williamson Farm and Landscaping Supplies in Enniscorthy. It works well alongside the farm as the hours are flexible. We’re farming 80ac, it’s all in grass and all owned.”
Pedigree Texels:”I have my own flock of pedigree Texels. I got into them four years ago having started with five and I’ve 21 ewes lambing now this year. They started lambing on 15 January we’re well over halfway at this stage.”
Commericals:”We run a mid-season lambing flock of 300 ewes and the main breed consists of Texel-cross, Suffolk-cross and we’ve a few mules as well. We use mainly Suffolk and Texel rams.”
Scanning:”We scanned the ewes at the start of January and we were very happy with the result. They scanned carrying 1.9 lambs/ewe. We mineral dosed all the ewes before breeding and we kept a close eye on body condition score – these were the main factors in the results, we think.”
Mart:”All our lambs are sold through Carnew Mart. We’d be selling them from August – September time onwards, as soon as they come fit. We’d be aiming for a 40kg-plus lamb. We finish them all off grass.”
Flocks of the Future:”I was lucky enough to have been one of the Flocks of the Future winners with ABP last year where I was given five Borris hoggets and got money towards purchasing a ram. I bought a pedigree Texel and sponged the hoggets.”
Lambing:”The hoggets are due to start lambing on 10 March and the rest of the flock will start then until the end of April. All the ewes are housed since November – we’re farming Macamore land here which means it’s heavy soil. You wouldn’t be keeping stock out on it during the winter.”
Diabetes: “I recently got diagnosed with type one diabetes in December. Adjusting has been the hardest part – everywhere I go I have to bring the insulin pen. I have to get an injection four times per day.”
SHARING OPTIONS