Plans for ‘Sheep Northern Eire’ occasion unveiled

The Nationwide Sheep Affiliation (NSA) has confirmed that plans are effectively superior for its 2023 ‘Sheep Northern Eire’ occasion.

It takes place on Tuesday, July 4 at Tynan Property, Co. Armagh. The occasion is being hosted with the permission of Kate Kingan and property proprietor James Kingan.

NSA regional consultant in Northern Eire, Edward Adamson stated: “Sheep Northern Eire was final held in 2019. Nonetheless, that is the primary time that the occasion has been hosted on farm.

“The sheep sector has an incredible quantity to supply Northern Eire’s economic system as a complete. Our occasion is going down in opposition to the backdrop of enhancing producer costs.

“This follows a slight market downturn earlier within the yr,” he added.

“However given the size of rising prices, flock homeowners want each penny they will get proper now.”

Sheep Northern Eire

Sheep Northern Eire additionally takes place in opposition to the backdrop of requires higher assist being made out there to the sheep sector in Northern Eire.

“There aren’t any particular assist proposals for sheep inside the package deal of post-Brexit assist measures recognized by former farm minister Edwin Poots,” Adamson continued.

“That is essentially flawed. We’re already seeing farmers leaving the sector and I worry this pattern will collect additional momentum through the interval forward.

“There aren’t any younger folks coming into the trade. And lots of of these working with sheep now can be retiring within the close to future.”

Adamson believes that the introduction of a sheep welfare fee system, much like that already working within the Republic of Eire, might ship much-needed monetary assist for sheep farmers, north of the border.

“An annual fee within the area of £12/ewe would make all of the distinction on this regard,” he stated.

Tynan Abbey Farm

Tynan Abbey Farm has skilled a big transformation over the previous 10 years with soil fertility, grassland administration and farm infrastructure all altering drastically.

The 850ac property farm has been run by Kate Kingan and Peter Mant since 2014. Whereas the farm has been in Kate’s household for hundreds of years, it was rented out for many years previous to her return to the farm and within the latter years fell into poor form.

In recent times the farm participated within the Northern Eire Sheep Programme and, as a part of this, developed a three- and five-year farm plan, reviewing the farm’s aims and setting key efficiency targets to determine areas for change.

This included soil fertility, grassland administration, breeding and genetics, well being planning and efficiency recording, all of which can be mentioned on the NSA occasion.