Long read: northern exposure – sheep farming on the edge of Ireland

At the most northern point of Ireland, sheep production dominates the Co Donegal landscape. Land type makes grazing a challenge. But in the right hands, the same land can be extremely productive, supporting high stocking rates and output per hectare.

Just outside Malin Head, Tommy Mullin runs a large-scale sheep enterprise that uses lowland breeding on a grass-based finishing system. It is an impressive operation with performance figures that most farmers would be envious of.

Tommy farms with the help of his three sons – James, who has a farm leased locally, Andrew, who works on a local farm, and Thomas. These men are at the top of their game when it comes to sheep farming.

The farm has always carried cattle and sheep, with Tommy farming from an early age. Over the years, he has built up the farm by adding land. He is heavily involved with the Inishowen lamb group, through which all lambs are sold.

James recently has a five-year lease for 70 acres of neighbouring land and set up a flock of 100 ewes of his own. He also works part-time in Carndonagh Mart.

Livestock numbers have grown from 300 breeding ewes at the end of the last decade to the current 450 lowland-cross ewes which are predominantly Suffolk X Texel breeding.

In the past, the farm carried more Blackface ewes but as investment in land and grazing infrastructure increased, the productivity of land has improved, allowing Tommy to build ewe numbers.

The suckler herd of 19 cows is used to help manage grassland, with cattle cleaning off heavier grass covers or grass rejected by ewes suckling lambs, or lambs being pushed for finishing.

All cattle are bred by artificial insemination (AI) and finished as steers and heifers at 20 to 22 months of age. Steers average 400kg deadweight, with heifers averaging 360kg when slaughtered.

Land type

Farming in Malin Head, Ireland’s most northern point, can be challenging. Land type is a mix including clay and reclaimed peat but this has not deterred Tommy in his efforts to manage grassland.

Lowland ewes and lambs are rotationally grazed, with surplus grass removed as baled or pit silage. Their grassland management would rival many dairy farmers working on more favourable land further down the country.

The main grazing and silage ground consists of 70ha of fragmented land close to the farmyard. All land in this block is owned and has been built up under Tommy’s management.

“Land would be heavy so we try to avoid damaging swards early in the year as this will limit grass growth later in the season. Some fields would be too wet to carry cattle.

“We have invested in improving ground over the years with soil nutrition and grazing infrastructure. Rotational grazing is working well for us and I feel we get far more from our land compared to set stocking.

Our farm is exposed to the Atlantic winds with very little shelter and the Charollais lamb just wouldn’t be fit to cope with the cold wind or rain in the first few weeks of life.

“Ewes and lambs are moved regularly into paddocks with fresh grass around 10cm in height. This gives lambs the best grass to sustain higher live weight gain and keeps ewes milking well.

“I would be reseeding part of the farm every year to keep grass quality high and provide some clean grazing for lambs,” says Tommy.

Ewe type

The farm runs a large lowland flock of 450 Suffolk X Texel ewes and a smaller flock of 160 Lanark-type Blackface ewes.

The Blackface ewes graze on a 277ha commonage which rises to 1,000ft and is traditional heather grazing.

Blackface ewes are bred back to a Blackface ram, whereas the lowland ewes are split at breeding. Suffolk-type ewes run with a Texel ram, while the more Texel type ewes are run with Suffolk rams.

As a result of the simple cross breeding programme, there is a very consistent ewe type which makes management much easier.

“I have tried a few other breeds on the farm, but my current ewe type is working well. Ewes are producing fast-growing lambs that grade well without getting into too big a ewe.

“We have tried Charollais-cross animals in the past and they were good ewes but their lambs are not suited to the weather we get in February or March.

“Our farm is exposed to the Atlantic winds with very little shelter and the Charollais lamb just wouldn’t be fit to cope with the cold wind or rain in the first few weeks of life.

“All replacements are bred on farm and we record ewes that give trouble at lambing or at other points in the year by ear notching.

“I keep ewe lambs from the twin-bearing ewes. All replacements are bred as ewe lambs to increase output.

“Replacements are all home-reared. I feel I have a better and more consistent handle on lamb quality by breeding my own replacements.

“Around 160 ewe lambs will be kept for breeding. They usually lamb down a month after the ewes just to give them a bit more time to grow out before tupping and they also lamb that bit closer to the start of the grazing season, which takes the pressure off them after lambing,” says Tommy.

Breeding

Breeding starts on 1 October for the lowland flock. Ewes are batched according to ewe type and put with a single sire in groups of 80 ewes for mature rams and smaller groups of 60 ewes for younger shearling rams.

“Single-sire mating works better for us as we find there is less fighting amongst rams. We used to group mate-ewes in the past with up to 150 ewes and two to three rams, but there would often be a ram hurt as the result of fighting.”

Rams run with the ewes from 1 October until mid-December. Once removed, ewes are scanned by Christmas time.

“We scan early as ewes are housed by this time. Although the rams run with ewes until the middle of December, most of the breeding activity is finished up by late October. Our scanning results usually show a three-week spread in lambing dates.

“Ewes are grouped at housing based on the number of lambs they are carrying. Last year, we scanned 190% for ewes-to-the-ram, which is good given the ewe type we have. Replacements scanned 150%. We will be weaning close to 170% this year.

“I wouldn’t want scanning or weaning figures to be much higher to be honest, as too many triplets can be a hassle.

“After cross-fostering triplets on to ewes with a single lamb, I would be inclined to take a lamb from a ewe with triplets if I did not think she had enough milk and sell it as a pet lamb.”

While the lowland flock is geared up for early lambing, the Blackface ewes go to the ram in early November and lamb from April onwards.

Replacements

Ewe lambs go to the ram in November. Charollais rams are used to serve the replacements as they are finer boned, therefore making them easier lambed.

Tommy chose to buy the Belclare rams to try something different in his flock. “The Belclare might bring something new to the ewe mix.

“I am not necessarily after a higher lambing percentage, but if the Belcare improves the maternal ability of the ewes in terms of milk or reduces ewe size to relieve stocking pressure, then that would be a positive.

The Belclare rams are running with Suffolk-type ewes. If they work out, that will be great, if not, I wouldn’t be afraid to try something else.”

Lambing

The lowland ewes start lambing at the end of February. Ewes and replacements are housed from late-November to early-December depending on grass availability and ground conditions. Housing ewes allows grass to build up for spring turnout post-lambing.

Housing facilities on farm are excellent, with Tommy making use of grant aid in recent years to construct purpose-built sheep sheds with slatted flooring. Flooring is a mix of wooden slats, concrete and plastic slats.

Ewes are grouped based on body condition at scanning and fed pit-silage. Ewe lambs and ewe hoggets are kept separated from the main flock so that they get preferential management during winter.

“The nutritional demand on young sheep puts them under stress so they have to be separated as they will not get adequate feeding if mixed with mature ewes.

“Fortunately, housing allows us to keep ewes separated for age, condition and litter size. We introduce concentrate feeding to thin ewes or ewes carrying triplets from early January at a low level of 0.25kg per day, which is fed once a day.

“By February, this is stepped up to 0.5kg per day of concentrate with a split feed every morning and night. Ewes are offered an 18% nut.

“Ewes with singles and doubles are fed concentrates to complement silage quality around two to four weeks before lambing.

“The whole lambing period for lowland ewes usually lasts for three weeks and during this time there is usually someone on hand to keep an eye on ewes to give assistance at lambing. In most years, ewes will lamb with little need for assistance.

“But if a ewe is lambing, I would be inclined to give her a hand for peace of mind and to check if there is a second lamb coming in the correct position.

“Ewes are left to lamb on the slats and then moved to smaller mothering pens afterwards. Once the ewe has bonded with the lamb, she will be moved to a larger straw-bedded loose house.

“Once the lamb is strong enough and if the weather allows, ewes and lambs will be turned out to grass beside the yard for supervision.

“Ewe lambs start lambing down in March. They lamb that bit later to give them time to grow out more and it gives us more time to manage them, as mature ewes have lambed and gone back to grass. Cows are also calved at this point, so our attention is 100% on lambing.

“When ewes and lambs go to grass, they are on a grass-only diet. Only ewe-lambs or ewes with triplets will get supplementary feed if grass is not sufficient to keep them milking.”

Marketing lambs

Drafting of fat lambs starts in May. Creep feeders are put out for lambs but concentrate feed levels are limited.

“Feeders are put out but the aim is to get lambs finished off grass as much as possible. I also select my ewes based on milk production as good grazing drives milk production and lamb performance.

“Grass is managed to keep lambs on optimum covers. Strong grass will be cut for silage. The aim would be to have at least 100 lambs sold by the end of June every year.

“Lambs were sold through the local Inishowen lamb group, which sells to Irish Country Meats in Camolin.

“We usually wean lambs in late June purely for management. Lambs are then regrouped based on weight.

“That way, I have the strongest lambs all in one group, which means I only have to bring in one group for drafting.

“The lighter lambs are left alone until they come closer to target sale weight, which is 40kg to 42kg in June.

“However, once lambs are weaned their kill-out tends to drop so we push lambs to 45kg before drafting.

“There is a 50:50 split between U- and R-grade lambs and carcase weight tends to be around 20.5kg in early summer. It does increase later in the year, as the factories increase their carcase weight limit to 22kg.

“We see very little difference in the two breeds of sheep on farm. I suppose having a uniform ewe type means there is no massive difference between Texel-sired or Suffolk-sired lambs.

“Around 95% of lowland lambs will be sold by the end of September. Lambs from replacements will be sold by the end of October, with Blackface lambs sold by late November.

We prefer to finish the Blackface lambs instead of selling them as stores. Ram lambs will be castrated early and finished.

Cull ewes are the only animals to be sold live which we sell through Carndonagh Mart. We draft some ewes at weaning if they are in good condition. If not, we will graze them for a month and allow to them to fatten up before selling.”

This article first appeared in the Irish Farmers Journal Beef & Sheep Magazine.

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