I farm: “A part-time purebred and commercial sheep operation here in Co Meath. The main source of income is fibre-glass roofing and that type of thing. It’s not a great sheep country here where we are but the land is good and the sheep are in the blood.”

Breeds: “I have 175 ewes in total; 75 purebred Charollais ewes, 40 purebred Texels, 20 purebred Suffolks and 40 crossbred ewes.”

Lambing: “We try to lamb as much as possible in January when the buildings are quiet. The Charollais and the Suffolks are lambing as close to 1 January as possible. Because we have different breeds, we’re usually lambing into March.”

Breeding sales: “We got on very well at the sales last year. We sold about 50 tups and got on well. We sold to farmers in Kildare, north Dublin and even as far as the Cooleys.”

Feeding system: “About a month out from lambing, we have the ewes on 0.5kg of 16% protein nut every day. At the point of lambing, they’re on 1kg per day. After lambing, we put them on a 21% protein nut, as well as ad-lib hay and pulped turnip. We find that they all have plenty of milk then.”

Weaning: “We try to wean the lambs at nine or 10 weeks. We might bring the ewes back into the shed drying off at 10 weeks.”

Family: “My wife is Bernie and we have two sons, Eoin (28) and Darragh (25); and one daughter, Faustina (22). There isn’t a sheep farmer among them! Eoin is an engineer, Darragh works with the company here and Faustina is in college in Maynooth.”

Quotable quote: “We don’t rob fellas when they’re buying off us. If the price is fair, they’ll buy off you again.”