Farming 130 acres in Kinawley, Co Fermanagh, is one of Northern Ireland's leading pedigree sheep breeders Matthew Burleigh.

Matthew farms alongside his fiancée Rachel and his parents William and Margaret.

They run a flock of 300 ewes, made up of 50 pedigree Beltex, Blue Texel and Badgerface ewes and 250 commercial ewes, mostly made up of Suffolk-cross ewes.

They also run a herd of 30 autumn- and spring-calving suckler cows.

Pedigree flock establishment

Growing up, Matthew always had a draw towards the Beltex breed, with his father William using Beltex rams heavily across his commercial flock to breed top-quality prime lambs.

Over the years of attending the pedigree Beltex sales to purchase stock rams for his father’s flock, Matthew became hooked, which led to him purchasing his first pedigree females.

The first pedigree Beltex lambs were then born on farm in the spring of 2006 and each year the Beltex flock has gone from strength to strength.

Following on from the successful establishment of the Beltex flock, the Burleighs were drawn towards a second breed.

This second breed was the Blue Texels. The first pedigree Blue Texel lambs were born on farm in 2020.

This venture proved very successful for the flock, with many achievements in both the show and sales ring with the breed.

In 2022, Matthew and Rachel were drawn towards their third breed - the Badgerface Texels. The Badgerface flock was then established with a small number of select females.

Matthew stated that when establishing the pedigree flock "all of the breeds where selected for similar traits that we find are the most profitable in breeding both high-end pedigree and commercial sheep, which has had a strong impact on the success of the pedigree flock over the years".

Balmoral and national show success

Since flock establishment, showing has been a huge part of the flock’s development. Showing at Balmoral since 2010, Matthew has been lucky enough to win numerous Beltex championships.

The Burleighs also picked up the overall reserve champion Badgerface Texel on their only occasion showing Badgerface Texels at Balmoral in 2023.

The national championships have also been very successful days for the flock over the years, winning a large number of Beltex national championships and two back-to-back Badgerface Texel national championships in 2023 and 2024.

Beltex ram lamb record price

Matthew sells a large number of pedigree sheep each year at society sales throughout the UK and Northern Ireland. The Matt’s flock has seen many major successes in the sales rings over the years, with many champions and record-breaking prices obtained.

One of the stand-out sale ring successes for Burleigh over the years was selling his Beltex ram lamb Matt’s Flash Harry for 45,000gns at the Carlise Beltex premier sale in 2020.

This was a record-breaking price for a Beltex ram lamb and still stands as the breed record for a Beltex ram lamb.

Selling Beltex females has also paid of hugely for the Burleighs, selling females to highs of 8,000gns.

Roaring sale success

Matthew’s first year selling Blue Texels at the premier sale in Carlisle was in 2021, where he got off to a super start selling shearling ewe Matt’s Escobabe for 12,000gns and ewe lamb Matt’s Flash Harriet for 8,000gns, which was then a breed record for a Blue Texel ewe lamb.

Not to be outdone by the success of 2021, Matthew was back again in 2022 to sell his shearling ewe Matt’s Fittest for 20,000gns and his ram lamb Matt’s Gypsy King for 10,000gns.

Blue Texel success continued for the flock in 2023, with Matt’s Hitman selling for 8,000gns.

Matt’s Halo was sold for 4,000 in Carlisle in 2024, which was the top-priced Blue Texel female on the day. Matt’s Jupiter was also sold for £10,000 in 2024 in a private deal to top leading NI breeders.

Upcoming Sassy Sapphires

Due to the current restrictions from bluetongue outbrteaks in the UK, Matthew has decided to sell his females that would have been destined for sales throughout the UK in an online timed auction through Marteye and Harrison and Hetherington.

The sale is running from 29 November to 1 December. Their will also be a guest consignment from the Derg Blue Texel flock of Allen Shortt.

In the sale, the Matt’s flock has forward three Blue Texel stock ewes, two Badgerface Texel stock ewes, 14 Blue Texel shearling ewes and four Badgerface Texel shearling ewes.

All of the ewes and shearlings are scanned in-lamb to some of the top sires within the breeds.

Blue Texel stock ewes include full sisters to the 20,000gns Matt’s Fittest and the 10,000gns Matt’s Gypsyking. These ewes are sired by the renowned Drumard Ed that has been one of the most influential rams in the breed.

They themselves have also bred lambs into four figure-prices on numerous occasions and several daughters have been retained from them.

Matthew commented: "We have always set ourselves a goal of being a small flock and our ewe numbers are creeping up and that is the only reason we are offering ewes like these for sale."

Blue Texel shearling ewe entries come from some of the best genetic lines within the flock being sired by Mullygarrow Grey Goose that has bred sons to 8,000gns and daughters to 4,000gns and homebred sire Matt’s Good Year that has also bred extremely well.

Included in the Badgerface Texel lineup is the mother of the Carlise premier sale overall reserve champion and the 2023 Badgerface Texel national champion.

The four Badgerface Texel shearling ewes are sired by the renowned Duhnow Frank the Tank that has bred many top-priced lambs. All of the Badgerface Texel lots are scanned in-lamb to the 7,000gns Brougher Cruiser.

There will also be five special Blue Texel ewe lambs forward from the Matt’s flock. This special entry includes a full sister to the £10,000 Matt’s Jupiter that was sold earlier in the year in to the Derg and Knockmult flocks.

All of the Blue Texel ewe lambs entered are sired by exciting new up and coming stock ram Sam’s Houdini that has bred lambs to £10,000 in his first breeding season. Houdini is also the service sire for all of the in-lamb Blue Texel lots.