In August 2014, pedigree sheep farmer Brian Mathews, Quarrymount, Killeigh, Co Offaly, loaded up 15 rams and five ewe lambs and set off for the premier Beltex sale in Carlisle. Little did he know that he would bring home the top price of 10,000gns for his ram lamb, the highest price paid for a Beltex ram that year.

“It’s days like that which give you the passion to keep going,” said Brian, who runs a pedigree Beltex, Lleyn and Rouge flock. “Pedigree sheep breeding is intense – it’s seven days a week. If you’re serious about breeding, you have to put in the time to do it right.”

They say that if a breeder has the ‘knack’, he can put his hand to any breed. And that is the case for this Offaly man. Brian has tried his hand at terminal, maternal and dual-purpose breeds and has succeeded at all three.

It all started in 1997 when he was at an open day in Gurteen Agricultural College where some Beltex sheep were on display. He was impressed with their weight for size, conformation, muscle and potential kill-out. A year later, he purchased four ewes from TJ Gormley, Tuam, Co Galway, and the next year went to Carlisle and bought the Welsh national champion ewe and another third prize winner for a combined figure of stg£3,300. These two ewes formed the foundation to Brian’s Beltex flock.

Today, he runs 35 to 40 pedigree ewes. The first batch of these start lambing the second week of January with the remainder in mid-March (along with the Lleyn and Rouge ewes). Given the buoyant demand in recent years for Beltex ewes, he sells about 40% of his females at various Beltex Society sales along with most of his ram lambs. Because the Quarrymount flock is Scrapie-monitored, Brian has to breed replacements from within his own flock and keeps the rest of the females on farm.

There are over 40 members in the Irish Beltex Society, with seven breeders establishing flocks for the first time in 2015. “This,” said Brian, “has generated a buoyant demand for breeding females, especially in the past few years.”

A keen showman, Brian has won various titles. Most recently, he had the female champion at the Beltex premier in Tullamore in August, which sold for €1,000.

However, apart from the home sales, Brian makes the trip across the water to Carlisle every year. “Going to Carlisle gives me a real insight as to how the breed is developing in the UK. We, as breeders, are always trying to improve the quality of our sheep. I generally try and buy my replacement rams in Carlisle. By bringing back new lines, I hope that it would help to continually improve the quality of my lambs,” explained Brian. His stock ram, Headlind Tease Me, was bought at Carlisle for 5,500gns (€7,000).

But apart from breeding good stock, costs are also closely monitored. “Pedigree breeding is a business. Costs have to be watched. To cut down on feed costs, I grow 20 acres of rape which is currently being grazed by the twin-bearing ewes. As a rule of thumb, I don’t feed a lot of meal. I offer Grennan meal to lambs eight weeks before the sales. I like them in good condition but not overly pushed,” he said.

Five years ago, Brian got into the Rouge de l’Quest breed. “I liked them for their dual-purpose characteristics. While having good maternal traits and milking ability, they can also produce good quality U-grade lambs for the factory.”

Although still in the process of building up the Rouge numbers, he carries 30 ewes – 20 are used for pure breeding while the remaining 10 are crossed with Beltex. The first Rouge lamb he sold was at the Rouge premier show and sale in 2011, where he took home €1,200 for a ram lamb. This apparently is the highest price ever recorded here for a Rouge ram. This year, he won the All-Ireland Rouge champion ram lamb title at Clonmel show.

Brian also started a Lleyn flock eight years ago. He regards them as an easy-care breed with great prolific mothers. “Because these take less time, I am able to run the other two pedigree flocks alongside the Lleyns.”

Brian runs his 70 purebred Lleyn ewes on a commercial basis. Most of the females are snapped up by commercial farmers as replacements for their own flock. The best of the ram lambs are kept for breeding while the remainder are slaughtered. He says that he gets half Rs and half Us in the factory for the ram lambs.

Apart from the three pedigree flocks, Brian also runs a 50-head commercial flock of hybrid Lleyn and Rouge ewes which he crosses with a Beltex ram. He says that the demand for the crossbred ewes is tremendous.

“Any ewe lambs that are too good to be slaughtered are bought by farmers for their commercial flocks. I genuinely recognise the importance of the commercial farmer. He is our bread and butter – not only for the crossbreds but also over 90% of my pedigree ram lambs are bought as stock rams for commercial flocks,” Brian added. The fact that repeat customers keep coming back each year, is a reflection of his breeding strategy which is clearly working.

And if that wasn’t enough, Brian also has 10 purebred Charolais cows and a few Belgian Blues as well. In terms of the Charolais, he has always bred for maternal traits – all his cows calve down on their own and the calves gain 1.4kg to 1.6kg a day without any feeding. His long-term plan is to run a herd of 30 purebred Charolais cows commercially.

Beltex sale

At the recent Beltex in-lamb ewe sale in Tullamore, a top price of €810 was received by TJ Gormley, Tuam for a shearling ewe.

Aged ewes averaged €525; shearling ewes averaged €485 while the average for ewe lambs was €344.

Among the buyers were a number of new breeders. The clearance was 95%.

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Focus supplement: Pedigree breeding