Farming programme “Rare Breed” is set to return in January featuring farmers from all over Ireland. The moves comes at the station which broadcasts the programme, UTV, expands into the south.

Rare breed bills itself as an “in-depth look into the successes and struggles of farming life in Ireland, throughout a calendar year”. The 12-part series with features 21 farmers from across the country.

Its producer Kelda Crawford McCann says third series of the Rare Breed is the biggest series of the programme filmed to date. “Our cameras have been out in all conditions as farmers worked through torrential rain and beaming sun – from Carlow to Cork and Tipperary to Donegal. The results have been outstanding and the finished product will be a heart-warming, family programme.”

The series will begin on UTV Ireland in January 2015.