Sheep farmers hoping bumper prices will continue in 2025

Seamus Guiry, Co Tipperary

“My son will be taking over the farm hopefully [in 2025]. We’re in partnership at the moment and I’m coming up near pension age, so I must step back a bit.

“[The Sheep Improvement Scheme and the Sheep Welfare Scheme] are good, especially for young people.

“It might help them to stick with [sheep farming] if they have a few pound coming in, because there’s wicked work in sheep. If you don’t put the work in, you won’t have them, that’s it.

“I’d say numbers [of farmers] are going to fall again [next year] unless these two schemes will help them.

“Because at all the meetings I’ve been at for the last couple of years, it’s always the same thing the young people say: ‘We must have jobs, we can’t survive with sheep and we need houses’.”

Larry Walsh, Co Tipperary

“The lambs that we sold here today, we sold the very same lambs last year and we got €90, and we got €140 today. Last year, 25kg ram lambs, you’d buy them for €50. This year, if they were 30kg, you’d get €90 for them.

“We’re getting nothing for the wool. The problem is trying to sell the wool, you’d only get 14c/kg; who in the name of God would work for that much?

“We’ll keep the same amount of sheep, but the men are dying away; there’s no young man coming on. The work is savage; we dipped them twice and we dosed them all last week for fluke. There’s too much work in them and no money.”

Tim and Lucy Harrington, Co Cork

“We’re putting fewer ewes to ram this year because of the work; there is a lot of time and effort that goes into them. We’ve big numbers and our farm is widespread, so it’s hard. This year was great to have our maximum amount of lambs, but it’s all time and effort. We’re trying to reduce numbers slightly and have better quality instead of quantity.

“The last couple of years, we would have fed them and put a lot of ration and meal into them and it didn’t justify it. While this year has justified it and long may it last. Where [prices] are now is where they should be and I hope it’s not just one bumper year.

“Lamb numbers are down, so I would think that going forward you will see prices maintaining.

“All along, you think you’re at nothing and what are you doing it for, but at least when the prices are up, it justifies it in your mind.

“There are a lot of people going into organics and I don’t know if it’s a good thing. There are a lot of lambs that are light and poor because of the restrictions in the organics; farmers think they don’t have to feed them, or this and that.

“We’ve joined Sheep Ireland, so we’re just trying to improve where we are. We’re at the bottom of the ladder and we’d just like to climb another rung again. With these prices, at least it will motivate you a bit better because, as you see this year, you’ll get paid for your quality.”