Farmers in the Galtee Mountains have been struggling over recent days to keep sheep safe on the hills after days of heavy snowfall.

Brothers Tom, John and William Cunningham worked alongside their nephew Billy and sheep farmer neighbours to dig out sheep stuck in drifts.

Many of the stuck sheep were saved with the help of sheepdogs which sniffed out trapped sheep.

Farmers along the Tipperary-Limerick border reported that snows, which were several feet deep in parts of the Galtees, were the worst witnessed over recent decades.

While many sheep were dug out, the level of fatalities will not be known until a final count can be taken.