Harry Graham from Ballygawley, Sligo has always had an interest in sheep. At age 13, he has just sold his first Pedigree Suffolk Ram at a Suffolk Sheep Society accredited sale.
Born into sheep farming through his Mum and Dad, Alison & Garth Graham and his Grandad, Bert Irwin, he took a keen interest from a very early age and once he got his first pair of wellies, there was no stopping him! The family farm has always carried commercial Suffolk cross ewes, but in 2011, his Mum & Dad decided to start a Pedigree Suffolk Flock, (Kirriemuir Suffolks) affiliated to the Suffolk Sheep Society. Kirriemuir Suffolks won a number of Certificates of Merit in last year’s National Flock Competitions for the UK & Ireland. Unfortunately, these did not take place in 2020 due to Covid 19 restrictions.
Harry has been helping out on the farm since he was able to hold a bottle, feeding pet lambs and gradually progressing to helping out with more difficult chores required throughout the farming year. It wasn’t long before Harry wanted some sheep of his own, so after receiving some money for his 8th birthday party, he insisted on going to the mart to ‘Buy some Sheep’ for himself! He bought a super hogget ewe which turned out, unexpectedly to be in lamb, and his parents gifted him the best Suffolk Cross ewe lamb on the farm the same year. The following year, he had 2 lambs – a ewe and a ram. He retained the ewe lamb for himself as a breeding ewe and sold the ram lamb. Harry’s policy for the past few years has been to retain his good ewe lambs and sell everything else. With the money he saved from his sales, in 2019, he decided he would start up his own Pedigree Suffolk Flock.
The Suffolk Sheep Society actively promotes Youth Membership, and runs competitions for young breeders, young handlers and encourages young members to learn about all aspects and key elements of modern farming.
Harry named his flock ‘Westside Pedigree Suffolks’ and in 2019 he purchased 2 females. A ewe lamb from Quarrypark Suffolks in Galway and an in-lamb Gimmer from Malinhead Suffolks at the All-Star Female Sale in Blessington in November. His Gimmer lambed a terrific Ram Lamb with superb progeny from some of the top flocks in the UK & Ireland such as Solwaybank, Lakeview, Cairness and Clyda. He has taken responsibility for looking after this ram since it was born and has nurtured it through to be a superb lamb with great bone & carcass.
Harry joined the West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club in 2020 as a junior member. This allowed him access to the Pedigree Sales which take place each year in the West of Ireland. He brought his ram lamb to the Club Premier Sale which took place in Roscommon on Saturday 29th August. This sale is the largest sale in Connacht for Pedigree Suffolk Ram Lambs and farmers travel from all over the province to purchase top quality Pedigree Rams for the up-coming breeding season. It was a particularly successful sale this year with over 90% clearance of rams on the day and Harry was very pleased to sell his ram to a large commercial farmer.
Harry now plans to re-invest his money in another in-lamb gimmer at this years All Star sale to add to his flock. His Quarrypark Ewe Lamb and his Malinhead Gimmer have already been running with one of Kirriemuir Suffolks stock Rams, Errigal Jack the Lad, who won the Certificate of Merit in the UK & Ireland Flock Competition in 2019. He is looking forward to the lambing season for 2021 which starts in January and to a successful sales season next year.
Following evaluation of our applications to DAFM we have today been notified in writing that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has approved our applications to be recognised as a breed society in Ireland and to operate a breeding programme for the Suffolk Sheep breed. This now makes us the largest Government approved pedigree sheep breed society in Ireland!
When the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on the 23rd June 2016 I don’t think any of us fully understood the implications in general and how things would work out in practice for our industry. Fast forward nearly 5 years and the pedigree livestock sector is now grappling with the changes required to satisfy new legislation and directives, in particular with the registration of pedigree animals in EU and the movement of breeding livestock between Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and continental Europe. We are still operating in an extremely fluid environment with uncertainty and changes in direction becoming the norm. For the most of you, the impact of Brexit on how you manage your pedigree enterprise on a day to day basis is minimal and that is unlikely to change, but for others it is creating major challenges.
At a Society level, we are implementing a range of requirements to protect the interests of the Society and support all of our members as the required changes in our practice, processes and structures are unfolding.
Flock Book Developments
The major organisational challenge arising from Brexit is that the EU no longer recognises British based Pedigree Societies operating in their geographical areas. This means that European livestock can no longer be included in the British Suffolk Sheep Society flock book (ie database). We have been working closely with our database service providers (Grassroots) and DAFM to separate the flock books and to get formal recognition from the Department for the South of Ireland Branch as a Society in its own right. There are absolutely no issues with buying, selling and transferring sheep between members in Ireland and the DAFM application is to enable the issue of certificates for the movement of sheep to other legal jurisdictions including GB. The application is progressing well with a number of the key elements already approved. However, all of this means that from the beginning of March 2021 UK based flocks will be separated from European Flocks. These changes will be publicised on the Society websites and social media pages when it goes live.
Sheep Registration in Ireland
When registering sheep you will be issued with pedigree certificates as before – the only difference is that they will have the South of Ireland variation of the logo and the address is the South of Ireland Branch registered office address in Dublin. Apart from that it looks exactly the same as the current pedigree certificate. You will be able to use these certificates to transfer sheep between flocks as before.
Livestock Movement between GB & Northern Ireland/Ireland
At the time of writing this circular, there are a number of issues impacting on Society operations and events with regard to the movement of livestock between GB (England, Scotland & Wales) and Northern Ireland/EU. Because Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom with an EU land border (ie Republic of Ireland) and although it is part of the United Kingdom and within the UK trading area, it is now considered part of the EU regulation area. This means that there is no change to the processes and regulations for the movement of livestock from Northern Ireland to GB (England Scotland & Wales), nor for the movement of animals between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
However, for the movement of livestock from GB to Northern Ireland/Ireland, the same regulations apply as to the importing of livestock from any third country to the EU. At this point in time the key areas of impact are unsold animals or purchases at sales in GB being moved to Northern Ireland/Ireland, the tagging of animals being exported from GB to Northern Ireland/Ireland flocks and the status of marts used by the Society in GB in relation to the issue of Export Health Certificates for either the repatriation of sheep or the import of GB bred consignments. We are of course working through these issues with the various government departments, along with other key stakeholders, and once clarified, details will be circulated to members and published on the society websites.
The West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club publish a 50th Anniversary Magazine to mark tremendous milestone in their history.
Click on the cover page below to read articles from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., ‘The Origins of the Suffolk’, a trip down memory lane and much much more.
If you would like a copy, please get in touch with any of the committee or at woisuffolk@hotmail.com and it can be arranged. You can also visit their website here or click the links below.
