27 May 2025

Hill sheep focus at Sheep 2025 Open Day

The Sheep 2025 Open Day, scheduled to take place on Saturday, 21st June at the Teagasc Mellows Campus in Athenry, Co. Galway, will feature a dedicated focus on hill sheep.

In recent years, Teagasc Athenry studies have investigated outdoor finishing options for store lambs using forage brassica crops. Researcher Dr. Frank Campion will present findings showing that hill bred lambs have achieved average growth rates of 130g/day during the autumn/winter months on these crops.

Pictured at the launch of Sheep 2025 are from left to right: Margaret O Donovan, Teagasc; Sean Godfrey, Sheep Ireland; Philip Creighton, Teagasc Sheep Enterprise Leader; Darren Carty, Irish Farmers Journal; Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc; Shauna Jager, Bord Bia; Lauren Nolan, Irish Country Meats; Sharon Walshe, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; and ; J

There will be a display of the different forages used and the key factors affecting lamb performance when grazing brassica crops post weaning. There will also be information about recent studies investigating the options for finishing lambs in an organic system – both indoors and outdoors. A key component of these systems is the requirement for more forage-based diets and some of the options within the study being investigated will be displayed and initial findings presented.

In the below video, Dr. Frank Campion provides a taster of what to expect at Sheep 2025:

Hill sheep grazing study

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the earlier sheep are re-introduced to hill grazing post-lambing, the higher they rise up the hill, potentially improving grazing management on hills. PhD Student Michael Dever will be providing an update on a new sustainable hill grazing study which has commenced this year. This stand will display the GPS technology being used to track ewe grazing location and behaviour alongside examples of the GIS maps and data being examined to identify the locations of the sheep while grazing the hill so that performance of sheep relative to where they graze can be evaluated.

Sheep2025 – the largest dedicated sheep-focused open day on the island of Ireland – is organised by a joint industry collaboration between Teagasc, Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Irish Farmers Journal, and Sheep Ireland. Irish Country Meats are again the main sponsor for this event, in addition to support from major sponsors FBD Insurance, MSD Animal Health, and Elanco.

For more information on Sheep 2025, visit here.

The above article was adapted from the article titled ‘Sheep 2025: Celebrating tradition and innovation’ (PDF), written by Michael Gottstein, Head of Sheep Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, and Dr. Philip Creighton, Research Officer and Sheep Enterprise Leader.