Rare Breed returns and Christmas is on the mind for the farmers
UTV’s hit farming series, ‘Rare Breed - A Farming Year’, continues on Tuesday at the new time of 8pm, with the farmers as busy as ever.
We meet a new farmer who’s thinking about Christmas already. There are ewes and calves up for sale and potatoes and apples to harvest.
It’s July and there’s a special Christmas delivery at Belfast port for Olive Elliot and son Mark.
They are collecting 700 bronze turkey chicks.
They quickly get them home to their farm near Portaferry on the shores of Strangford Lough.
Olive is a highly respected poultry farmer with many years’ experience and she’s passing on her knowledge to her children.
“Physically I can’t do the work anymore,” says Olive.
Son Mark adds: “I am 53 my brother’s 47, but we are 11 year old boys in our mother’s eyes.
"We just do what we’re told.”
Outside Dundonald, tree farmer Tony Johnston has also Christmas on his mind.
He’s checking for pests on his Christmas trees and explains how he treats only infected trees so that the friendly bugs can still be on the trees.
He talks too of the importance of protecting the soil and natural environment.
He’s passing his knowledge to his daughter and apprentice, Felicity, who’s planning on studying Forestry in Wales.
Near Magheralin, young farmer Lucy is selling her calves through the local online mart.
She’s keen to see if they get a good price. But did she make a good business decision? Has her work paid off?
Lucy talks of waiting for her GCSE results so can head off the Greenmount, just like her mum Libby did before her.
It’s also a tense day for Libby as they have a visitor on the farm to classify their Shorthorns.
She calls it the ‘Miss World for Heifers’.
Near Randalstown, July is a key month for James Alexander.
He’s selling more than 1,000 ewes. But first, he must get them looking their best before the big day.
He's colouring them and points out: “Why does any person put in fake tan on and Friday or Saturday evening?
"It’s the same for sheep.”
No matter how many years he does this he is always anxious to get it right, and worries that some of the them could be better looking and fatter.
In the second part of the episode, at Meadow Farm near Downpatrick, Richard Orr is busy harvesting Queen’s potatoes which he delivers out to his farm shop in Crossgar.
Over 95% of his harvest is sold through the shop.
He’s proud too of the sustainable farming methods he employs to ensure the best quality potatoes.
Our final stop in this episode is to outside Portadown in Armagh, where Pat McKeever and son Peter are very glad to be moving apples from their stores as sales start to pick up.
We get a glimpse into the production process and see apples being pressed for juice to be bottled up and sold.
Pat is very proud, and says: “It is something to know that you’ve grown it, pressed it, and you can sit, open it and have a drink.”
UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates the series. Sponsored by Moy Park, ‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ continues on Tuesday, March 15 at 8pm on UTV.
To catch up on the series so far visit the programme home page here.