The curtain comes down on UTV’s hit farming series, ‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’, this Thursday, April 27th, 2023, at 8.30 pm on UTV, writes farming journalist, Catherina Cunnane.
The spotlight is on the run-up to Christmas, and the programme starts in Auchnacloy with the Beatty family.
They are attending the final sheep sale of the year, and Paul and his son, Charlie, attend and enjoy the day out.
Tim Morrow at Streamvale, outside Belfast, is marking the end of the milking season, as his herd will calve at the same time. He is passionate about cow welfare, soil health and protecting the environment.
In Silverbridge in Armagh, Kathleen and Margaret Finnegan are making firebricks out of whin bushes.
They are keen to keep innovating and thinking of new uses for much of the vegetation on their land. They also host a Christmas wreath-making workshop which goes down well with all the participants.
In Ballinamallard, the Byers are in full breeding season. They are using the results of the genomics testing they had done earlier in the year to match the best combinations of bulls and cows.
In the second part of the programme, the producers are in Rosslea with the Egertons.
There has been a particularly frosty spell, and they are all out defrosting water pipes so the animals can get plenty to drink. John points out how resilient farmers have to be, no matter what the weather throws up.
Finally, the series ends appropriately at Gilpin’s in Loughgall, where over six million Brussel sprouts are being harvested and bagged up for Christmas.
They are really up against it time-wise and are running a 24/7 operation to ensure that carrots, parsnips and sprouts are all delivered in time!
UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates this final episode. Sponsored by Dale Far, ‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ finishes on Thursday, April 27th, 2023, at 8.30 pm on UTV.
‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ will return next year, and filming is “already underway for the next series, due to air early 2024”, a spokesperson confirmed.
