The largest selection of pedigree Suffolk rams at any single sale in Ireland will go on display on the August bank holiday, Monday, August 2, at Blessington Mart, Co. Wicklow.

The presale show begins at 9:00a.m with the first sheep through the ring at 12:30p.m, and all featured animals will carry zootechnical certificates.

Dan O'Mahony, society chair of the South of Ireland branch of the Suffolk Sheep Society, said:

"We have the top breeders from Cork to Donegal, and Galway to Wicklow, and everywhere in between."

The Blessington Sale will be the first sale held by the newly DAFM (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine) approved South of Ireland branch of the Suffolk Sheep Society as a pedigree breed society in Ireland and by extension, the European Union. The Society's breeding programme also received official DAFM approval making it the largest ovine breeding programme in Ireland.

Up until that point, there had only been three sheep breeding programmes approved and these were for small organisations.

Looking forward to the sale, O'Mahony stated:

"It's been a very difficult year with both Covid and Brexit. We are really looking forward to coming together as a new Society for the first time."

A unique arrangement with the UK Suffolk Sheep Society allows members of the South of Ireland Society to continue to present sheep for sale at UK sales, with members having Associate Membership of one of the oldest pedigree sheep societies in existence. These links can be traced back to the first pedigree Suffolk flock established in Co. Roscommon in the 1890s.

Vice chair Garth Graham from Sligo, said: “This means that we have the best of both worlds, we are an approved Zootechnical Society in Ireland, able to trade pedigree Suffolks throughout the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

To learn more about the South of Ireland Suffolk Sheep Society, click here.