Confidence in the future of sheep farming is at an all time low and young people are no longer entering the sector, the chair of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) Sheep Committee has said.

Speaking on the latest episode of Farmland, produced by Agriland Media Group, Sean McNamara said that young people can see that sheep farming is becoming less and less viable as factory prices remain low, while input costs rise.

He said: "I'm in marts every day and there are no young people to be seen there. There is a big lack of confidence.

According to McNamara the number of sheep in Ireland reflects this trend. He said there is currently about 3.2 million head in Ireland, compared to almost 5.5 million seven years ago in 2015.

According to the ICSA sheep chair, it was previously common for the older bracket of sheep farmers to "plough their pension back into the farm", however he believes less people will do this going forward as the payback is no longer worth it.

He said:

Getting a viable price for lamb from the factories and gaining access to new markets could be the solutions to these issues said McNamara, who insisted that he is willing to work with all stakeholders to achieve this.

Referring specifically to the US and Chinese markets, he questioned why these have not been developed, particularly as "we have two Bord Bia offices out in China that are supposed to be selling our product".

"If he doesn't, there'll be no product there for the factories so they may seriously look at that," he said

You can watch the full interview with McNamara on Farmland by clicking here, or you can listen to the podcast on all major audio platforms.