The Grant brothers Mike, John and Patrick run the successful Craigdoo Suffolk and Blackie flocks near Kilcoo in Co Down. John and Patrick are veterinarians, involved as a partner and a pig specialist, and sheep specialist respectively within the Parklands Veterinary Group. Their farm is situated 600ft above sea level near the Mourne mountains. The enterprises consist of 130 pure breed Lanark Blackface ewes, 75 pedigree Suffolk ewes, 500 commercial ewes, 7,000 finishing pigs and a suckler herd. Recent successes include receiving £9,000 for a Blackie at Lanark in 2017. The brothers are driven to achieve even more success in the future. With an extensive embryo transfer program this year, they are set to continue the rapid genetic progression of their flocks.
Sheep Drench
ProVitaMin: Tried and Tested by farmers across Northern Ireland
Farmers across Northern Ireland continue to trust ProVitaMin to help correct deficiencies, improve fertility and growth rates amongst their flocks.
Paddy and Michael Mullan run the family farm Drimhill, near Swatragh which sits 1000 feet above sea level. Their farm consists of 350 ewes, consisting of 300 purebred Lanark Blackfaced ewes, 40 crossbred mules and 10 purebred Leister ewes, and 30 suckler cows.
Pedigree Sheep Farmer Gets Better Performance from ProVitaMin
Damon Brown runs 60 commercial ewes and a small pedigree flock under the Loughbeg Suffolks name.
Better profitability when selling two lambs per ewe
Colm and Enda Mc Aleer run a small purebred and commercial flock near Dungannon. They have a nucleus of 20 purebred Suffolk ewes and 40 commercial Suffolk Mule crosses and Mule’s.
“We are aiming for a good wide and long sheep with good power and style for the pedigree side of the flock”, said Enda. The flock is run under the prefix Kerrib Suffolks.
ProVitaMin proves its worth on sheep unit
A growing pedigree enterprise has opened up new farm development opportunities for Lanark Blackface breeder Colin McEldowney. The family’s Slaughtneil farm in Co Derry is home to 300 ewes.
“I work in partnership with my father Seán and wife Keara,” Colin explained.
“We run a herd of 25 suckler cows in tandem with the sheep. Where the ewes are concerned, 200 are crossed with Blue Leicester rams to produce Mule lambs. The top 100 constitute the focus of the pedigree operation.
“Over the past number of years I have used semen from a selection of top Scottish rams in order to improve the breeding merit of the flock. This in turn, has provided me with the opportunity to sell stock of my own at official breed sales.
Give ewes a boost to improve performance
ProVitaMin is now used by many farmers in Northern Ireland. Farmers are seeing the benefit of using this high specification drench. More lambs, more ewes holding to the ram, tighter lambing, better condition and better growth rates are being consistently reported from all parts of Northern Ireland about the product which is manufactured in Omagh.
Provita at Clogher Show
Provita will be at next week’s Clogher Show, taking place on Wednesday July 31st. “We will be located adjacent to the sheep rings,” confirmed Provita’s Tommy Armstrong. “And we look forward to making contact with farmers throughout the day.”