Curtain comes down on UTV ‘Rare Breed’

We get to visit all seven families as they get on with the cycle of farming, be that breeding, growing and animal welfare, and they share with the viewers what the year has taught them.

It’s an early start for vegetable farmer Emily McGowan from Comber. She’s at the wholesalers in Belfast at 4.30am to pick up additional produce - exotic fruit and veg that can’t be grown locally.

Still in Comber, Claire Shearer’s horses are getting a visit from their dentist. Claire likes to keep their teeth in tip top condition to prevent health problems.

There’s no Christmas wind down at James Alexander’s farm near Randalstown. He’s decided to trial a new system of working, starting with an online sale of livestock in the New Year. He plans to sell 50 and is enjoying getting them ready for the sale.

In Tyrone, Des Kelly is selecting cows to start a new circle of life. As they do this, Des and assistant Rodrigo clean and clip the cattle to prevent them from overheating while housed during the winter months.

As the year draws to a close, the Preston family is gathering the flock at their farm near Gortin in Tyrone. They’re moving them onto fresh pasture and selecting stock to sell at the Christmas sales in England.

Near Tempo in Fermanagh, Andrew and Margaret Little have their hands full with a batch of new calves. Margaret is capturing the work for her social media. She loves to share her journey into farming with her followers and keeps busy weighing new calves. They’ve had a successful year and have run out of space for them all but she has plans to create more pens for next year.

Our last stop in the series is to Glynn near Larne and Jonny Hanson is mulling over the farm’s second year. There’s been a lot happening since he started farming in 2019. He’s had a ‘mixed bag’ of a year, with financial and logistical challenges, but on the flip side their volunteer pool has grown as has an increase demand for local produce.

UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates the series for the last time this year. Sponsored by Moy Park, Rare Breed – A Farming Year concludes this Tuesday 13th April at 7.30pm on UTV.

And as they say on all great movie sets, ‘that’s a wrap’ – until of course next year when we’ll bring you a set of new farming families for the 2022 series of Rare Breed.