Rare Breed: Here’s what you can expect from episode three of the hit farming series

This is the 10th series of the hit farming show and 14 families from across Northern Ireland are giving us an inside view of the ups and downs of their year in 2021.

Rare Breed takes viewers into the heart of the farming world, giving a unique insight into one of Northern Ireland’s largest and oldest industries.

It’s March in tonight’s episode and we head to outside Fivemiletown in County Tyrone, where Chris Johnston and Kendall Glenn are delighted to see their new Dutch Spotted Sheep arriving.

Chris comments: “You could look at them all day every day.”

But the bad weather is causing a headache and Kendall and Chris need to keep a close eye on the sheep while they get on with other jobs.

In the Mourne Mountains at Áine Devlin’s farm it’s also lambing season for their hill flock, but the difference is that it all happens outdoors!

Áine has to regularly check the ewes and the fields for new arrivals.

She says that lambing “is on and off torture, but it’s not the worst torture!”

Near Magheralin in County Down, March brings new arrivals of a different type at the Clarke farm. Libby and daughter Lucy are working with the calves while also trying to think of some good names.

As Lucy’s been at home during lockdown, she’s started a new business venture - she’s tapping into the dairy calf to beef approach so has bought dairy calves to bucket-feed, fatten and sell on.

She’s learning fast with Libby commenting, “every day’s a school day”.

Near Randalstown in County Antrim, the Alexander family farm is also preoccupied with lambing. This March, James has 450 ewes to lamb.

It’s good to be busy but, with large numbers, the risk of things going wrong is increased.

James stays calm and works through the problems, saying, “it’s the best time of the year and the worst time of the year”.

Finally, near Ballycarry in County Antrim, Rachael and Mervyn Garrett have nearly finished their lambing season – the drop off in busyness is good as it means they can take time to celebrate another important event in the calendar - Mervyn’s birthday.

After some quick rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, it’s time to get the flock out to grass.

Mervyn remarks, “I wouldn’t be a good graffiti artist” as he sprays the numbers.

UTV’s Mark McFadden once again narrates the series.

Sponsored by Moy Park, ‘Rare Breed’ – A Farming Year continues tonight (Tuesday) at 7.30pm on UTV.