Rare Breed returns to UTV with a new farming family and a new time slot

In this instalment, there will be turkey and trees, as well as harvests and auctions, with the farmers as busy as ever.

There are ewes and calves to be sold, and potatoes and apples to harvest.

Viewers will meet a new farmer to the series tonight, who is already busy planning for Christmas.

It’s July and there’s a special Christmas delivery at Belfast port for Olive Elliot and son Mark. They’re collecting 700 Bronze turkey chicks.

They quickly get them home to their farm near Portaferry, on the shores of Strangford Lough.

Olive is a highly respected poultry farmer with many years’ experience, and she’s passing on her knowledge to her children.

Olive comments, “physically I can’t do the work anymore”, while Mark her son quips, “I am 53, my brother’s 47, but we are 11 year old boys in our mother’s eyes! We just do what we’re told!”

Next, we’re off to outside Dundonald where tree farmer, Tony Johnston, is also getting festive!

He’s checking for pests on his Christmas trees and explains how he treats only infected trees, so that the friendly bugs can remain on the trees.

He talks of the importance of protecting the soil and natural environment.

Tony is passing his knowledge on to his daughter and apprentice, Felicity, who’s planning on studying forestry in Wales.

Near Magheralin, young farmer Lucy is selling her calves through the local online mart.

She’s keen to see if they get a good price – did she make a good business decision? Has her work paid off?

Lucy talks about waiting for her GCSE results, and her hopes of heading to Greenmount, just like her mum Libby did before her.

It’s also a tense day for mum Libby as they have a visitor on the farm to classify their Shorthorns.

She calls it the ‘Miss World for Heifers’!

Near Randalstown, July is a key month for James Alexander.

He’s selling more than 1,000 ewes.

But first, he must get them looking their best before the big day.

He’s colouring them and points out, “why does any person put on fake tan on a Friday or Saturday evening? It’s the same for sheep!”

No matter how many years he does this, he is always anxious to get it right, and worries that some of the sheep could be better looking and fatter.

In the second part of the episode, at Meadow Farm near Downpatrick, Richard Orr is busy harvesting Queen’s potatoes, which he then delivers to his farm shop in Crossgar.

Over 95 per cent of his harvest is sold through the shop.

He’s proud of the sustainable farming methods he employs to ensure the best quality potatoes.

Our final stop in this episode is to outside Portadown in County Armagh, where Pat McKeever and son Peter are very glad to be moving apples from their stores as sales start to pick up.

We get a glimpse into the production process and see apples being pressed for juice, which will be bottled up and sold.

Pat is very proud, and says, “it is something to know that you’ve grown it, pressed it, and you can sit, open it and have a drink.”

UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates the series.

Sponsored by Moy Park, ‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ continues tonight (Tuesday 15 March) at the new time of 8pm on UTV.