It's June in the latest episode of 'Rare Breed - A Farming Year'

‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ is the ground-breaking year-in-the-life documentary series charting the agricultural year. Filmed during 2023, each episode captures the highs and lows of each month of the year as the families deal with economic and environmental challenges.

“June sees Northern Ireland in the middle of a heatwave.”

This episode starts in Randalstown in Antrim, and we see a familiar Rare Breed face – James Alexander. It’s a new chapter for him. James is a big cattle and sheep farmer, but now he’s venturing into tourism, and has created a deluxe glamping site in a redundant field.

June sees Northern Ireland in the middle of a heatwave. Although the sunny days are welcomed by many, the grass is starting to suffer. Alise and Arthur Callaghan farm between Carlingford Lough and the Mourne Mountains. They’ve had no rain in nearly a month. Elsewhere on the farm they’ve sown a field that will provide food for birds in the winter. They’ve used a flower and cereal mix, and they have to roll it, to kickstart growth and to stop the birds eating the seed before the crop has a chance to get going!

Down in Fermanagh, deep in the Lakelands, Rodney and Emma Balfour specialise in premium sheep meat, that they sell direct from their home.

They’ve a busy weekend ahead as they’re opening the farm to anyone who wants to come and see how they produce food.

Their friends and family are helping out as around 500 people will be visiting to learn more about how the Balfours do things. It’s a real community affair. Fellow farmers lend kit for the machinery display while there’s a day set aside for local schools.

In Loughgall in Armagh, Jack Wilson is also on a mission to spread the word about local produce. He’s just graduated in business studies and is now focused on a summer of talks about bee-keeping and the benefits of honey.

He’s got plenty of help – Grand-dad William, cousin Daniel and, of course, the bees!

And the episode ends up in the Belfast hills, where 18 year old Dan McCaffrey is busy making hay while the sun shines – literally! He’s got around 900 bales to do along with 180 acres of silage.

n UTV’s UTV’s Rita Fitzgerald narrates this episode. Sponsored by NIE Networks, ‘Rare Breed’ – A Farming Year continues on Thursday, 7th March at 8.30pm on UTV. You can catch up afterwards on ITVX. Simply select ‘Categories, then News, select UTV as your region from the box and scroll across to find the episode.