Farmers attending Sheep 2025 today, June 21, heard about a new research project, aiming to shed light on how hill sheep graze upland areas and how these grazing patterns impact lamb performance up to weaning.

The collaboration between Teagasc and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) was outlined by Michael Dever, a Teagasc Walsh Scholar based at the Teagasc Mellows Campus in Athenry, Co. Galway.

Speaking at the event, Michael Dever explained that one of the key challenges for many hill sheep farmers is limited access to greenland, often forcing them to return ewe and lamb pairs to the hill at various stages after lambing. To quantify the impact of this, along with ewe grazing patterns and behaviour from various hill turnout strategies, Michael Dever explained:

“The project uses GPS collars and GIS mapping to monitor ewe movement and grazing preferences. By analysing location data, we hope to identify the relationship between grazing zones, botanical composition and animal performance.”

Michael Dever, Teagasc Walsh Scholar, pictured at his display at Sheep 2025.

This study is already underway on one of the Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep Demonstration farms, where ewes with single lambs were returned to the hill at either 4, 8 or 10 weeks post lambing.

“All the ewes are fitted with GPS tracking collars so we can see exactly where they go and hopefully, we’ll begin to understand why they choose certain areas to graze.

“Prior to turnout to the hill, we recorded ewe body condition score and weight, along with lamb weight, allowing us to monitor and track how the varying turnout strategies affect ewe and lamb performance,” Michael Dever added.

On the potential outcomes of this research, Michael Dever added: “If altering the timing of turnout changes how sheep move and graze on the hills, it could influence both animal performance and the ecological balance of upland environments.”

Sheep 2025 is a joint industry collaboration between Teagasc, Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Irish Farmers Journal, and Sheep Ireland. Irish Country Meats are the main sponsor for this event, in addition to support from major sponsors FBD Insurance, MSD Animal Health, and Elanco.