Rare Breed: It's March and calving and kidding season for the NI farming families on the UTV show tonight

We’re back in Rosslea, Co Fermangah, at the beginning of tonight’s episode where John Egerton and his three sons run an award-winning farm.

They produce beef cattle and this month they’re busy with calving season.

John comments that the calving is going well with 32 cows calved and 15 to go, including a set of twins. He and the boys get to work tagging the cattle as soon as they are born.

The Egertons are also part of a group trying to do their bit to tackle climate change and cut their carbon footprint, and in March they’re planting rowans, birch and oak.

John said: “Farmers are custodians of the countryside,” and he’s aiming to get as close to net zero as he can without reducing output.

‘Rare Breed – A Farming Year’ is the ground-breaking year-in-the-life observational documentary series charting the reality of farming in 21 st century Northern Ireland for 12 families, giving a unique insight into one of Northern Ireland’s largest and oldest industries.

Also in this March episode we catch up with the Morrow family at Streamvale Farm, a large a busy dairy farm.

Tim Morrow is in the middle of a calving marathon! Streamvale is also one of the oldest open farms in Northern Ireland and this month they are preparing to open their doors on St. Patrick’s Day.

Near Katesbridge in Down, Geoffrey Ringland has goats and cattle. He’s just finished 10 days of kidding his 20 nanny goats and Geoffrey is now training them on the milking machine.

March is also an important month for Geoffrey as it’s the start of his Balmoral Show campaign.

Near Limavady in Londonderry Richard Kane grows arable crops and vegetables. The weather means a change in the calendar at Richard Kane’s farm. With the temperature nearly a degree hotter than average and half the usual rainfall, Richard is sowing spring barley early.

And finally in this episode we meet the final of the 12 families.

Near Silverbridge in Armagh, sisters Margaret and Kathleen Finnegan took over their family holding 30 years ago. In 2018, they have diversified and joined the growing number of social farms.

UTV’s Mark McFadden narrates the series. Sponsored by Dromona, ‘Rare Breed’ – A Farming Year is on tonight, Thursday, February 2 at 8.30pm on UTV.