‘Rare Breed’ back in January

In all weather conditions and on every type of farm, from fruit to livestock, crops to Christmas trees, Rare Breed encapsulates the value of the agri-industry, showing our local produce is an international commodity worth millions to the economy every year.

Michael Wilson, Managing Director, UTV Television said: “Following the phenomenal success of the earlier series I am delighted to announce the return of Rare Breed for a third season as part of our New Year schedule. Our agriculture and food industry here is revered, but very few consumers know what a typical day-in-the-life of a farming family actually involves.

“This time around the series features farms big and small, from across Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht. Viewers are given an access-all-areas pass to one of our biggest industries and an insight into the contrasts between well-established farmers and the more tech-savvy farmers beginning their careers in the sector.”

The series is produced for UTV by local independent production company Crawford-McCann. Kelda Crawford-McCann, Managing Director of the company said: “This is the third series of Rare Breed and this time we have been filming in a variety of different counties including Antrim, Down, Galway and Cork.

“The series provides a unique insight into the people behind this massively important industry and reveals what it takes to bring food from the field to supermarket shelves and finally to our kitchen tables. Every sector of the farming industry has its own seasonal timetable and all the farmers featured are at the mercy of our notoriously fickle weather and the challenges of fluctuating prices paid for their produce.”

In the opening programme we meet farmer Seamus Kane in County Antrim who is hoping the worst of the rain comes while his cattle and sheep are indoors while in County Down, arable farmer Allan Chambers, is also patiently waiting for the rain to stop, although there’s no rushing his crop of trees.

In Armagh, brothers Geoffrey and John Kinnear are checking which of their dairy cows are in calf. While in Galway, Liam Conway and son Shane, are lambing their pedigree Charollais sheep.

At the same time Micheál Looney is welcoming new arrivals at his Cork dairy farm and in Laois, tillage farmer David Walsh-Kemmis, is busy making the most of January’s short-lived dry weather.

In County Clare, we meet John Moroney who breeds Limousins at the gateway to the Burren National Park and twenty three year old Frank McGeeney, one of the tens of thousands of part time farmers who juggles his office job with working on the family farm in County Louth.

UTV’s Mark McFadden returns to narrate the series. Sponsored by Irwin’s Bakery and shot in High Definition, Rare Breed – A Farming Year returns on Monday 5 January 2015 at 8pm.