The Irish Texel Sheep Society, in association with the Irish Farmers Journal, is delighted to renew its annual editorial competition aimed at young sheep farmers.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, young people are at home, which gives the perfect opportunity to get the pen and laptop out and enter the competition.

The competition will be broken up into four age categories – for those who are 11 years and under, 12-14 years, 15-17 years and 18-21 years on 1 April 2020.

The prizes for each group are vouchers to spend at the Irish Texel premier sale (vouchers are non-transferable and have to be redeemed in person).

The sale takes place on 14 and 15 August in Blessington, Co Wicklow, where there will be more than 300 sheep to choose from. The winner of each section will get a €250 voucher to spend on a sheep of their choice.

Following this, the four section winners will be invited to a short interview on the Friday evening of the show and sale. Here three industry representatives will ask a number of questions to get a better idea of the finalists’ understanding of the sheep sector. An overall winner will then be chosen, with an extra €250 awarded. This means one lucky young breeder will be in with a chance of receiving a €500 voucher to spend on a ewe or ram of their choice. An added €150 will also be awarded to the reserve overall winner.

You don’t even have to be a Texel breeder to enter as the competition is open to all sheep enthusiasts aged 21 and under.

To enter, simply write an article titled “Looking after sheep during self-isolation and its benefits”. Articles are limited to 600 words and should touch off the area of why they would like to invest in the Texel breed and how the breed can be used in different farming setups.

Each of the four categories has a different closing date, which are as follows:

  • 11 years and under – 23 April.
  • 12-14 years – 21 May.
  • 15-17 years – 18 June.
  • 18-21 years – 23 July
  • Entrants are asked to send their finished articles to smurphy@farmersjournal.ie and info@irishtexel.com . Please include name, address, date of birth and contact number with your entries. The winners will be announced in the following week’s paper with each section winner having their article published in the Irish Farmers Journal. Winners in each category will have their article published on the Texel society website and Facebook page as well as online at www.farmersjournal.ie.