George Calwell farms in the townland of Ballyreagh near
Clough outside Ballymena alongside his father Austin.

The farm, owned by the Calwell family for over 200 years, has always been a family affair. George has always enjoyed the support of his wife Lee-Ann who also works off farm in the financial sector.

Also taking a keen interest in the farm is George and Lee-Ann’s children Thomas (15) and Evie (13). George works full time as a Shift Maintenance
Engineer in the food manufacturing business and has a small business scanning sheep and cattle when he is not farming at home in Ballyreagh outside Ballymena.

The Calwell farm consists of 55 acres of low-lying type agriculture land. The farm consists mainly of beef cattle and a small flock of pedigree Lleyn
sheep. George always had an interest in farming from a very early age. He first started keeping commercial sheep when he was young at secondary school.

This lasted mainly until George started full time employment off the farm. It was then that slight changes were made during this time with the decision to sell the sheep and increase the cattle numbers.

Also, around this time George father Austin always had a keen interest in growing some potatoes and barley for the farm, which was mostly used for feeding and bedding of livestock. George has fond memories of picking potatoes the traditional way in the months of September and leading up to November. The potatoes were dug and picked by hand using baskets and filling endless amounts of bags!  Although George always remembers happy times in the potato field.

It was in 2008 when George’s son Thomas was born that he decided to go back into sheep again. George tried a variety of different breeds, initially purchasing some cast blackface ewes which were later crossed with a blue faced Leicester ram to produce some mules. He then progressed into pedigree Suffolk's with some New Zealand genetics. These sheep were bought from a local neighbour and George brought the Suffolk flock up to around thirty ewes and ewe lambs.

George kept the Suffolk flock up until 2014 when he decided a change in policy was required at the farm due to his workload increasing in his off-farm employment including unsocial working hours. George was also interested in finding a breed of sheep that would lamb later than more traditional breeds to help the grass management on the farm.
George’s journey to find a new breed of sheep that would be adaptable, low maintenance and lamb in the springtime with little meal feed and reared mostly off grass began with a conversation with fellow neighbour and local Lleyn breeder David Alexander. His neighbour David explained to George where the Lleyn breed originates from and the benefits to be had.

Armed with a Lleyn Society year book which he read cover to cover, George decided to contact some local Lleyn Breeders in Northern Ireland and made his first purchase. His first contact was Russell Millen of the Knockmult Lleyn flock from whom George purchased a few Lleyn shearling ewes.

Further female purchases were made from flocks 2175 (David Alexander) and then a pen of shearling ewes from James Coulter’s flock bought at the Northern Ireland Lleyn Society Annual sale in Ballymena Livestock market. So, by the end of 2014 George had created his foundation Lleyn flock which he now calls Daisylane Lleyns.

George now has around 40 Lleyn ewes on his Ballymena farm. He considers that apart from purchasing the females for the foundation flock, he mostly breeds his own replacements by purchasing selected Lleyn rams. Some of the rams he bought that have made a positive impact on the flock.

The first foundation ram was Mileview Convoy, another Lleyn ram which certainly helped George’s flock was Ballintur Gallant, was bred by Seamus Killen. This ram stood champion in the shearling ram class in Balmoral Show 2018. The third and most recent ram purchased was
one bred by Barry and Elaine Latimer. This ram stood first place in the annual Northern Ireland Lleyn sheep society show and sale held in Ballymena livestock market and was called Girgadis Kite, purchased in 2022 and according to George, is breeding well within the flock.

George had tended to sell his ewe lambs at the start of his Daisylane Lleyn breeding days, followed by buying in shearling Lleyn ewes for breeding. But now he has decided to retain them and their Lleyn characteristics - nice white face, black nose, good mouth and pleasing to the eye!
Some of George’s purchase highlights include the 1st prize pen of five Lleyn shearling ewes in Ballymena Lleyn sale in 2018, his purchase of a quality pen of five shearling ewes from the Goldie flock making the long journey to Carlisle Livestock market worth the effort. His most recent buy was the top prized Lleyn shearling ewes from Lleyn Sheep Society sale in Ballymena in September 2020. These two top prized pens of Lleyn shearling ewes were sold and bred from Aidan McConville (Glennview Flock 2002). George is of the view that these additional quality purchases will enhance his current flock with the Lleyn features so sought after.

George also runs a successful scanning business on top of his other full-time employment as a shift maintenance engineer in the food manufacturing industry. This decision to start a small business scanning sheep and cattle was prompted by redundancy in the year of 2015.

George completed training in Northern Ireland, Scotland and in England. Having successfully gained the necessary qualifications and getting his business up and running, George found that the advantages of the Lleyn breed in terms of low maintenance worked well with his off-farm work also.

When asked by farmers how he manages a flock of sheep when working 12-hour shifts and out on the road scanning sheep, George smiles and points to the breed – “none of it would be possible without the Lleyn breed of sheep. They are so adaptable and require such low maintenance compared to other breeds - you have to try this breed to believe it.

For more information on the Lleyn breed, George welcomes everybody to the Northern Ireland Lleyn Sheep breeders club open day which is being held at his farm in Ballyreagh near Clough outside Ballymena in August 2024. Full details can be found at the Northern Ireland Lleyn Sheep Breeders Club Facebook or on the main Lleyn Sheep Society website.

Written by Aidan McConville