21% slump gives sheep farmers preview of Brexit future without NI lamb imports

Stephen Cadogan Sheep farmers are gaining from an early taste of a possible Brexit halt to the annual cross-border imports of nearly 500,000 sheep from the North.

Sheep farmers are gaining from an early taste of a possible Brexit halt to the annual cross-border imports of nearly 500,000 sheep from the North.

Numbers in Northern Ireland have fallen for the first time since 2013, ahead of the possibility of a no-deal Brexit cutting off access to the processors south of the border who buy about 50% of the North’s lambs.