Mr. Michael Crosse:

The output from a ewe producing one and a half lambs is similar to that from a conventional ewe. The key point of difference is that, after rearing the lamb for 30 days, the ewe goes on and contributes milk for the rest of the season from grass. As to the yields, the breed we use is the Lacaune, which can do 300 l after rearing the lamb. At a value of €1.30 or €1.40 a litre, that ewe is producing output of over €500, including the lamb. That is three or four times the output of a conventional ewe. We originally started milking sheep to make a living. We were renting all our land and, to make any kind of living out of sheep, you need an awful lot of them. Even then, the profitability is not great. We looked at milking sheep because there is potential to make more money from fewer sheep because of the output. That is the big selling point. A guy with 1,000 sheep on a 200-acre farm is not actually making a whole lot of money out of those sheep. The figures show that he could milk 400 sheep on that 200-acre farm, making more money while also being more resilient to outside market forces relating to costs and being more environmentally friendly. That is the-----