Championing native Irish sheep and wool

This week, Organic Matters meets Blátnaid Gallagher, an organic sheep farmer in East Galway who has been championing the native Galway sheep breed for meat and wool. She’s spearheaded the creation of the Galway Wool Co-op in an era when the number of sheep farmers is dwindling. She talks about building a renaissance in Irish wool by focusing on the need for better processing and putting farmers back at the heart of the story of Irish wool. This includes a recent collaboration between the Galway Wool Co-op and Avoca to develop different kinds of products.

Blátnaid also speaks about how she and her husband took on the farm and converted to organics, the importance of hay meadow conservation for nature and animal feed, as well as her passion for social farming, working with people with intellectual disabilities.