A Farmer's View Laurence Fallon is a Roscommon sheep farmer who considers himself a lucky man to be doing the job he does.
He runs 550 sheep on his farm near Knockrockery, Co Roscommon, where he was born.
While sheep farmers have been experiencing a boom since the foot-and-mouth crisis of 2001, Laurence is unsure that this can continue to be the case, especially if large amounts of imported sheepmeat begin arriving in the EU.
"I worry about what is going to happen in the world trade talks if we are forced to accept more lamb at world prices," he says.
Laurence, who expects to see sheep production totally decoupled from direct payments later this year, believes there will be major problems in mountain areas and in lowland production as well.
"While hill farmers have been forced to take their sheep off hills because of overgrazing, I expect the new problem which will just be as bad will be the undergrazing of highlands because of decoupling," he says.
"In lowland areas, those people who are not that productive will get out of sheep altogether, but I suspect that more efficient farmers will move in to take their place so there will be no great loss of production.
"Decoupling production from direct payments will work only if there is a review of the penalties involved. Now I am afraid the penalties far exceed the extent of the crime," says Laurence who is chairman of the IFA's national sheep committee.
"I don't support wrongdoing of any kind but where you have people losing their payments just because their sheep are in a field which was not owned by the applicant on the qualifying date, then that is far too much."
Laurence, who also runs a herd of beef-producing cows on a 100- acre farm he rents, says he hopes to continue in farming despite the fact it does not give him the kind of wealth he has seen his non-farming friends generate.
"I remember being at the St Patrick's Day parade in Roscommon town this year and seeing all the equipment and stuff that fellows I know own," he says. "I remember thinking that kind of development has not been happening in agriculture and if you were involved in farming, you could feel you were a failure.
"I don't think I would swap with them because I am my own boss at the end of the day and the lifestyle I have suits me. I will never be as rich as they are but I am not one to complain," he says.
"It is a relatively healthy lifestyle and at the end of the day you are in charge of your own life and your own business."
He says sheep-farming is a very labour-intensive industry and involved looking closely at the herd every 10 days, dosing the sheep every four weeks. He is unsure that young people would want to get involved in such hard work. "A lot of people educate their children to give them the choice of going and for some, there is no choice but to leave the land," he says.