43rd IHFA Premier Bull Show & Sale

92% Clearance with average of €3,100

Champion Mountfarna Jetway with breeder John O’Callaghan on halter, pictured with Charles Gallagher IHFA CE and Kathleen Watson, IHFA President.

Strong demand from buyers ensured a very brisk trade at the IHFA Premier Bull Sale. There was a 92% clearance rate with an average price of €3,100. 26 bulls were present with 24 bulls sold on the day. Buyers from across the four provinces made the journey in pursuit of sourcing a top calibre Holstein Friesian sire for the breeding season. Quality bulls with a balance of conformation, production, protein and cow family performance was in demand.

Champion – Mountfarna Jetway owned by John O’ Callaghan sold for €6,100
Reserve – Mountfarna Jetstream owned by John O’ Callaghan sold for €5,300
Honourable Mention – Monamore Dresden 2 owned by James Kelly sold for €3,000

All bulls were pre-inspected following IHFA qualification criteria for production and conformation standards. All bulls were genotyped with parentage verified through DNA. Highest EBI presentations were awarded to the top bulls in the three showing classes.

My thanks to Pat Frawley, Croagh Herd, for doing the honours of judging. He placed strong emphasis on feet & legs and also selected bulls for dairy strength.

Champion, Mountfarna Jetway is bred from a VG87 dam with the next three dams all scored EX (Excellent) on conformation. His dam Mountfarna Seaver Fay produced 989kgs milk solids in her 2nd lactation.

Reserve Champion Mountfarna Jetstream is backed by a high protein maternal line. His dam, Mountfarna Twist Posy VG87, has averaged 3.54% protein with two lactations over 10,000kgs milk. His grand dam has protein to 3.76%.

Henry O’ Keeffe, Radney herd had a very successful outing achieving an average price of €3,550. Radney Raymond sold for €5,200. Bred from the Odetta family he is backed by an EX91 3E dam and EX93 7E grand dam having protein to 3.90%. The Odetta family has been very successful for the O’Keeffe family with numerous bulls purchased for AI. Sired by Mr. Grey this September born bull is +0.03% protein P.T.A.

Radney Neymar, Lot 1 in the sale sold for €3,400. Both his dam Radney Ramos Bella VG87 and grand dam Radney DUT Bella EX90 have protein over 4.00%.

There was strong demand for Monamore breeding with Monamore Varnish (lot 4) selling for €3,100 and Monamore Dresden 2 (Honourable Mention) and Monamore Rintintin both selling for €3,000.

An overview of other prices includes;

•Lisnalty Magul 28 (Lot 22) owned by Paul Hannan was 1st in his class and sold for €3,600.
•Mountfarna Real Deal (lot 20) owned by John O’ Callaghan sold for €3,300.
•Hallow Zzle (lot 11) owned by Philip & Linda Jones sold for €3,100. Dam Hallow Advent Twizzle EX96 4E was Supreme Champion Emerald Expo, Baileys Champion and IHFA Champion Cow 2016.
•Reary Kidd (lot 28) owned by Kevin Flynn sold for €3,100. Bred from three generations of EX dams with Reary Norah 190 EX91 (dam) having protein to 4.06%.
•Hallow Diamondbrace (lot 2) owned by Philip & Linda Jones sold for €3,000. Grand dam Desmond Dundee Embrace EX95 is former Supreme Champion Royal Ulster Winter Fair.
•Mylawn Dan The Man (lot 13) owned by Michael Healy sold for €2,600. He is a half-brother to the AI sire Mylawn Fintan (FR2420).

My thanks to Denis Barrett, Auctioneer and Central Auctions, Nenagh Mart, for use of the premises. Thanks to John Kirby – steward, IHFA and mart staff.