Limerick Clare

Chairman Michael Laffan 087 2941615 Michaellaffan@eircom.net
Vice chairman Michael McNamara 087 8163197
Secretary Edward Fitzgerald 087 2254702 Toberfort@hotmail.com
Treasurer John Curtin 087 1204334 Johncurtincows@hotmail.com
PRO Eoin Horgan 087 9849463  Coshmaholsteins@hotmail.com
Child Officer  Michael McNamara 087 8163196

Club Notes – Winter 2018

Field evening
On the 1st of June we held our annual field evening on McNamara’s farm near Ballyhea. John McNamara is originally from Caherline and moved here on 2004 where he now farms with his wife Ann-Marie with their family Aoife, Conor and Shane. The weather leading up the event had been ideal silage making conditions and many had caught up on the work after one of the worst springs in memory. Unfortunately on the night for the 3 hours that we needed fine weather we were battered by thunder and lightning coupled with really heavy rain. Facilities on the farm were excellent as we had to take the stock judging indoors. Great stock was on view and many were commenting on the production that the cows were achieving. The night was sponsored by Pat Byrnes and the Bank Of Ireland Agri team. Sean McSweeney officiated as the master judge. There was a great attendance on the night which is a testament of the popularity of the McNamara family. There was even a few of John’s former neighbours from Caherline. This all added to the atmosphere and everyone had a cup of tea on the farm after provided by the staff from Charleville golf club. The results of the stock judging are below. Thanks to all who came and supported the event and well done to the prize winners on the night.

Under 12
Tommy Ryan / Sarah Frawley / Micheal Ryan
Junior
Jane Hannon / Claire Hannon / Aimee O’Donovan
Intermediate
Rachel McNamara / Gearoid Slattery / Luke Storan
Senior
Joe Boyce / Derek Frawley / Donie Young

IHFA Open Day
On the 4th July the Irish Holstein Friesian Association held it’s open day on the Collins Family Oldrose herd. This year the Limerick and Clare club won both the senior section and the under 18 section.

The senior team was made up of Derek Frawley from Croagh, Mike McNamara from Newtownshandrum and John Curtin from Ath Lacca. The under 18 team was made up of sisters Clare and Jane Hannon from Crecora and Aimee O’Donovan from Loughill. The teams were selected from the clubs field evening held on John and Ann Marie McNamara’s farm in June 1st.

Also part of the open day was the announcement of IHFA’s national herds competition. This competition is based on a combination of production records and herd inspection. The judge for this years herd inspection was Mark Logan from the famous Clandeboye Estate in Co. Down. The Limerick and Clare club sent forward 3 herds and all three came home with prizes. Firstly Mike and Margaret Laffan’s Everground herd from Kilfinny won the spring section. Aidan and Sally Ann Frawley’s Ballytigue herd from Bruree came 3rd in the over 80 cow section and John and Eoin Horgan’s Coshma herd also from near Bruree came 3rd in the under 80 cow section.

It was a fantastic day for the club in the summer sun shine with a lot of silver ware coming back to Co Limerick. The success proves that there are black and white breeders in Limerick doing as good a job as anyone in the country.

Herds Competition
We held our awards night for the annual herds competition on Friday night at Charleville golf course. Our thanks to our sponsors Roches Feeds for their continued support. Sean McSweeney was our judge and was well received amongst all the breeders. He spoke of how impressed he was with dairy farming on the famous Golden Vale and the cows that he saw. He saw in express of 3,000 cows over 3 days. Our thanks to Roche’s feeds for their generous sponsorship. The results are:
Development class:
1st Richard Collins
2nd John Quinlan
3rd Pa Foley
Best heifer: Pa Foley
Best junior cow: John Quinlan
Best senior cow: John Quinlan

Spring Premier
1st Charles O’Malley
2nd Jim Kelly
3rd Billy Mulcahy
Best heifer: Charles O’Malley
Best junior cow: Charles O’Malley
Best senior cow: Charles O’Malley

Winter Premier
1st Des Frawley
2nd Rosaleen O’Reilly
3rd Dermot Ryan
Best heifer: Des Frawley
Best junior cow: Des Frawley
Best senior cow: Dermot Ryan

Spring Elite
1st Mike & Liz McNamara
2nd Margaret Laffan
3rd Edward Fitzgerald
Best heifer: Mike & Liz McNamara
Best junior cow: Mike & Liz McNamara
Best senior cow: Mike Danagher

Winter Elite
1st Aidan Frawley
2nd John Moroney
3rd Donie Neville
Best heifer: Donie Neville
Best junior cow: Aidan Frawley
Best senior cow: Aidan Frawley

EBI cow: Declan O’Dwyer
EBI herd: Declan O’Dwyer

Protein award: Aidan & Fiachra Liston

Champion Heifer: Donie Neville
Champion junior cow: Mike & Liz McNamara
Champion senior cow: Aidan Frawley

Best cow family: Aidan Frawley
Overall type: Aidan Frawley
Overall production: John Moroney

Judges prize: Kieran Ahern

Club Tour
This year the club tour was to Dairy Day in Telford. The show has become very popular and always has a great attendance of Irish breeders due to the convienience of the location. The quality of the cows at the show was immense and the final line up proved to be of a very high standard.

We stayed in Shrewsbury that night and a quick trip to Shrewsbury Livestock Market went down well as we had a a few seasoned mart campaigners on board. After that we had a short drive to Woodmarsh Holsteins where Mick Gould hosted us after he judged the show the day before. Mick is well known to the Limerick and Clare breeders having judged the herds competition, officiated at the open day in Hannon’s as well as judging Limerick and Charleville shows. We saw great cows and a Silver from the Ada family was a favorite of many. The Gould’s have recently switched to deep sand bedded cubicles and it was interesting to hear how the change over was going. It’s clear that cow comfort on sand bedded cubicles is second to none. Mick and his dad Mick senior also gave us a run down of how the Limousin enterprise was progressing. Kathryn extended great hospitality to us and made sure we were all fed nd watered before our next stop at Knowlesmere.
Gary Jones took us around the farm and the Whittaker’s had a good day at the show winning the intermediate 2 year old class with a nice heifer Knowlesmere Solomon Diamond. Gary and Izzy’s cow Clonpaddin Brokow Fame also won her class the previous day. Gary is a great guy to talk to and has a vast amount of international experience when it comes to cows.
A huge thanks to the Gould and Whittaker families for hosting us for the day.

National Dairy Show
Congratulations to the Neville family family on winning the championship at the National Dairy Show in Millstreet with Millidale Dusk Rhapsody. This title followed other successes during the year for the cow at Charleville and also doing well at the Baileys. Paul Hannan also had success with his 2 year old Lisnalty Megasire Rituel who went on to win the intermediate championship. Well done to all club members who exhibited at the show.

2018 proved to be a memorable year for black and white breeders of the club and welcoming the All Ireland champions back to Shannonside with the Liam McCarthy was also a highlight. We’ll be having our AGM in the Woodlands in January so until then we wish all our club members a safe and healthy Christmas and a happy new year.

Eoin Horgan