June 26th 1999

IHFA Open Day '99 - Donegal

THE annual Irish Holstein Friesian Association Open Day takes place on Wednesday next, June 30th. This year the venue is the farm of Roy and Heather Cromie, Carnowen House, Castlefin, near Lifford, Co. Donegal.

The AIB Bank sponsored event seeks to promote the Holstein Breed, highlighting the role of constructive breeding for production and type. This allows the development of a herd of high yielding, healthy and long lived cows, which is the basis for a profitable future in dairying.

The event comes at a time when pedigree registrations of Holstein Friesian calves in Ireland are at record levels - 48,000 for 1998, some 12% up on the previous year.

The Cromie's Dalevalley herd comprises of 130 cows with a herd average of 8,000 kgs of milk at 3.80% butterfat and 3.27% protein. The herd was founded in 1974 and has been developed by grading up home-bred stock plus the acquisition of carefully selected purchases, from which some noted cow families have been developed.

IHFA Executive Secretary, Kevin Dillon is expecting strong support for the event.

"We are delighted to have Dalevalley as our Open Day Venue. Facilities for the event are compact and the farm is ideally located for visitors as it is beside the main Derry-Lifford-Sligo road to Castlefin."

Milking on the Cromie farm is done through a 20/40 state of the art milking parlour installed in April '98. It includes computerised recording and feeding systems with automated drafting and handling facilities. Throughput of 130 cows/hour milked by one person is being achieved. Dalevalley cattle have earned a noted reputation both in the sales ring and in the show ring where many major awards have been won at local, national and most recently international shows.

According to Kevin Dillon, "the IHFA Open Day should be of special interest to those seeking to improve their herds through breeding."

"It is 25 years since Roy and Heather Cromie registered their first cattle using the Grading-Up process."