The White family from Co Dublin will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Dermotstown herd in 2023. The herd have decided that they will hold draft sale this autumn to kick off the celebrations.

The sale takes place at the ISCS Premier Sale in Roscommon Mart on Saturday, 28th October.

The herd was established in 2004 by the father and son duo Christy and Chris White from north County Dublin.

The White family run a family-farm mixed enterprise in Dermotstown, Ring Commons, with a pedigree Simmental herd, small pedigree Angus herd, sheep and some recently acquired pedigree pygmy goats.

Chris’s children and his brother Brian (Brian White Sheepdogs) are also involved in the running of the farm.

Foundations

Like all great herds, years of dedication, hard work and careful selection at breeding time began with a select few foundation females. For the White’s, these foundation females included Castlegale Sara, Celtic Nicelady ET, and Broomfield Belle ET.

Chris told the Irish Farmers Journal: “The purchase of Broomfield Belle ET from Paul McArdle brought with it the acquisition of an embryo that turned out to be Dermotstown Delboy ET, who has made a huge impression on the herd.

"Through the use of Delboy’s AI straws, we effectively used him as a stock bull and his stamp is all over our draft heifers.”

Why Simmental?

Chris added, “our breeding priority over the years has been on breeding-quality balanced characteristics. We believe that for the modern suckler farmer, no other breed will deliver the package that the Simmental breed can deliver.

"The modern Simmental can maintain the maternal traits the breed is renowned for while having terminal qualities that can stand with any breed.

“There is no compromise with Simmental. Simmental gives you the ideal suckler cow and an early finishing, rapid growing bull weanling or finished bull. The Simmental works in all suckler systems, weanlings, finished bulls, replacement heifers.”

The Dermotstown herd’s first ever draft sale of heifers is an opportunity to purchase your foundation pedigree female or add a new line of breeding to your existing pedigree herd. They are putting five heifers forward for sale in the draft.

Chris added: “They are a very consistent group of Autumn 2022 heifers. The entire 2022 batch are being sold, the tops of which are at the sale.

"We are holding nothing back. All heifers are scanned correct and right for breeding, and have passed all their high-health status tests.

“We have sold very few heifers over the years, so this is the first opportunity that many will have to acquire our bloodlines. Our use of AI and embryo work has brought a reliability and consistency to our stock.

"Having sold many bulls in to AI, such as Dermotstown Delboy ET and Dermotstown Gigantosaurus, and having exported bulls to the UK and the continent we are now offering heifers for sale that exemplify the positive characteristics of our herd.”

Daughter of Dermotstown: Lot 100

“Lot 100 Dermotstown Popstar is an outstanding heifer. She is a daughter of Dermotstown Delboy ET and goes back to one of our foundation females, Castlegale Sara. She typifies the balance of modern Simmental cattle, maintaining her maternal qualities with no compromise in her terminal attributes.

"She was Overall Simmental Champion at Dundalk Show earlier in the summer on her only day out. She is the one that Christy keeps telling me we should not be selling! Lot 103, Dermotstown Princess GG P, another daughter of Delboy is also a real eye catcher!”

Ahead of the sale, we asked Chris what he thought would be an important point for new breeders to consider, to which he responded:

“New breeders need to choose a heifer that not only satisfies the modern-day requirements of stars and figures, but who also is visually correct with a bloodline to back up their good looks.”