The Irish Hereford Society is gearing up to welcome visitors from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to its National Championships in Tullamore on 9 August.

Among the visitors will be José Bonica, secretary general of the World Hereford Council. José is a native of Uruguay, a country where Hereford is the dominant beef breed. A third generation breeder, José is an agronomist and runs two family operations in Uruguay, which focus on rice production and breeding Hereford cattle.

Incidentally, Uruguayan Hereford breeders will host the 17th World Hereford Congress from 11 to 25 April 2016.

A total of 160 entries will compete across 20 classes at the National Hereford Championships in Tullamore. All cattle will be stalled under cover (provided by the Hereford Society) allowing additional comfort for cattle, exhibitors and spectators.

Shraden Herefords

This year’s judge is Hazel Timmis of Shraden Herefords, Moore Farm, Baschurch, Shropshire, England.

The Shraden herd is one of the leading Hereford herds in Britain, where the family operates an award-winning farm shop. One of the objectives at Shraden Herefords is to finish 700kg bulls at 14 months and 550kg heifers at 18 months. In the last five years, they have increased their kill-out percentage to between 60% and 65%. Bulls with the right structure, a level top, good locomotion, length and style are selected for breeding, while the remainder are finished for their farm shop. The bottom third of heifers, which don’t make the grade for breeding, are also slaughtered for beef. Their plan is to expand from 60 cows to 100 breeding cows by 2019, which will allow more surplus breeding heifers to be sold and more animals to be finished to beef for the farm shop.

Established in 1919, Shraden is one of the oldest herds in the UK and has won a plethora of show championships. More recently, the Timmis family won the society’s coveted Bull of the Year 2013 competition with Shraden 1 Joker. Born in April 2012, he is a Greenyards 1 Eagle son and is out of Shraden Alice 283, who hails from one of the herd’s oldest families. At 480 days, he weighed 840kg, measured 140cm at the rump and his sibling bulls killed out at between 60% and 65%. Joker has since been sold privately for £8,000 to join Philip English’s Churchlands herd at Banbury.

Seven years ago, they decided to expand their business and establish a farm shop. This quickly developed into a large purpose-built shed that provided more space to expand the butchery and establish a bakery and tea room. Now, they offer locally produced food and drink, homegrown vegetables, home-reared Hereford beef and Gloucester Old Spot pigmeat.

Today, the business employs one full-time butcher, two chefs, and two front of house staff.

Meanwhile, Hazel’s daughter Melissa Timmis Roberts will adjudicate the young handler class in Tullamore, where 14 youngsters will compete for the coveted WJ Twomey Memorial Trophy.

Scottish judge for National Limousin Championships

The 26th annual National Limousin Championships are scheduled for the National Livestock Show at Tullamore on 9 August. Comprising some of the top Limousin cattle in the country, 125 entries (excluding pairs) will compete across 26 classes for the coveted national supreme title. The judge this year is well known Scottish breeder, John Nimmo from the Maraiscote pedigree herd in Lanarkshire.

Although having judged at various other shows here, this will be the first time for Nimmo to judge at the Tullamore Show. He is no stranger to buying Irish genetics either as one of his most popular purchases was Virginia Andy, bred by Leo McEnroe. He has established himself as a successful herd sire to the Maraiscote herd. The Limousin Society will also stage two commercial classes in Tullamore next week, each carrying an attractive prize fund of €1,000. The society has taken the decision to increase its sponsorship of Limousin cross classes at all the major fatstocks scheduled for the autumn.

A number of delegates from the committee of the National Limousin Congress will be in the country next week. It’s understood that delegates from Britain, France and the US are coming to visit Ireland and the National Livestock Show in Tullamore. This will certainly give them a wonderful insight and taste of what lies ahead for next year when Ireland hosts the 2016 National Limousin Congress, which is expected to bring delegates from 26 different countries.

Scheduled to take place from 20 to 28 August, the event will have two venues – one in Athlone (Saturday to Tuesday) and the other in Kilkenny (Wednesday to Sunday). The event will encompass farm visits to the Ardlea/Elite, Drummin and Roundhill pedigree herds, as well as featuring the 2016 National Limousin Show, which will incorporate both pedigree and commercial classes.

The week will conclude with the staging of the Anglo Irish YMA Limousin finals on the Saturday, as well as an elite sale of pedigree and commercial animals. A gala banquet that night will bring proceedings to a close.

The event, which runs every two years, was last held in Ireland in 1994. It took place in Argentina in 2014.

For more see www.irishlimousin.com