The Kingdom County fair held its 68th annual agricultural show at the racecourse showgrounds, Tralee, last Sunday.

Blistering heat brought crowd in their droves to see some of the many attractions on show, but cattle numbers were back for many of the main beef breeds.

Angus and Limousin both witnessed a big reduction on numbers through the ring, while breeds such as the Friesian, Parthenaise and Simmental – along with the commercials – had some of the bigger turnouts.

Quitrent Gizelle come out on top in the Simmental class.

Exhibited by Aidan Kinahan, this 17-month-old heifer was owned by Avril and Billy Gubbins. Sired by Delfur Decider, this is just another notch on Gizelle’s career belt having claimed a number of top prices last summer. Claiming reserve in the Simmental ring was Towerhill Haribo.

This young October 2016-born bull calf was brought out by Seamus and Jennie Aherne, Cappamore, Co Limerick. Sired by Kilbride Farm Delboy, Tralee, it marked a good start to Haribo’s show career.

Angus

In the Angus ring, Clive Jennings awarded the overall championship to Matthew and Rita Goulding, Ballyduff, Co Kerry, for Goulding Missie M535. This Nightingale Proud Jake five-year-old cow was shown with her September-born Abberton Eminem calf at foot which also secured a red rosette on the day. No stranger to success, Missie is a former All-Ireland Irish Angus champion.

The Goulding family also secured the reserve champion on the day with Goulding Missie 714. This Clara Keynote daughter also has previous success picking up a number of red rosettes in 2016 including a first prize at Tullamore.

Belgian blue

In the Belgian Blue ring, Tommy Fitzgerald awarded the overall championship to Dan O’Donovan’s Don Carly. This 15-month-old heifer by VDC is no stranger to the show ring having picked up no less than 14 firsts in 2016.

Picking up the reserve championship was Thomas O’Doherty with Doc’s Lorcan. This young March-born calf was sired by Imperial and out of Empire-bred Rathline Eimear which was also first on the day.

Parthenaise

Michael Dullea continued his run of luck from last year’s show season, taking home the overall and reserve championships in the Parthenaise section.

Securing the overall championship was Deelish Lightning Macqueen, an October-born bull by homebred stock bull Deelish Harry and out of the same dam as the last year’s Tullamore champion. Reserve came in the form of Deelish Lushish, a July 2016-born heifer again sired by stock bull Deelish Harry.

Commercial

In the commercial ring, Billy Gubbins was out on top with his 17-month-old Ash. This son of Lisnagree Elite is out of a Charolais cross dam and has already secured an overall championship at Newmarket-on-Fergus the previous week.

Ann and Patrick Martin tied down the reserve championship with a young February-born Imperial sired heifer called Wilma.

Dairy

One of the biggest show of stock on the day came from the dairy ring. Here, judge Donal Neville tapped forward Ballyelan Dempsey Lenita as his overall champion. Exhibited by Tom Lynch, this third-lactation cow last calved in March and is currently giving 48kg. This was Lenitas’s first time being shown since a calf.

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