Tullamore Show 2017 should be one of the best shows of Angus in the country for a number of years. With numbers rising for the breed year on year, the show has this year landed a €6,000 sponsorship deal from Angus Beef Ireland for six national calf finals.

These classes are sure to be hotly contested, with a massive €500 for the first prize winners in each of the six classes.

In total, nearly 110 animals are entered – up significantly from the 60 present last year – and of this, two-thirds are entered for the calf classes.

With two societies for the Angus breed in Ireland, Tullamore Show 2017 stands as the place to showcase Ireland’s best cattle from both.

Further helping to address this issue is that a change in the judging system is being introduced by the Tullamore Show and AIB National Livestock Show this year.

The system is on trial this year in the Angus breed and particularly the Angus Beef Ireland National Angus Calf Championships.

The new procedure being followed by judges sees three judges operating independently, with a scrutineer who will tally the judging decisions of the three judges to reach the winners of their respective classes.

While the judges’ names for the breed have not yet been released, a Canadian judge has been confirmed as one of the three.

The overall prize fund for the Angus breed this year amounts to €7,750 and the show will again also play host to the Aldi ABP Irish Angus all-Ireland bull calf qualifiers.

Tullamore Show is one of 15 qualifiers held throughout the country as part of the competition, with two bull calves from each of the two age categories going through to the finals which will again be held at Iverk Show later this month.

This competition sees a prize fund of nearly €19,000, with the champion bull in each of the two age categories walking home with a cheque for €2,000.

Salers introduce national calf championships

The Salers society is ready for this year’s show on 13 August as it moves its calf championships to Tullamore.

While the society used to have its calf show in November, the decision was made to move this to a place where more crowds would get a chance to see some of Ireland’s best young Salers cattle.

This competition sees a prize fund of €500 for each class, with a total of four classes broken into senior and junior male and female.

Numbers for Salers classes have doubled on 2016 levels, with nearly 30 competing in the calf classes alone.

Two big dairy classes

The dairy cattle rings will attract large numbers of spectators when they host their two €2,500 classes.

The super national in-milk heifer championship has always attracted stiff competition, with many top-classified young first-calvers making their way to the Tullamore showgrounds, some for their show debut.

The senior cow in-milk class also has a prize fund of €2,500. This class always draws large numbers, with many using it as a starting show on their way to the €10,000 Baileys cow competition later in the month.

With the good turnout of dairy cattle at shows already this summer, Tullamore Show stands as the pinnacle of it all to date.