The Arnold family from Ardcath, Co Meath, has been in touch to identify one of the mystery men in this vintage photo from Raphoe Mart in 1987.

The late Sonny Arnold (left) is pictured with Kevin Farrell (right) from Seneschalstown House, Beauparc, Co Meath.

Mrs Bernie Arnold, Sonny’s wife, told the Irish Farmers Journal that her husband, Kevin Farrell and the late Jim Murray from Duleek, were three great friends who travelled the country together, showing and judging cattle.

“They were all into Herefords, and only Herefords,” she recalled.

“Sonny would buy bulls and cows at the start of the year and get them ready for the shows and then sell them again. He said he got the bug from his grandad on his mother’s side. He was a bit of a wheeler-dealer.

“He would spend weeks getting them ready, bedded on straw. They would get special meal and get trained in the halter, how to walk and how to stand. I would get pulled in to help with the scrubbing and combing on show days. Breda, my daughter, was very interested – her father was the sunshine of her life and my son Patrick would help too.”

Fatstock show

Sonny, or ‘Sunshine’ as he was often known, lived for the red rosette, his wife says, but perhaps his biggest achievement was the day he won nine prizes at Drogheda Fatstock Show.

“The Drogheda Independent ran the headline: ‘Ardcath man sweeps the boards’,” she says.

“He was very proud of that day. But he always liked to beat them over in Trim too. He used to bring them to all the local shows – Drogheda, Dundalk, Trim and Roscommon.

“He would hire a lorry and driver for the day. We’d follow on in the car with a picnic. We’d meet all the other showing people and the wives, we all soldiered together,” she recalls.

“The craic was brilliant at the shows. They were long and tiring days, but that time everyone came to the shows, and there was plenty of celebrating to be done too, but I won’t tell you too much about that,” she laughs.

Sonny passed away in 2013, aged 85, and the local paper noted that the well-known cattle dealer had been a “much in-demand judge of cattle” who always sported a radiant smile and an outstretched hand of friendship.

At his wake, Mrs Arnold had an album of photos from his successful showing days laid on his coffin.

“The men who came to pay their respects spent ages looking back over the photos and talking about the good old days,” she said, adding that she sometimes looks through the album now to do the same.