This year’s Cork summer show is just over a week away, with a bumper schedule for the livestock section.

The cattle part of the show takes place on Saturday 15 June and sees a total of 85 classes divided into 12 different beef and dairy breeds.

One of the biggest attractions for this section is the Munster Agricultural Society all-Ireland pedigree beef heifer calf championships for any pedigree heifer born after 1 September 2018. This class carries a lucrative prize fund of €1,000, with €400 awarded for the first-prizewinner and prize money down to 10th place.

The show also has four individual young handler classes for both dairy and beef exhibitors. Ages for this are broken into under 16 and over 16 in each category, with almost €200 up for grabs in each section.

New for the 2019 show is the Munster perpetual provincial trophy, presented by the Irish Aberdeen Angus Association, for the best pedigree Aberdeen Angus animal owned and exhibited by member of the association.

Exhibitors must be resident in the province of Munster and the animal registered in the herd book of the Aberdeen Angus cattle society.

Once again, the biggest attraction of the day in the cattle rings will be the judging of the supreme dairy and beef champions.

Judging will commence at 11.30am, with the parade of champions estimated to take place about 4pm.

The Sunday of the show sees the sheep section take place, with a further 30 classes across six breeds and commercial classes.

Also taking place on the Sunday is a rare cattle breed display, with cattle from the Dexter, Kerry, Irish Moiled, Belted Galloway and Droimeann breeds on display.

Online entries for both the cattle and sheep sections remain open until Friday 7 June.

New calf finals and open day for Connaught/Leinster Angus club

The newly launched Connaught/Leinster Aberdeen Angus calf championships kick off at Fingal Show, Co Dublin, on Saturday 29 June.

This competition will be decided on a points basis, with points accumulated at several shows in the region throughout the summer and the finals taking place at Trim Show on Sunday 1 September.

Qualifying shows are Fingal, Mullingar, Oldcastle, Bonniconlon, Mohill and also the final in Trim.

Classes

There will be four different classes, with the top three calves from each class awarded five points each.

The competition, sponsored by Country Crest, sees a prize fund of €500 in each class, divided among the top four placed animals.

Open day

Another new event for 2019 is the club’s open day, which will take place at the farm of Malachy Tighe, Batterstown, Dunboyne, Co Meath, on Sunday 30 June.

Malachy operates the well-known Tara Aberdeen Angus herd and anyone with an interest in top-quality Aberdeen Angus cattle is most welcome to attend on the day.