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Three of Ireland’s longest-established Hereford herds will come together at the end of this month to host the inaugural elite production sale. With a combined existence of 240 years, the Balleen, Corlismore and Trillick herds bring together some of most highly regarded pedigrees in Ireland and indeed throughout the UK.
In total, 36 lots will go under the hammer in Tullamore Mart on Saturday 31 August. Throughout the years, the herds have topped all the major shows and sales and achieved some of the best prices on the island.
The sale was set up to afford other breeders the opportunity to invest in some of these proven lines, with only the top females from each herd selected to go forward.
Balleen herd
Tom Brennan’s Balleen herd is the oldest of the three herds having been established in 1932. Since then, lines from the Kilkenny-based herd have formed the backbone of many which came after it.
From the outset, the herd has tried to acquire only the best of stock bulls to use on the 60-cow herd.
Stand-out in recent years was the August 2005-born Gageboro Eugenic, sire of the highly successful AI bull Gageboro Morgan.
This breeding can be found in many of the herd’s top breeding females and indeed embryos from two of his daughters crossed with new Australian bulls will also be offered for sale on the day.
In more recent years, the herd has seen a keen interest from AI centres, with Balleen General 862 purchased by NCBC and Balleen Val just recently secured by Dovea AI.
Val is a son of the homebred Balleen Achiever, a bull which has produced well for the herd over the years and is the sire behind four of the heifers forward for Tullamore.
The newest stock bull on farm came from England in the form of Highhedges Ribnoter. This bull is a service sire for some of the in-calf heifers.
Corlismore
Sean and Gary McKiernan run the Corlismore herd in Ballinagh, Co Cavan, which was originally set up by Sean’s father in 1939. The herd is synonymous with the Hereford breed and has won all the major shows on numerous occasions.
The team takes great pride in selecting stock bulls, with their most recent purchase Shiloh-Farm Dynamite taking supreme national champion in Tullamore in 2018.
Moyclare Mariner was purchased in 2015 for €6,100 and has already sired a male champion at the national calf show.
Cill Cormaic Leo was also used to great success, with his first son sold to the well-known Haven herd in England.
The polled stock bull Solpoll 1 Cruiser was another who jumps out, having produced two calf show champions.
However, perhaps the most famous of all is the €10,000 Grianan Firecracker, who stamped all his progeny and left a great impact on the herd.
Of course, these bulls need to be crossed with good cows, which the herd has no shortage of.
Females from all the prominent lines are to be offered, including new lines such as the Sydney Gem polled line, which has produced a number of national champions. Until this sale, all females from this line have being retained, but three are being offered on 31 August.
Trillick
The Farrell family have been farming Herefords in Longford since 1946. Now run by JJ Farrell and his family, the herd stands at the forefront of Hereford breeding, with a number of bulls in Irish AI and a strong demand from UK buyers.
The Trillick herd prefix can be found in front of four bulls who stand in AI, namely Trillick Best, Trillick Hotspur, Trillick Emmett and Trillick George.
The herd has used a number of highly successful Irish stock bulls over the years, including the famous Steil Gerard and Glaslough Rooney.
However, it is some of the English imported bulls which added that bit more breed character to the already impressive herd.
Two Free Town bulls were imported, namely Hotspur and Nevada. The herd has also seen the most recent purchase come from the Pulham herd in the form of Ranger, who is the service sire for some of the in-calf heifers for sale.
This investment overseas also paid dividend in attracting UK buyers. The herd has exported six bulls to UK herds in recent years.
One of the standouts was Trillick Knockout, which was bought following the 2014 show season and went on to claim the UK horned bull of the year in 2015.
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