Michael Dullea his wife Sinead and children Emily and Jamie farm a select herd of Parthenaise in the rolling hills of west Cork which this year they started showing for the first time.

While new to the show scene, the Dullea family have created an exceptional name for themselves in the Parthenaise scene. Out of the six shows attended throughout their first year, they claimed six overall championships, five reserves and 17 red rosettes. One championship, of course, got them the gold medal at Tullamore, the highest accolade of the breed.

The beginning

Having been introduced to the breed in 2009 by a My Farming Week Irish Farmers Journal piece on Grace Grennan’s farm in Co Offaly, Michael’s interest grew and he eventually took steps to get in contact with Grace along with other breeders to view their stock. Following six months of viewing cattle from calf to adult stock, the decision was made to purchase a Parthenaise stock bull for his then all-commercial herd.

“I used that bull on the commercial stock for three years before I finally decided to start breeding pedigree stock. After looking at a few herds, I eventually bought a heifer off John White in Galway back in 2013. She was only seven months at the time, so her first calf was only born last September. This calf, Deelish Ka-Boom, went on to be crowned champion junior bull at Tullamore Show this year and, after attending the Ploughing last month, went on to sell to a pedigree Blonde breeder.”

This single purchase was soon followed by the purchase of two in-calf heifers in 2014. Again Michael picked well, with one going on to breed this year’s overall Tullamore champion Deelish Klaudia. In a bid to increase stock numbers without compromising on quality, Michael turned his hand to the embryo route.

“On my travels I saw one heifer that stood out among the rest. This heifer, however, was not for sale from the breeder so I persuaded him to sell me some embryos from the dam. These turned out very lucky for us, with the three eggs all holding, producing two heifers and bull. The bull, while still young, carries himself exceptionally well and I would have very high hopes for him, while the two heifers teamed up this year to claim the pairs class at Tullamore.”

Sire selection

“When choosing bulls, I like to hit a balance between terminal and maternal. Milk is a big thing I look for, along with conformation and, above all, carcase weight. I also keep an eye on legs and feet, and concentrate a lot on calving ease and gestation length, which I think is going to be very important for every breed going forward. To fill these requirements, it’s generally France you have to look to, so I’d purchase most of my straws through the society.”

Having been using a Parthenaise bull on his herd for the past seven years, Michael sees the benefits the breed can add to the commercial herd, noticing the biggest change in killout percentage. Killing all commercial bulls from the 50-cow commercial herd at under 16 months, last year he had 80% achieving U+ and some E-, with killout percentages of between 60% and 65%. Michael added that this would be even higher with the pedigree stock, telling of the pedigree bull on display at the Ploughing killing at over 67%.

“Look, it is a risk to buy into any breed and seven years ago I had to take a chance. Now, speaking as a commercial farmer, I can always see a Parthenaise bull here,” Michael added.

Breed development

While attending the Ploughing with stock this year Michael noticed a massive interest in the breed from all farming types.

“This year at the Ploughing the level of interest doubled if not trebled on the previous year in both the commercial and dairy markets. The biggest thing is trying to convince people they are easy-calving – they see muscle and frame and automatically think hard-calving. The calves are small and light with the muscle really only starting to develop after a few weeks, which means you’re avoiding any difficulties.

“The breed has a serious amount of positive traits, with calving ease, growth, killout percentage – it’s got most things going for it, really. Even on trials conducted on meat quality, Parthenaise meat is showing up high in protein and low in fat, making it a “healthier beef”.

“The breed is beginning to gain traction and it’s down to the increased interest from all sectors.

“My advice for farmers would be go out visit a few farms, have a look at calves all the way to finish, buy a few straws and give them a try.”