For the Irish Charolais Cattle Society to get asked to host this week-long event is a testament to the quality of Charolais cattle our country produces, and indeed how we are looked upon as a country. All involved in putting Ireland at the centre of this event deserve great credit, as it will no doubt help to boost our international image.

Limousin, Belgian Blue and Angus breeds hosted international delegates in recent years, and now it is Charolais breeders’ chance to showcase some of the best cattle in the world.

Along with seeing some of the country’s top pedigree and commercial Charolais herds, the international guests get to have a taste of Ireland’s culture. Delegates will be visiting Powerscourt gardens, the National Stud and Japanese gardens, the Guinness Storehouse, Tullamore Distillery and Coolmore Stud.

They will also get to see the new technologies and research being undertaken in Ireland in relation to cattle breeding. Delegates will visit the Weatherbys Scientific facilities which, along with parentage verification, provides Ireland with a leading genomic database and facilities to identify specific muscle genes across all breeds.

The conference will also visit the Teagasc beef research centre in Grange, Co Meath; the Kepak feedlot in Clonee; and the Tully Progeny Test Centre in Co Kildare.

All this insight into the cattle breeding sector in Ireland will help delegates gain a better understanding before the conference, which takes place at the Lyrath Hotel on Thursday 8 August. It will include presentations and seminars from various personnel involved in the cattle breeding industry on the topic of genomics.

The conference will hear from some of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s top geneticists and researchers: Dr Donagh Berry, geneticist Teagasc/ICBF; Dr Ross Evans, geneticist ICBF; and Clodagh Ryan, researcher ICBF. Each country will then get the opportunity to present on the topic of genomics.

Following with a trip down the river Shannon and a gala dinner, the event will close with all delegates attending Tullamore Show, where over 150 Charolais cattle will be present.

Open to the public

A small number of the events are open to the public, eg the farm open days at Skidoo and Bostonia.

Skidoo Pedigree Charolais herd is based in Ballyboughal, Co Dublin, and is one of the oldest and largest Charolais herds in the country. Established in 1966 by Omer Van Landeghem, Skidoo is located a mere 10 minutes from Dublin Airport. In 1995 Skidoo farm and herd were purchased by local businessman and farmer Pat McDonagh. Today, the farm is managed by Donal Callery and the herd consists of 100 purebred registered Charolais cows, which are run in conjunction with 160 commercial cows.

Sires such as Shamrock Ambassador, Flambeau, Emperor, Uranus and Commander were among the many iconic bulls Skidoo introduced. In the early years, Skidoo was always prominent in winning rosettes at the RDS. Today, they sell most of their stock on the farm to a strong customer base built up over the years. This open day takes place at 2-5pm on Monday 5 August.

The Bostonia herd will open its gates on Saturday 10 August. This pedigree and commercial herd was established in 2013 by Brendan and Gregory Feeney. Today, the 250ac grass-based farm comprises 120 commercial cows, 20 pedigree Charolais cows and 30 Charolais embryo calvings each year. The success of the herd began when Bostonia Indigo and Bostonia Invincible III were awarded junior champion and reserve senior champion, respectively, at the Christmas Cracker Sale in 2014. This was followed by a couple of successful show seasons for the herd, before Bostonia Joy was awarded the senior female champion at the Christmas Cracker in 2016.

In 2018, the herd enjoyed remarkable success with Drumshane Mademoiselle, who was overall Charolais champion in Balmoral and overall Charolais champion at the National Livestock Show in Tullamore.