The Irish Belgian Blue Cattle Society held its autumn sale in Tullamore Mart late last month. A small catalogue of 31 animals made their way to the showgrounds and saw an improvement in trade on previous years.

Given the role of judge was Gail Ellis from Cornwall, England. Gail is no stranger to the show ring, having attended most of the sales in Ireland over the past 10 years.

After deliberating over the championship lineup, she eventually found her champion in the form of Tim and Dan O’Donovan’s Don Jackson.

This bull is no stranger to winning ways, having collected numerous first prizes throughout the summer, including the national all-Ireland junior bull title at Tullmaore Show.

Sired by Imperial, Jackson is out of Empire D’ochain-bred dam Ballyconry Daft ET. Having tapped him out as overall champion pre-sale, Mrs Ellis backed her decision by purchasing the champion for €6,000.

Securing the reserve male championship after the sale leader was Myles McDermott with Rathlyon Jasper.

This two-year-old bull was sired by AI bull Lotto, while the dam was again sired by Empire D’ochain.

Having failed to meet his reserve, he left the ring unsold.

However, Myles did sell the second-top priced bull in the form of Rathlyon Jupiter ET. This son of Joker Du Pont was acquired for €5,000 by Kilkenny farmer Thomas Daly.

The Cornwall-based judge was again ready to part money when she secured Thomas O’Doherty’s Doc’s Jupiter. This embryo-born son of Crack Du Pont is out of the same Empire mother as the day’s reserve champion.

Mary Casey was next in line for the bulls when she sold Tipp Jordan for €4,400. Securing the two-year-old son of Mannequin was Paddy Mullen, Co Longford.

In the female ring, Mrs Ellis awarded the overall championship to Heatherview Jolly, a heifer from Tommy Fitzgerald, Clonaslee, Co Laois.

Jolly was also sired by the aforementioned Mannequin and out of a Barbier-bred dam. Securing the champion at a price tag of €3,400 was Mormon Connolly, Co Galway.

It was a double reserve for Myles McDermott when he secured the reserve female championship with Rathlyon Jade. This one was out of AI bull Wildebeek, but similar to her comrade failed to meet her reserve. Second-top price in the females also went the way of Tommy Fitzgerald when he sold his Heatherview Lea to Derrick Forde for €2,450. Sire behind this one was Tintin, while the dam again went back to D’ochain.

13,000 visitors attend Borderway Agri Expo

The 11th Borderway Agri Expo took place last week and saw 924 animals compete across the cattle and sheep sections. This, combined with the 160 trade stands present, makes it one of the biggest one-day fully covered agricultural events to take place in the UK.

Securing the overall cattle championship was the Limousin-cross heifer Bexy Boo. The 13-month-old heifer was brought out by first-time exhibitors Robert and Leanne Workman from Larne, Northern Ireland. The reserve supreme cattle title also went the way of Northern Ireland breeders, this time to Dermot and Gareth Small for their Limousin-cross bullock Jon Snow.

Speaking about the day’s supreme cattle champion, judge Chris Pennie said: “The winner was a tremendous well-balanced animal with lovely conformation and a lot of character. The runner-up was very flashy, correct and had tremendous width. There has been a lot of tremendous animals being shown here throughout the day.”

In the sheep classes, overall champion went to Robert West of Park Farm, Stamford, Lincs, with a pair of heavyweight Beltex-crosses and reserve champion was Lancashire’s Robert Garth with a pair of lightweight Beltex crosses.