A brief background of where you got started?

I grew up with a pedigree background and went on to study agriculture in Dundalk before completing a Teagasc Walsh fellowship with UCD. As part of that masters I had to do some lecturing in Ballyhaise College and after that I got the job as a breed development officer with the Irish Charolais Cattle Society. I’ve being with them since and October will mark three years.

Nuala Hourihane’s boots are big ones to fill – what are the main jobs you’ll be taking on board?

Nuala was the boss there for 42 years and what she did was unbelievable for the breed and you’ll never fill her boots. It’s only after her leaving that you see what has to be done. I’ll still be going around to farms but will have to do a bit more in the office too with promotional and management work, that sort of thing.

The breed seen a drop of 11,000 to 8,000 registrations in recent years. What do you think was the cause?

The market. The Charolais was so popular a couple of years ago they were making so much money you went to any sale or mart and you see Charolais everywhere and everybody wanted them – they were the breed. The drop in suckler cow numbers didn’t help and then the increase in dairy cow numbers didn’t help but I’m definite the Charolais will come back. You go into any mart and there still making the most money.

What way do you see the breed going?

The Society will have to do something about improving the quality of the breed, because what’s happened over the years was terminal, terminal. Forgetting about the Charolais as a cow and what she has to do, we need to go a bit more maternal but not lose the terminal at the same time.

Anything in particular you want to focus on in your time as secretary?

I’d like to see the quality of the cattle improving, and men going to sales selling their bulls. I will be honest, the spring sales weren’t easy and anybody in Charolais knows that but I think that’s all continental breeds. I would like to see the market share increasing again for Charolais with the number of Charolais cross cows in suckler herds increasing but also the use of Charolais bulls used in dairy herds. I know some people might laugh at that, but I’ve been to many farms, not just British Friesian but Holsteins too, and they’re getting paid for their calves.

What do you think are the biggest limiting factors for the breed?

The biggest factor, and it’s not just the Charolais, is the €uro-Star ratings. I do hope genomics will make the figures more accurate for the men going out there buying bulls, because what’s happened over the last few years is lads have bought bulls of high ratings and low calving figures and they have got bitten. They should only be taking as a guide.

They’re not using them as a guide – they’re actually buying off figures alone.

Has the BDGP damaged the brand of the Charolais breed?

It has, it definitely has. If any breed was hit hard out of the BDGP scheme it was the Charolais and I think a bit unfairly because there are some very good maternal-type Charolais bulls out there and even they’ve being hit.

With carcase weights a major issue, is there any meaningful future for the Charolais in Ireland?

There is a misconception out there that Charolais can go into too heavy a weight. Breeders have to try and produce an animal that can be finished under the weight with the right type of fat score and there’s a lot of Charolais cattle that can do that. In France they’ve been breeding for maternal type all the time and what they find is when you breed for more maternal type animals you’re getting an easier fleshed animal that will finish quicker and more efficiently.