Angus, Simmental and Charolais all hosted their National Shows at the 105th Clogher Valley Show recently.

A wonderful show with quality entries in every class was how judge Mike Alford described the Northern Ireland Aberdeen Angus Club’s Summer Championship in Clogher.

Angus

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James Porter from the Gill Hall Estate in Dromore, Co Down, had a memorable day in the Angus ring, winning the senior male, senior female, reserve junior female, exhibitor-bred and supreme overall championship awards.

Toast of the show ring was the 60-cow herd’s home-bred stock bull Old Glenort Victorious Y514. Born in February 2022, he is sired by Carlhurlie Gentilex S124 and bred from Old Glenort Victoria N511. His great grandam Shade Pond Victoria V1 was one of the herd’s foundation cows, and was Balmoral champion at the old King’s Hall showgrounds in 2000.

Victorious Y514 was also breed champion at Balmoral in May and has produced three crops of calves within the Old Glenort Herd.

Commenting on his champion, Alford said: “My champion is a very correct senior bull with fantastic ring presence and breed character. He boasts good conformation and has a leg in every corner.”

Making her show ring debut and claiming the junior female and reserve supreme championship ribbons was the four-month-old heifer calf, Home Farm Lady Heatingup B185, bred by Fintan Keown from Belleek in Co Fermanagh.

This fancy young heifer is a daughter of the home-bred Haymount War Smith R578 son, Home Farm Erne Y802, who was junior, male and reserve overall champion at Balmoral Show in 2023, and supreme champion at the NI Club’s February sale at Dungannon in 2024. Her dam, Home Farm Lady Highlight V404 is one of 10 pedigree and 25 commercial cows in the herd.

Charolais

Steve Nesbitt from the Alwent herd in the UK took care of proceedings in the Charolais ring. A highly experienced judge, having adjudicated at many shows around the world, Nesbitt found his overall champion in the form of Damview Ultra, the senior male champion exhibited by Claire Ferris. This powerful May 2023-born bull is a son of the herd’s Irish bred stock bull, Kilduff Rockstar, while his mother is a homebred daughter of Sheehills Majestic.

Standing in reserve was the impressive senior female champion Brownhill Una shown by the Devine brothers. This classy July 2023-born heifer also has Irish blood in her, sired by Kilvilcorris Royal, going back to a Derryharney Lumberjack bred cow.

Simmental

It was another majestic day for the first calved heifer Ballinalare Farm Nikita from Joe and Alan Wilson, with her twin calves at foot, who swept the boards to claim a third consecutive NI Simmental National Show overall supreme title.

Judging the Simmental classes and championships was John Barlow of the noted Denizes herd, Lancashire.

The win completed a unique and remarkable double hat trick for the 2022-born cow, having won the overall supreme in three consecutive years at both the RUAS Balmoral Show and the NI Simmental National Show. This first calved heifer is by the prolific Saltire Impressive, out of Ballinalare Farm Ilyssa, a Denizes Fantastic daughter. Nikita also went on to claim the reserve overall interbreed champion of the show.

Taking the reserve overall, reserve female, performance recorded heifer and overall junior champion was Ranfurly Weikel 56th R5 from the Hazelton family. Born in March 2024, this heifer is sired by the 20,000gns Annick Talisker, and is the second calf out of the Team Celtic 11 daughter Ranfurly Weikel 37th L3 VG 8.

Hereford

Over in the Hereford ring, Bradley Graham continued his winning streak with Richmount 1 Cracker Corleone, winning the supreme championship. Sired by Fisher 1 Jaguar J347 and out of the homebred cow Richmount 1 Poppy, this December 2024-born bull calf also won the overall title at the National Hereford Show in Omagh a few weeks ago. Nathaniel Shaw also had an eventful day, accepting the reserve overall championship from judge Gary McKiernan, with the Fabb 1 Northern Star daughter, Sessiagh 1 Ariana.

Overall interbreed champion

Claiming the overall interbreed champion of the show was the outstanding Limousin cow Deerpark Shakira. Exhibited by Ryan and Conor Mulholland, and shown with her bull calf at foot, this much-admired cow is a daughter of Wilodge Vantastic.