Earlier this month the Connaught Leinster Aberdeen Angus club hosted an open day on the farm of the renowned Tara Angus herd.

Situated just 30km from Dublin’s O’Connell Street, the Batterstown, Co Meath-based herd is one of the largest Angus herds in the country, amounting to nearly 100 cows.

Originally established by the late Joe Tighe, the herd is now run by his son Malachy, who has helped in developing the now 30-year-old herd to what it is today.

Originally a commercial beef operation, the choice was made in 1989 to go an alternative route.

History

“We had commercial Charolais here before. We found we were losing calves at birth, so we looked at the Angus and decided there was a niche market,” Malachy said. “So we went to Carrick-on-Shannon in 1989 and bought five heifers. We bought the champion, the reserve champion and three first prize-winners.”

These females formed the nucleus of the original herd, which grew with various additions from different breeders through the years. However, it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that the herd became what it is today.

I didn’t pay enough attention to milk, and maybe stock were a little bit too big

“During the boom you could sell anything. We just rose the numbers. Not necessarily by rising the numbers did we improve the stock. It wasn’t until the recession came again did we start improving the stock,” Malachy said.

“I didn’t pay enough attention to milk, and maybe stock were a little bit too big. We then started dedicating ourselves to milk and I’d say since the recession I’m knocking out 10 to 15 cows a year to try to improve maternal traits,” he added.

Bulls

The progress is clear to see. Each of the fields at Batterstown presented animals with a recognisable type throughout, which in turn has led to one of the most consistent breeding herds in the country. To achieve this, both Malachy and his late father used bulls to lock in breed characteristics.

“We were lucky that both my father and I liked the same type of animal. In a bull, we looked for a good top, a nice head and a good end,” he said.

We had a few different bulls through the years

“We brought our first stock bull, Drumcrow Ladro, from Frank McKiernan. We showed him a couple of times at the RDS and he was male champion and reserve overall champion two years in a row. Went from that to the £5,600 Cuilcagh Frontier, who was the Bang bull who was sold at the same sale as Bohey Jasper,

“We had a few different bulls through the years then. Some we didn’t like, changed them and the next bull we bought then was Ballybrennan Pharo. He was the stalwart, he was very good, he started the progress.”

“The next bull then I would say was the Ranui Impact bull, Ballyshannon Aaron. He really put us on the map.”

The herd generally runs three bulls with its current ones – Luddenmore Earl, Ballyshannon Pat and the jewel in the crown, Luddenmore Kalossal.

Senior stock sire Luddenmore Kalossal.

“Kalossal is the best bull we’ve ever had by far. He has six seasons done, and has left some great females and males,” Malachy said.

“A lot of the cows go back to Kalossal now, himself and Luddenmore Rubens Eric, who is a Touchdown crossed with Rosa. Those two bulls are the bases of the cows at the moment. There’s a few Ballyshannon Aaron in them still but they’re getting old now.”

Junior stock sire Ballyshannon Pat.

When selecting replacements, Malachy goes for a more medium build with plenty of milk, and also pays attention to their €uro-Star values.

Family Lines

His standout families include Belinda, Breda and Karama lines.

“The Belinda line was definitely very good for us. Belinda we would’ve bought in Carrick; Sixmile Belinda she was called. Then the Breda line, it goes back to Northline Black, and that was very good. Gave mostly bulls but gave the best bulls in the place. She came from a fellow called Michael Gleeson in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford,” he said.

“The Karama’s I would’ve bought as embryos from Sheila Eggleston,” he continued. “They were sired by Leachman Saugahatchee and bred very well. I tried to get more because they bred and milked super calves, but Saugahatchee was getting scarce at the time and couldn’t get anymore.”

Figures

Malachy follows the figures for the sake of his customer base, but feels they’re given more importance than they should be.

“I have to follow them, because everyone else is looking for them. But I just can’t understand how the figures can go up and down like a yoyo. It’s not right. I know there’s information coming through but one bull I sold last year, he went from a five-star to a two-star. That shouldn’t be possible.” he said.

If I go abroad to buy a bull he’s going to have too low of figures to start with

In a bid to protect both himself and his customers from fluctuating stars, Malachy has decided to genotype the majority of his young stock. According to him, part of the problem is forcing breeders to select from similar bloodlines, tightening the genepool.

“If I go abroad to buy a bull he’s going to have too low of figures to start with. It’s nearly a negative now to go buy a bull abroad. You should be given an incentive to go somewhere else to get a bull because nobody is bringing in a bull at the minute so there’s no new lines,” he said.

Sales

The herd now sells in the region of 40 bulls a year with Malachy noticing an ever increasing number of dairy customers coming to buy bulls.

“It’s only really in the last two years our customer base has gone more dairying. Before that it was 50/50 suckler to dairy. The dairying has just improved. There’s a lot more of them wanting a good bull now because if they get a good calf they get more money.”

“So there’s a lot of my customers want a really nice bull, good end and good top. The majority of my customers are selling the progeny as calves, but any of them that are finishing will want the best bull you have.”

Cuilcagh Frontier was reserve champion at a few all-Irelands and then Tara Telleri won the Tullamore Show in 2004

The bulls are all sold from home with the herd no longer attending sales. Similarly, the herd isn’t on the show scene as much as they used to be, however Malachy recalls a number of high-profile wins.

“Cuilcagh Frontier was reserve champion at a few all-Irelands and then Tara Telleri won the Tullamore Show in 2004 I think. She was a lovely heifer out of the Ballyshannon Aaron bull. We won the national calf show in 2014 with Tara Kerachi then.”

Last year marked the herd’s first entry into the Connaught Leinster Aberdeen Angus Club’s herd competition. With its first entry came great success, the herd winning best stock bull with Luddenmore Kalossal and runner-up in the large herd category.

This victory is no doubt what sparked the interest in holding such an open day for the club, as Malachy noted that many of people who attended the event were “pleasantly surprised”.