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Local pedigree dairy breeders will be aiming to keep the supreme interbreed champion title, awarded at the 2018 RUAS Winter Fair, in NI for the second year in a row.
At the event last year, Sam and John McCormick from Bangor, Co Down came out on top with five-year-old Holstein cow Hilltara Lauthority Echo 2.
The Winter Fair attracts show cattle from both sides of the Irish border and last year was the first time since 2013 that the supreme interbreed champion title did not head south.
Two years ago, Philip Jones from Gorey, Co Wexford won the overall title with the fifth lactation Holstein Desmond Dundee Embrace. The 2016 interbreed champion is owned in partnership with Roy Cromie from Castlefin, Co Donegal and won the same title at the 2014 RUAS Winter Fair.
In 2015, Evergreen Duplex Ebony, a Holstein cow exhibited by Liam and Sandra Murphy from Fenagh Co Carlow, was placed supreme interbreed champion.
Holstein domination
The Holstein class has dominated the interbreed championship at the Winter Fair for the last five years. The last non-Holstein winner was in 2012 when the second lactation Jersey cow Clandeboye CR Evita from Clandeboye Estate near Bangor, Co Down took the title.
Wisconsin judge in show ring
Show cattle from the main dairy breeds of Holstein, Jersey, Dairy Shorthorn and Ayrshire will be judged at the 2018 RUAS Winter Fair by Brian Behnke from Brooklyn, Wisconsin, USA.
Behnke is from a family dairy farm and has worked for most of his career in the AI industry. He is currently business manager at the ABS-owned St Jacobs Animal Breeding Corporation in DeForest, Wisconsin.
Behnke is well known in pedigree dairy cattle circles, having judged multiple times at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, USA as well as shows across North America, Asia, the Netherlands and Australia.
AFBI research at RUAS Winter Fair
Researchers from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) will be available at this year’s Winter Fair to highlight current topical research projects and issues facing the NI dairy industry.
At this years’ event, AFBI will be launching a major new project on improving grass silage quality. Co-funded by DAERA and AgriSearch, the project will examine various factors that influence the quality of silage produced.
Also being launched at the 2018 Winter Fair are the latest two grass varieties developed by breeders at AFBI Loughgall.
Ballintoy is a late perennial tetraploid which produces high yields of silage and has excellent spring growth.
Gosford is an intermediate diploid perennial ryegrass. It has been shown to be highly productive in both grazing and silage management, and highly resistant to crown rust disease.
Both of the varieties will be marketed through AFBI’s commercial partner, Barenbrug UK Ltd, and limited quantities of seed will be available in spring 2019.
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