Dúnmasc Genetics in Portlaoise recently acquired the exclusive semen rights for both Ireland and Northern Ireland of Salers bull Forez (SA4274).

Originally bred by the famous Fourtet herd from the Corrèze region in France, Forez enjoyed a highly successful show career before being imported to the UK.

Born January 2010, he went on to claim the French National championship at the SPACE show as a four-year-old, before taking the Welsh show championship in 2015 for new owners Harri and Sioned Pritchard.

Forez is sired by proven AI bull Numero while his dam Beguine was Paris interbreed champion in 2013. Now with calves on the ground in both France and the UK, Forez himself is quickly climbing the ranks, breeding male progeny that exhibit conformation and bone while the females maintain their style and femininity.

Speaking on the acquisition of Forez, Dúnmasc Genetics’ newly appointed breeding consultant and sales manager Seamus Nagle said: “A criticism of the Salers breed in recent years has been that some progeny are difficult to flesh and are too dairy in structure. We think Forez is the solution to addressing these shortcomings.”

Conformation

“He combines conformation, easy fleshing, a dark red colour and quiet temperament with good maternal traits. Females in particular will cross back very well with the Charolais, Limousin, Simmental and Belgian Blue breeds to produce top-quality weanlings,” he added.

The new addition to Dúnmasc Genetics stud comes with five stars on the terminal index and replacement index across breeds with a calving figure of 2.4%.

Shows and showing

In the edition of 29 April, the Irish Farmers Journal will be running extended coverage in the pedigree section with a focus on the upcoming summer show season. Each year, many shows the length and breadth of the country go about launching new initiatives in a bid to attract more crowds on the big day.

No matter what size, if your local show has something new or different to offer for the coming year, please email smurphy@farmersjournal.ie before Monday 17 April. While we will try to mention as many shows as possible in the extended coverage, it will be covered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Steil Angus production sale

Steil Angus, one of Ireland’s oldest and most successful pedigree Angus herds, is offering for sale the largest number of females since its foundation.

The herd, which was established in 1955, is putting forward nine heifers and three bulls for auction on the day. The sale will be held this Saturday 8 April in conjunction with the Midland and Western April bull sale at Carrick-on-Shannon.

Included in the sale are siblings of well-known AI sires Steil Knockranny and Steil Hero, along with a daughter of the 2012 Irish Angus All Ireland Champion Keelties Helene.

All 12 of the cattle are five-star for replacement index, with the majority of the animals out of their very successful stock bull The Moss Kriss L128.

According to JJ McCormack, the opportunity to forward this number of females is a result of a high number of heifers being born on the farm over the last two years. If you would like more information, contact JJ McCormack on 087-646 9519.