To be fluent in French is a definite advantage when visiting shows and sales in France, which is where Kerry breeder Dermot O’Brien, Firies, Killarney, first laid eyes on the Parthenaise breed of cattle in the early 1990s. At the time, he was attending the Paris Show, which is one of the leading agricultural shows in Europe. For anyone with an interest in breeding, it is well worth a visit.

Already an established Angus breeder, Dermot was eager to try something different and toyed with the possibility of establishing a Parthenaise herd on his farm at Keelties, about nine miles from Killarney.

That possibility became a reality 10 years ago when Dermot bought his first Parthenaise heifer. Today, he runs a 30-cow pedigree herd comprising a mix of Parthenaise and Angus females. However, unlike many of his peers, this Kerry breeder has no major fascination for exhibiting at shows or sales and is quite content to sell his stock straight from his own yard.

Keelties progeny are not only scattered across the country, but are also found in the UK and more recently in eastern Europe. It’s clear this Kerry breeder has mastered the art of pedigree breeding, which for most established breeders starts with having a keen eye for quality.

Looking back, Parthenaise cattle first arrived in Ireland in 1997. Numerically, the initial rate of growth was relatively slow. Just like any new breed to the country, it took a long time to promote and develop the breed and get the name out there.

However, one of the key turning points was the popularity of the AI bull Universal coupled with the successful performance figures of the Tully tested bull, Slieve Bloom Dominator.

The establishment of an Irish society in 1997 paved the way for a sizeable livestock stand at the National Ploughing Championships in 2004 where there were three pedigree heifers on display.

“I was intrigued by the breed. From what I could gather at the time, they had the ability to develop superb muscle while also being easy calving,” he remarked.

The next year, Dermot took the plunge and bought what he describes as an “exceptional breeding heifer” along with a cow with heifer calf at foot in France. These three females formed the foundation to Dermot’s 20-cow Parthenaise herd today.

The heifer he acquired, Verdure, was a three-quarter sister to the French AI bulls Vendeen and Vulain and was an outstanding cow to breed. In 2006, Dermot went back to the same farm and secured Artique – a full sister to Verdure.

At 10 years old, Artique is still in the herd and calves down every year. Over the years, she has produced a couple of exceptional females that have gone on to make top prices.

Sometime later, Dermot returned to the same farm again where the owner reluctantly let him view six bull calves. “I remember the farmer only gave me 10 minutes to pick one calf,” said Dermot.

Eager to acquire a stockbull for his newly established herd, Dermot picked Bolide (BZB) – a bull that is well recognised for his easy calving and the ability to breed U and E grade calves. Bolide was later bought by Dovea Genetics and is a popular producer of top-quality weanlings for export, as well as breeding milky replacement heifers.

“Parthenaise cows are good mothers, but I have learned over the years that it’s not just about the supply of milk – quality is also a major factor. Their milk is very rich, which is clearly evident at weaning,” he added.

Dermot is no stranger to France and is well versed in the language. He is also well used to getting behind the wheel and finding his way round. On numerous occasions, he has travelled with the Irish Parthenaise Society to the elite sale in Melle, which is staged in March and October each year.

About 40 bulls are offered for sale and all have gone through an extensive period of progeny testing. The top two to three test bulls generally enter AI, but the remainder are offered for sale. Many Irish breeders have used this sale to source their own stock bulls.

In the past, the society has almost made it an annual pilgrimage to attend the National Parthenaise Show in Parthenay, France. Not one for lying down, it was here that Dermot bought the champion maiden heifer of the show in 2010.

This heifer, Danoise, has a tremendous maternal pedigree with both the dam (IVMAT 118) and the grand-dam (IVMAT 115) in the top 1% of the breed for maternal index. Despite only getting one female calf from her to date, he has sold a couple of bulls at the top end of the market.

At the moment, Dermot operates an autumn- and spring-calving system, but this is set to change over the next few years. “I want to move to complete spring calving. For me, autumn calving is more time-consuming and incurs higher costs. There are less health issues associated with the spring,” he explained. Only 20% of his cows are put to AI; stock bulls are used on the rest.

To this end, he secured the stock bull Vainquer in 2011 – his dam was the highest maternal index Parthenaise cow in 2009. Since Dermot acquired him, progeny from Vainquer have been exported to the UK and eastern Europe. Then two years later, Dermot jointly bought the bull Azimut with another breeder from Co Wexford. He is the sire of the French AI bull Coquin and the Irish AI bull Kyle Ivan. To date, Azimut’s progeny in Ireland have shown much promise.

Angus

Apart from breeding Parthenaise cattle, Dermot also runs a small Angus herd of 10 pedigree cows, which has evolved from females sourced from the Drumcrow, Ballyshannon and Steil herds down through the years.

Clearly, Dermot’s foundation choices have worked, as the Keelties breeding line not only graced a number of show rings around the country, but also took many of the top titles.

The Aynho Rossiter Eric heifer Keelties Helene was the All-Ireland Irish Angus champion in 2012 and the RDS champion of champions for owner Joe McCormack, Co Roscommon. Incidentally, Helene’s dam (by Fordel Eisenhower) has consistently produced a show-type animal every year and still remains in the Keelties herd at 14 years of age.

Her bull calf, Steil Larry 269, won the 2015 Aldi ABP Irish Angus all-Ireland bull calf championships in Iverk Show, as well as taking reserve in the 2015 All-Ireland championships.

The cow Keelties Elouise is the dam of the Dovea Genetics bull Keelties Galliano (KTG) while another bull, Keelties Domino (KDO), is currently being marketed through Progressive Genetics. Dermot bought Domino’s dam Drumcrow Pasina D184 from Frank McKiernan, Co Cavan – a cow that consistently performed for him before he sold her a number of years ago.

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Focus supplement: Pedigree breeding