The second-lactation cow Hilltara Undenied Apple scooped the top prize at the Bailey’s Diageo all-Ireland champion cow competition at Virginia Show on Wednesday.
Owners of the Bailey’s champion Sam and John McCormick from Co Down took home €2,500 of the €10,000 prize pot with the all-Ireland champion cow title.
Judge David Booth from the UK commended the three-and-a-half-year-old cow on her balance and udder structure.
Hilltara Undenied Apple had milked 658kg milk solids at 10,322 litres in her first lactation, with her sire being Our Favourite Undenied and her dam Hilltara Doorman Apple.
Reserve
The reserve champion crowned in Virginia was Hallow Atwood Twizzle 1181, shown by Philip and Linda Jones from Co Wexford. The reserve champion title won by the fourth-lactation cow came with a €1,000 prize.
Hallow Atwood Twizzle 1181 had won the Irish Holstein Friesian Association’s senior championship at Tullamore Show earlier this month.
The reserve champion and honourable mention classes were also claimed by the Hallow herd at Tullamore in their clean sweep of the senior championship.
Honourable mention
The honourable mention went to Baldonnel Brady Hailey, shown by John and Cyril Dowling.
The Dowlings’ Dublin-based herd took home the overall prize in 2019 for their cow Baldonnel Flashmatic Draw in the last Bailey’s all-Ireland champion cow competition in Virginia.