Saturday 10 September will see the entire horned section and 15 polled females from the Roundhill herd offered for sale in the ninth joint biennial sale of the Roundhill and Castleview herds in Roscrea Mart.

The Roundhill and Castleview herds are owned by Tim and Doreen Corridan and Sean O’Sullivan, respectively.

The Castleview herd has had a major influence on Irish AI with four bulls at stud, Castleview Gazelle ZAG, Castleview Gringo GWO, Castleview Casino CWI and, more recently, Castleview Reece.

In 2013, Tim and Doreen Corridan who run the Roundhill herd embarked on an extensive polled breeding programme and have now made the decision to run a 100% polled herd of Limousin cattle.

Consequently, the entire horned section of the herd will be dispersed on Saturday. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Doreen said: “We have some exceptional cows on offer, the quality of which only becomes available at dispersal sales. These proven cows will make superb foundation females for a herd.”

Roundhill cattle sold to date have performed exceptionally well for their new owners – the dam of Baileys Ice Princess was sold at the first sale in 2006, the dam of Charlottes Sapphire and Roundhill Lunanime 1656 was sold in 2016 and Roundhill PUnanime 1945 was sold in 2020.

Slow is fast when you are introducing new genes

When embarking on the polled programme, French breeders advised that the best option to introduce polled genetics was to select the best homozygous bulls and cross them on to the best horned cows. This was a slower route than importing homozygous females to breed polled Limousin.

However, having taken the advice and following the slower route, the Roundhill owners are really pleased with the results and excited about the future.

Currently, Roundhill has a total of 100 heterozygous females and 22 homozygous younger females. From now on with the high number of heterozygous cows in the herd, the majority of the calves born will be homozygous.

The successful progression of the polled programme and the demand from commercial and pedigree breeders has given Roundhill the confidence to sell the entire horned section of the herd on Saturday and offer four homozygous and 11 heterozygous females for sale.

Polled at Roundhill

The first polled bull used in 2013 was Hinz PP, one of the best-known Limousin homozygous polled sires. He was mated to the best cow families. His daughters are now weaning their sixth calf.

Currently, Roundhill has a total of 100 heterozygous females and 22 homozygous younger females.

According to Doreen Corridan, Hinz daughters bring performance, style, correctness and muscle development. Following on from Hinz, the best polled sires available from Europe were used which included Idalgo PP, Ivoire PP, Junior PP and Karlos PP.

The introduction of JK Miro PP has had a big influence in the herd. JK Miro PP has been used extensively over the past number of years. He is a homozygous polled bull and has five stars on both the replacement and terminal index.

Doreen said: “Miro’s progeny are very consistent. They exhibit excellent muscle development, style, power, correctness width and have super temperament. He is one of the best polled bulls we have used to date. He carries two copies of the F94L profit gene.”

Why polled?

Polled cattle are born without any horns therefore they do not need to be dehorned. Doreen said: “It’s a major convenience for herdowners as they can tag the calf and the job is done.

“Limousin cattle can be slow to grow horns often they can be five weeks before the horn is discernible. As the majority of beef herdowners are part-time and dairy herdowners move the calves off farm within two to three weeks, this is a major convenience and, secondly, there are no concerns about calves getting stressed and being more prone to illness.”

The genetics of Polled explained

Polled cattle carry the polled gene, which is dominant to the horned gene.

Homozygous polled (PP) heifers or bulls carry two copies of the polled gene, some refer to them as 100% polled. All progeny from these animals will be polled when mated to horned animals.

Heterozygous polled (Pp) heifers or bulls carry one copy of the polled gene, some refer to them as 50%. Half the progeny from these animals will be polled when mated to horned animals.

Mating heterozygous animals to homozygous animals will result in 100% being polled, 50% homozygous and 50% heterozygous.

  • The sale will take place in Roscrea Mart on Saturday 10 September at 1pm. Online bidding is available via martbids.ie.