The Raceview Simmental prefix is well known in Simmental circles and Raceview bloodlines can be found in many of the top herds, both in the UK and Ireland.

Raceview Simmentals was established in 1988 by Cork-based Peter and Marion O’Connell.

They have put their life into breeding Simmental cattle but unfortunately due to losing rented ground in 2023, they have to reduce the herd.

Peter is a regular at local and national shows. One show animal that stands out is Baroness, who won a lot of championships in her career. She went on the breed Grace who was unbeaten as a senior heifer. Grace won 11 breed championships and seven interbreeds, including the big one that was the Tullamore National Show Interbreed Championship.

The herd’s major breakthrough came with Raceview King, born in 1999. He has proven to be one of the most influential sires of Simmental cattle in this part of the world.

At the February 2022 Stirling bull sales, 17 bulls from 12 classes that won rosettes (first, second, third or fourth) had Raceview genetics in their breeding.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Peter said: “Sadly now, as all bar six acres of our land is rented and we are about to lose one farm, we have to downsize the herd by half.

“We have decided to sell all our young stock and six of our youngest cows. All of our prominent bloodlines are up for sale.”

The sale takes place in Kanturk Mart at 1pm on Saturday 24 September. Animals can be viewed in the mart on the day of the sale from 11am.

Alternatively, all animals going to the sale can be viewed on farm on Saturday 17 September from 12pm to 5pm.