Wexford wonder cow leaves a lasting legacy
Martin Ryan talks to Philip Jones about the legacy of a cow that helped place the Hallow Holstein herd on the international breeding map
A“one in a million” cow has left a priceless legacy to her breeder after a lifetime of record-breaking achievement in production and in the show ring. Born in January 2008 into the Hallow Holstein Herd of Philip and Linda Jones at Gorey, Co Wexford, Hallow Attwood Twizzle 3 ET (EX96) achieved national and international success and her progeny are continuing to blaze a trail on the pedigree show scene.
“She won every major show in the south and went on to take the major awards in Northern Ireland,” says Philip of the former Emerald Expo champion, Diageo Baileys Irish Cream dairy champion, IHFA champion cow, and Diamond Award winner.
“She is the cow that everybody in Europe knows about because a heifer of hers that sold to an Italian breeder went on to win at the European show and won at Verona a few years ago.”
Her Twizzle cow family are a driving force in the 80-strong herd.
Generations of her descendants consistently win top awards, and demand for the progeny from other breeders shows no signs of waning.
At the 2019 IHFA All Ireland Awards last month, the herd swept the board, as six animals were judged champions, reserve champions and honourable mention winners.
And two animals bred in the herd before being sold on also took honours for their owners.
The Hallow Holstein story dates back 30 years to the founding of the herd by Philip’s father, Mervyn, who is now retired from active farming.
“It was mostly Friesian when the original herd was started. He started by importing animals from Canada and over the years it was changed and is now all Holstein,” says Philip.
The herd is equally divided between autumn and spring calving, which spreads the workload in a one-man operation.
Production
The average per-cow production is over 10,000kg at 4.20pc bf and 3.45pc pr and it is on target to reach an average of 11,000kg this year with the overall performance in the herd improving consistently since Philip took over full-time seven years ago.
“I was always involved on the farm from a young age and always preparing animals for the shows and preparing animals for other breeders,” says Philip, whose son, Will, is closely following in his father’s footsteps on the farm.
The wonder cow, Hallow Attwood Twizzle 3 ET (EX96), was bred from an imported embryo and produced almost 100,000kg over six lactations at 5.71pc bf and 3.72pc pr, yielding 5,704kg fat and 3,714kg protein.
“The Twizzle family have done great for us in the last five years, but there have been a mixture of cows from different cow families that we bought in that have performed very well too. Breeding on from good cow families has been the focus here,” adds Philip.
The award-winning shows no signs of slowing down, with some very promising young animals edging their way towards the show rings over the coming year.
Amazing Grace:
Philip Jones (at halter) with Will and Kate Jones after Hallow Attwood Grace was judged Supreme Champion at Emerald Expo 2018; also pictured are judge Ben Yates, IHFA president Kathleen Watson, Adrian Grimes (FBD Insurance, sponsor) and Charles Gallagher (IHFA chief executive)
‘She is the cow that everybody in Europe knows about because a heifer of hers that sold to an Italian breeder went on to win at the European show and won at Verona a few years ago’