Revitalise a traditional Irish breed

Once the dominant breed in Irish dairying, the Shorthorn is enjoying a new lease of life in beef production, reports Martin Ryan

Blending bloodlines imported from Canada and Australia with the traditional Irish dual purpose Shorthorn breed has seen John Clarke’s Doon pedigree herd become one of the most successful in the country.

When he established the herd in 2006 on his farm in Strokestown, Co Roscommon, John’s main objective was to produce beef for domestic and export market requirements while retaining the most important characteristics of the Shorthorn breed which has been in Ireland for more than two centuries and was the dominant dairy breed up to the late 1940s.

Since then he has bred several bulls which have been selected for the Gene Ireland Programme and many ending up in the AI service in this country.

John says he was drawn to the breed by its “ease of management, fertility, functionality, docility and strong maternal qualities,” and the objective over the last 15 years has been “to continue to produce the type of Shorthorn that the market wants and what our repeat customers desire”.

“There is no destination for Doon Shorthorns, just a journey of development and improvement that brings rewards to ourselves and to our customers”.

The initial challenge for John was to put together a herd of foundation females and this was no easy task and took a few years with select heifers being sourced from sales in Ennis, Castlerea and Carrick-on-Shannon, plus off farm purchases.

Once that had been achieved, the Canadian and Australia bloodlines were used in the herd to good effect to build the herd up from the foundation stock.

The selection of some Doon herd progeny for the Gene Ireland Beef Programme and purchase by AI confirm the success of the formula used.

Some of the notable sires available through AI included Kilkelly Major (KKJ), Kilfrush Vantage(KVG), Moydrum Castle King (MCK), Castletroy Bertie(CSI) and Sliabhbhui Prince (SBU).

“There was an infusion to the domestic gene pool of sires from Canada and from Australia, including Alta Cedar Lads Legacy (ADZ), Alta Cedar Perfect Storm 11U (S869) Malton Zenith (MZI) and Eionmor Mr Gus 80c (S260).

“The impact of these sires and the subsequent fusion of genetics transformed the Shorthorn cattle we have today,” says John.

“As a result of this infusion we felt we could achieve our goal of producing shorthorn animals with the distinct qualities to be commercially profitable and be ideally suited to the prevailing climate in Ireland.”

The select genetics were used to breed a consistent type of stock, with superior cow families coming to the fore.

It took time, but “the fruits of our endeavours were realised in 2013 when Doon Erasmus (EMS) was selected for the Gene Ireland Beef Bull Breeders programme,” says John.

“He was bred by a Canadian bull Perfect Storm (S869) and a Lickeen Enda 5th dam and was purchased by Progressive Genetics. His progeny has excelled by way of award winning pedigree cattle and commercial cattle that compete favourably with cohorts from other breeds.

“In the following years SH2360 Doon Giorgio and SH2361 Doon Gladiator graduated from the Gene Ireland Bull Breeders’ programme with excellent results.

“Giorgio was sired by the renowned Chapelton Typhoon (S1150) out of a traditional dam sired by Annaly Leo (ALO). Gladiator was sired by Paintearth Rama 53U out of a dam sired by Moydrum Castle King (MCK),” adds John.

Premium Scheme

The Irish Shorthorn Premium Beef Scheme – launched in 2016 when the ABP Food Group partnered with the Shorthorn Marketing Company to offer a premium bonus of 15 cents per kilo to Shorthorn sired progeny – was an important development for the breed.

As a result Doon Giorgio (SH2360) was promoted for use in dairy herds. This has been very successful and the use of shorthorn genetics is increasing annually.

The latest successful offerings are Doon Jupiter SH4929, a full brother to Giorgio, and Doon Jeremiah SH4932, a son of Spry’s Exclusive J13. Both are available from BullBank with their progeny already attracting a lot of attention.

Looking to the future. John says the priority is “to play careful attention to key metrics that will give beef shorthorns an edge when competing with the other wonderful breeds of cattle in this country”.

Different strokes:

John Clarke with some of his Doon Pedigree Shorthorn herd on his farm in Strokestown

The infusion of the Canadian and Australian bloodlines meant we could produce Shorthorn animals with the qualities need to be commercially viable