Elite cows going head-to-head for ‘queen of the decade’ title
An elite dairy ‘queen of the decade’ will be crowned when the cream of the nine cow champions from the last 10 years vie for the prestigious title at the virtual National Dairy Show.
British expert David Jones will select the winner from the Supreme Champions from 2010 to 2019.
Covid-19 restrictions mean the 2020 National Dairy Show at the Millstreet Arena will be a virtual event screened live from 6pm-9.30pm on October 28 and 29.
Registration to view is free on https://nationaldairyshow. com
Show director Denis Kiely said while the restrictions made holding the live show — which normally attracts up to 5,000 visitors — impossible, the forward-thinking and resilient committee are determined that “the show will go on and we will continue to bring the dairy farming community together, albeit virtually in 2020”.
Among the line-up of Supreme Champions is Ridgefield Dundee Portea from Patrick and Derek Frawley’s herd based in Croagh, Rathkeale, Co Limerick. She is the only cow to have claimed the title twice since 2010.
In 2012, she also won the Emerald Expo title at the National Livestock show in Tullamore and the Bailey’s Championship at the Virginia Show during an exceptional season on the show circuit. A year later she retained her titles at Millstreet and Tullamore for a rare double.
Double winners
There are also two breeders with two qualifiers in the line-up.
Cork breeders John and Ricky Barrett from Togher showed their five-year-old, Laurelmore Ruben Sassy, to take the title in 2010. Six years later they won the title with another home-bred cow, Laurelelm Shottel Daffodil 2.
When Co Limerick breeder and veterinary surgeon Tadhg Bourke spotted Baldonnell Goldie Larissa as a six-monthold calf, he predicted that she was a champion in the making.
Co-owned by John and Cyril Dowling, she won the Supreme title in 2015 after making the long trip from Baldonnell, Co Dublin.
Two years later, the Dowlings returned to a very competitive arena at Millstreet with their sixyear-old pedigree HolsteinLisnalty
Friesian cow Clonpaddin Fame ET to win the title.
The exceptional cow, yielding in excess of 12 gallons per day, became the fourth Supreme Champion from the Baldonnell Herd.
The 2011 champion, Ardnasalem Drake Walburga, was a first for John C Murphy’s herd in Ballagh, Kilmanagh, Co Kilkenny.
She was entered in the confined cow in milk class for exhibitors who had not won first or second prizes at any national show in the previous three years, and the five-yearold cow, winner her class, went on to double up with the
Supreme sash.
It was a long journey in 2014 for the winner, Glaslough Miss Petra EX91, exhibited by David and Kenny Boyd. They brought their five-year-old cow on the eight-hour road trip from their herd in north Monaghan to win the coveted trophy in the country’s dairy heartland.
Phone deal
When Donal Neville and his son Tom bought Milliedale Dusk Rhapsody over the phone for £10,500 from a herd sale in Britain, they were convinced she was worth it.
Their belief was vindicated the following year when the cow won the 2018 Supreme title for the herd based in Croagh, Co Limerick.
After a lapse of 29 years the Lisnalty Herd from Crecora, Co Limerick regained the Supreme Dairy Championship in 2019 with an outstanding three-yearold home-bred cow, Lisnalty Megasire Rituel.
It was a special day for Paul Hannan, his wife Eileen and family, and an achievement that would have meant a lot to Paul’s late father, Jimmy, who founded the herd.
Megasire Rituel was already a celebrity in her own right after being filmed calving on RTÉ’s Big Week on the Farm.
Innovation Awards
The virtual show will also include the National Dairy Innovation Awards presentation, highlighting new products or services which has been launched under three categories: engineering, technology and science, with a special award for the overall winner.
The keynote speaker for a panel discussion is Donald Moore, CEO of Dairy Global Platform based in Chicago, USA. He is a former director of ingredients marketing for Fonterra Cooperative Group, New Zealand.
He will lead the discussion over six sessions on topics including: antibiotic resistance as a food chain issue; wiser infrastructure investment; dairy sustainability; a five-year plan for grass management; and breeding the right cow.
‘The show will go on and we will continue to bring the dairy farming community together, albeit virtually in 2020’