Moatfarrell flock adds to decades of success
Pat Lynch scoops top prizes at Suffolk Society show in Roscrea to maintain the Longford flock’s track record at shows and sales reports Martin Ryan
The Moatfarrell flock continued its decades-long run of success when creaming the top accolades from the Irish Suffolk Sheep Society premier show and sale at Roscrea Mart on Saturday.
No other Suffolk flock in the land can match the Mountfarrell record of nine group-of-three champions at the annual Premier.
One of the oldest flocks in Ireland, having been founded by the late Denis Lynch of Ballinalee, Co Longford in the late 1940s, the flock’s remarkable record of success in both the show and sales rings over 75 years is being continued by his son, Pat.
“The first Ram lambs from the flock were exhibited at Prussia Street (Dublin) in 1950, obtaining the fourth highest price on the day, and in 1951 the second highest price was achieved selling to a top of £35.14s,” recalls Pat.
The standard of stock rams and rams bred within the herd has been a cornerstone of the Lynch success over the decades.
“One ram of note bred in the
Moatfarrell Flock was Moatfarrell Discoverer, RDS Champion for three years in succession,” says Pat.
“The stock rams included Bridgestone Ben Hur, the 1992 Sire of the Year, Reserve Champion at Edinburgh and purchased for 11,000 gns.”
The January 2020-born ram judged Male Champion and Supreme Champion at the 2020 Premier on Saturday went on to sell for the leading price of the day at €1,500, destined for the Mayo flock of show judge Stephen Govin, who had earlier awarded him the red rosette in the highly competitive large Open
Ram Lamb class.
He is the first lamb shown by the main flock stock ram Burnview Magic, who was sired by Forkins Ferrari II. His dam is Willy Tait’s great breeding ewe T86 13082, mother of numerous high-price selling rams, and the dam of Burnview Hitman II, regarded as one of the top rams in the Suffolk world.
Achieving a double success in the Female Championship was Michael Murphy, of Cummer, Tuam, Co Galway with two January 2020born ewes awarded Champion and Reserve, neither of which reached their reserve in the sale ring.
Second highest price of the day was €1,000 paid for John Martin’s March 2019-born ram, third prizewinner in the Shearling Ram Class, from the flock at Duncormick, Co Wexford.
In the ewe lambs, Matthew Pearse, of Cappakee, O’Brien’s Bridge, Co Clare received the leading price of the sale for his prize-winner in the Ewe Lamb Class at €500.
All figures for 2019 were exceeded with the top price up by €400 and clearance at 63pc compared to 49pc last year, while the overall average of €616 showed an increase of 10 pc in an overall successful trade under the hammer of auctioneer George Candler.
Champions:
Mark Grealy with Mark and Clodagh Grealy and their winner of the Reserve Male and Reserve Supreme Champion; left: Richard Moore with his winner of the Shearling Lamb class
The standard of stock rams and rams bred within the herd has been a cornerstone of the Lynch success over the decades