Pat and Claire Cleary welcomed everyone to their farm for the pure friesian open day, 2024, in Co. Kilkenny, where their Carrickshock Herd was judged on the day.
Pat is a third generation farmer and upgraded the farm to pedigree status in 2002, with the majority bred from artificial insemination (AI) bulls and carefully selected stock bulls.
The herd consists of 206 pedigree pure friesian milking cows, with all of them being registered annually. Pat keeps approximately 40 pedigree bull calves every year to sell as breeding bulls the following year.
The overall focus on the farm is to breed high quality pure friesian, as the breed has a lot to offer, with sustainability, fertility, dairying traits while balancing productivity with versatility.
On the day, there was a chance for everyone to get involved with the stock judging, a presentation of prizes for overall herd winners in the Carlow/Kilkenny club followed by a sale of maiden heifers.
The Carrickshock Herd
The Clearys strive for a dual purpose, balanced animal that is valuable to both dairy and beef farmers to maintain a profitable family business. Pat explained:
“We look for all traits of dairyness combined with a square type animal, and then we look to genomic and EBI figures.”
The herd has had great success in the show ring and has seen pedigree bulls and heifers being a great hit with customers.
Pat and Claire Cleary have had a nmber of of bulls purchased by AI companies in Ireland and the UK, with the most notable bull being Carrickshock GTW who took the top spot on the Uk PLI daughter-proven rankings.
Recently, Dunmasc Genetics purchased Carrickshock Quint 3 who will be on their bull list next spring, with the daughter Carrick Dolly 3152 being sold at the celebration sale on the day.
Agriland spoke to the CEO of the IHFA, Laurence Feeney, about the pure friesian cow, saying that its “all about intensely selecting pure friesian genetics, that can produce high solids for a long time as longevity in the breed is crucial”.
“With the friesian herd, where they catch up on the holstein, is in their fourth, fifth, or sixth lactation, where they produce a heap of milk, so that is why there is focus on keeping a lot of mature cows in the herd.”
Feeney went on to talk about the advantage of the pure friesian is that they produce a really, top quality calf with repeat customers always coming to purchase the beef or friesian bull calves.
The pure friesian club then organise events, farm walks and discussion groups to share the information and learn off each other’s success and failure.
Feeney talked about how they organise trips abroad every now and then to visit farms across the world, to further enhance their knowledge on pure friesian breeding and genetics.
“Everything leads up to the pure friesian open day, today, and they pick a herd that’s a good representative of their breed, and Pat Cleary and his family today are great representatives as you can see good quality cows” added Feeney
The herds competition is a big part of the club and is where a judge goes around and analyses the herds with the winning herd getting presented at the open day.
Feeney talked about what pure friesian breeders look for when choosing replacements with production and longevity at the helm followed by type.
Friesian breeders put a focus on different bloodlines also as certain bloodlines get very popular over a period of time with the Carrickshock bloodline growing in popularity thanks to its success in the UK.
Stock judging
Agriland spoke with the national sales manager for Eurogene AI services, who was the master judge of the stock judging competition on the day.
Coleman talked about what kind of cow he looks for when he walks into the field, emphasising that he like to see “a clean bone, dairy type of a cow with loads of dairy character”.
Coleman went on to say that a good udder is crucial, with good quality teat and teat placement, with good udder attachment.
“Another bug bear of mine. I don’t like high pins, so I’m looking for a nice slight slope to the rump and I’m looking for a bit of weight,” he added.
Coleman became the master judge on the day as he has been the chair of Kilkenny/Carlow for years and has always had good eye for stock.
Coleman went on to talk about how exceptional the Carrickshock Herd is, as he claims “it has been one of the best in the country, has been for years”.
For a lot of friesians in the country, high volumes of milk can be an issue, but according to Coleman, it is not an issue for Pat, as he has good cow and grassland management.