The Irish Hereford Breed Society hosted its annual pedigree show and sale at Central Auctions, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, on Thursday, May 15.

With only 21 bulls present on the day, the society attributed this to "a great series of spring bull sales for the Irish Hereford Breed Society and good trade for bulls at home".

The average price of the sale was €3,935 - up from the 2024 average of €3,000 and there was a clearance of 95%, with 20 out of 21 bulls finding new homes.

A total of 10 bulls in the sale traded for €4,000 or more, four of which sold for €5,000 and above.

The show started off with Mr. Cathal Flynn judging, ably assisted by Next-Gen member John O’Dwyer who will be representing Team Ireland at the World Hereford Conference in Kansas City this October.

Cathal runs the Rossmore and Priestfield Hereford herds in Co. Monaghan. Cathal’s choice of Champion was Ballinalick Mojo PP from the local, Co. Tipperary herd of William Duff.

Mojo went on to sell for the top price of the sale at €6,100 to a farmer in Co. Tipperary.

Mojo comes with a good set of stars. This homozygous polled bull has five stars for the Replacement Index (€129) and four stars for the Terminal (€68) and Dairy Beef (€104) Indexes as well as the Beef Sub-Index (€92).

He is sired by Fisher 1 Profile and out of Panmure 1 Henry daughter, Gouldingpoll 1 Kashmir 825.

Flynn’s choice of Reserve Champion came in the form of homozygous horned bull, Springvilla Milo 1186 HH, from the Co. Cork herd of Yvonne and Robert Roycroft.

Milo is sired by Corlismore Dynamite 993 and bred from a Knockmountagh Super 2 sired dam, Springvillapoll 1 Rosabel 727.

Milo also comes with strong figures including five stars for the DBI (€109) and four stars for the Terminal Index (€73) and Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€90). He has below average calving difficulty at only 3.2% on dairy cows and 1.2 % on beef cows. Milo went on to sell for €5,000.

The second-highest price of the sale was €5,400, goes to Rathnollag Dancer 73 HH, of Siobhan Conry’s Co. Roscommon herd.

Dancer again has great figures, with five stars for both the Replacement (€119) and Dairy Beef (€117) Indexes and four stars for the Terminal Index and Beef Sub-Index.

Dancer an easy calving bull (2.8% for dairy cows and 1.9% for beef cows) that is sired by Pulham Powerhouse and out of Kye Katecand, a Free Town Hotspur daughter.

One more bull crossed the €5,000 mark, with Pat Lynch of Co. Clare selling Rossdelia poll 1 Bundee PH for €5,100.

Again, this bull had plenty of figures behind him, with five stars for each of the Replacement (€122) and Terminal (€95) Indexes as well as the Beef Sub-index (€106) of the DBI and for Docility and Carcass Weight (+10.8kg).

Bundee is sired by Solpoll 1 Lawman and is out of a Kilsunny Goliath daughter, Coisceim Imogen.

Tony Hartnett from Co. Cork sold his bull, Riverrock Wild Fire HH for €4,800. Wild Fire has four stars for both the Replacement (€109) and Terminal (€74) Indexes as well as five stars for the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€92) and for Docility.

He is sired by Grianan Wildfire and out of Riverrock Naughty Bea 044 ET, a Haven Kingpin daughter.

A total of five bulls sold for €4,000 during the sale including:

Lot 2, Appel 1 Max from John Appelbe’s Co. Cork herd. Max is sired by Panmure 1 Nugget and out of Appel 1 Molly 11;
Lot 4, Shiloh-Farm Jagger PH from Sarah and Hugh Murray’s Co. Westmeath herd. Jagger is sired by Intelagri 1 Gold Rush ET and out of Shiloh-Farm Gucci. Jagger was the first-prize winner in Class 1;
Lot 23, Trillick Sailer HH from JJ Farrell’s Co. Longford herd. Sailer is sired by Balleen Sterling and is out of Trillick Lass 3;
Lot 24, Gallaway Lang HH from Michael Kiernan’s Co. Leitrim herd. Lang is sired by Conmelvin Ollie and out of Gallawaypoll 1 Michelle;
Lot 32 Tullaha Iron Man HH from Maura Neenan’s Co. Limerick Herd. Iron Man is sired by Haven Kingpin and out of Tullaha Lily 380. He was the first-prize winner in Class 4.

The society expressed its thanks to the pre-sale inspector Tommy Fitzgerald, the show judge, Cathal Flynn and Next Gen judge John O’Dwyer, as well as sale auctioneer, Eamonn Gaffney and Central Auctions Nenagh. The society also acknowledged Irish Hereford Prime for its' continued support and sponsorship.