The board of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association (IHFA) has appointed Avril Helen as its “acting chair”.
The former chair of the organisation was Paul Hannan.
Avril Helen has been on the IHFA board for a number of years and previously held the post of vice-chair, she was appointed acting chair earlier this month on November 18.
Together with her husband, Graham Taylor, she runs the Cloonboygher herd in County Leitrim.
Helen was born and reared in Clonakilty, west Cork, and according to the IHFA has a deep knowledge of farming and Holstein-Friesian breeding. Her family’s Kilgarriffe herd is also well know if breeding circles.
The president of the IHFA is John O Sullivan and it has 19 board members.
IHFA
The IHFA, which was established in 1965, is a member-owned organisation, which is directed by an IHFA board, which in turn is elected from its 3,700 members across its club areas.
The association currently has 15 regional clubs throughout the country.
There are also individual clubs for the Irish Pure Friesian breeders and a Young Members Association (YMA) club.
The association has said that “combined, these clubs represent the genetic diversity of the registered Irish Holstein Friesian cattle population”.
Pedigree
The association is licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to issue ancestry and pedigree registration certificates.
It is also responsible for the validity and upkeep of the herdbook of Holstein Friesian cattle and according to the IHFA, for “giving direction to the development and promotion of the breed in Ireland through its many events and services”.
According to the association it also provides grade-up service, where commercial dairy cows “can be graded to full pedigree in three simple steps”.
It operates an open herdbook policy where non-registered Holstien Friesian cows can enter the herdbook and attain pedigree status, subject to EU and IHFA rules.
“The process is completed across three generations by mating to a pedigree registered Holstein Friesian bull at each stage – ASR – BSR – Full Pedigree,” the association has outlined.