The sheep inter-breed championship at this year’s Ballymoney Show was won by a Suffolk shearling ewe, owned by the Watson family, from Rasharkin in Co. Antrim.
Also catching the eye on the day was a marvellous Border Leicester shearling, shown by the Dickey family from Ballymena.
The sheep championship classes at Ballymoney were judged by David Sloan, from Dumfries in Scotland.
He described his champion as a very balanced young animal, adding:
“The ewe caught my eye as soon as she entered the ring, but, she was up against some very stiff competition. The overall standard of the sheep entered for the event was brilliant.”
Sloan runs a 500-strong flock of Scotch Mule ewes, which are crossed with a selection of Charolais rams.
He recognises the growing demand for elite breeding stock within Irish flocks.
However the current export ban on sheep from Great Britain, in the wake of the recent bluetongue disease outbreaks in England and Wales, will stymie trade across the Irish Sea over the coming months.
Ballymoney Show
This year’s Ballymoney Show also saw Mostragee Holsteins securing the event’s ‘Champion of Champions’ accolade with their cow, Mostragee Bomber Louise.
This followed-on from her recent Balmoral Show success, where she won the dairy inter-breed championship.
Louise calved back in January for the fourth time and is currently producing 60L of milk/day.
The cow is owned by the Henry family, who farm just outside the village of Stranocum in north Antrim. She was led by Mark Henry at Ballymoney.
“Louise is back in calf to the Holstein sire: Cogent Arrow. So, if everything goes according to plan, we can look forward to the arrival of a heifer calf in a few months time,” Henry said.
Co. Down Friesian breeder, Jim Morrison, judged the dairy classes at Ballymoney. He also took part in the adjudication of the Champion of Champions class, joining his beef counterpart on the day, Andy Patterson from Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.
Morrison described his Holstein champion as an “excellent example of the breed”.
“She has everything – tremendous class and a significant potential to produce large volumes of high quality milk,” he said.
The final class of the day at Ballymoney saw the inter-breed dairy and beef champions go head to head in the show ring.
It turned out to be a very close affair, given the significant amount of time required by the judges to arrive at a final decision.
The beef inter breed championship at Ballymoney was secured by a magnificent 19-month-old Charolais bull – Crossane4 Unique ET.
He is owned by the Chestnutt family, who farm close to Bushmills in Co. Antrim.
Patterson described the animal as a “young bull with great breeding potential”.
“He has scope for his age, but is not over fleshed. The fact that he is already covering cows adds to his attraction as a tremendous Charolais sire in the making,” he added.