Calf Finals – South West Limousin Club

The club calf finals of the South West Limousin club for 2011 were held in Castleisland Mart on Saturday the 10th of September. The finals were held as part of a field evening which incorporated a progeny display, stock judging, a young members event and the Calf championship. Judge for the evening was Justin McCarthy. Justin is the Beef Editor of the Irish Farmers Journal.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Sean Ryan of the Sliabh Felim herd. Sean’s first task was to introduce Justin to the large crowd. Once Justin had judged the calves he explained to all present how and why he came to his placings, this proved to be very interesting and insightful. There were a total of seven classes of calves, with class seven being a special class for members who have not shown in a calf championship over the previous three years.

Sean took the opportunity to ask the breeders why they choose certain bulls. It was interesting to learn why different breeders cross different bulls with specific cows and to see how the different traits were evident in the calves.

On display was a large number of Limousin cross calves and their dams from various sires. Based on the standard of these calves it was evident to all why Limousin dams are so popular. We would like to thank Dermot O’Brien, Jason Fitzgerald, Sean Ryan, Brian Sheedy and Jerry O’Connor for exhibiting their livestock.

Two competitions for the assembled crowd took place. The first was a stock judging competition. Each competitor judged a pen of five heifers and took their chance on coming to the judge’s conclusion on the placing of these. The winner of the senior section was Chris Barrett. The junior (under 16) section had two winners, Padraigh Dillon and Cathal De Mordha.

The second competition was a cull cow competition. Sean O’Sullivan supplied two cull cows – these were judged on expected kill out weight and grade. Results of this competition are to follow.

John O’Connor and his team were kept busy all evening providing refreshments and a barbeque.

We would like to thank the following people for their help in the running of this event:- Richard Hartnett, Justin McCarthy, John O’Connor and his assistants, the Management and Staff of Castleisland Mart. Special thanks to all in the Limousin office for their ongoing support.

Results of Club Calf Championship – South West Club

Brian Sheedy exhibited this two year old Limousin cross heifer

Dermot O'Briens  Limousin X Parthenaise cross calf

Doreen Corridan takes the microphone to give the breeders perspective

Entrants in the heifer calf class. For calves born between 01-10-10 and 31-12-10

Justin McCarthy announcing the results in the Oct-Dec heifer class

Limousin Belgian Blue cross calves with their dams. Exhibited by Jason Fitzgerald

Sean Ryans' Limousin cow with a month old Blue heifer at foot

Some of the bull calves in the October to December class

The crowd gathering for judging in the South West Club calf finals

The Sheedy family busy grooming their heifer calf

The Sheedy Family exhibited two lovely Limousin crosses