A field evening was hosted by the Munster Branch of the IHBS with the kind permission of Liam Philpott and Anne Pounds at their Allowdale Herd in August 2009. A brief outline recent developments at Allowdale were given on the day and the details are below.
Munster Branch Chairman John Neenan with hosts Liam Philpott & Anne Pounds
The Allowdale Hereford herd was established in April 2006. Farming 800 lowland breeding ewes at the time the pair wanted to diversify owing to the escalating cost of animal feed. To start they purchased four cows at the dispersal sale of Mr. Tim Frawley. There were two Breaney cows, a Hazlefield cow and a Curradromin flower cow. All four have produced good cattle to date. Over the next twelve months, cattle were bought from breeders North and South of the border including Ballymartin – Gus Kingston, Ballyaville – Joe Deverell, Balleen – Tom Brennan, Breaney – Kathleen Tynan, Droumdaniel – Gene Lynch, Drummurry – Ronnie Howe, Grianan – Tom & Anselm Fitzgerald, Trillick – J.J. Farrell. In the summer of 2007, they went to England and bought breeding stock from Badlingham – A.G. Wright, Westwood – Clive Davies, Border – Stan Quan, Free Town – Richard Bradstock and the Haven – Edward Lewis. They believe they were extremely fortunate in their purchases and have made some great friends along the way.
At Allowdale, they strive to produce easy calving bulls to suit their primary market, the local dairy herds, although they are noticing an increase in interest from the suckler herds. In 2009, their herd was split between spring calving (April to end of May) and autumn calving (July to end of October). All cows are A.I.’d to top bulls once and their stock bulls Border GENERAL V25 and Badlingham Boxer serve those that don’t keep. "The General" suits the smaller compact cows best and “Boxer” suits big rangy cows. They currently have 60 cows in the herd. They are fed along commercial lines, silage mostly although they do feed a little meal to the autumn cows to get magnesium into them. Spring calvers get hay coming up to calving and they are put to grass immediately after calving weather permitting!
Selection of young bulls at Allowdale
They don’t push their young bulls but they do receive some meal to keep them going forward, especially last year on account of the weather. Their aim is to produce 18 to 24 month bulls fit to serve mature cows. Their heifers are out wintered on kale. They receive no meal once they reach 12 months of age, as they do not want them to lay down fat. They prefer to let them grow naturally on grass, that way they can select the heifers that thrive well on a low input system.
Having this number of cows allows them to cull severely and only focus on the real producers. This year ten cows have been selected for culling. Their policy with heifers is to give them two seasons before they decide their long-term suitability in the herd. They look for good milkers, which can do their calves well and go back in calf quickly.
On behalf of the Munster Branch of the IHBS, John Neenan thanked all those who attended the event. In particular the branch was delighted to welcome visitors from the UK, Northern Ireland and much further afield. Sincere thanks were paid to the hosts at the “Allowdale Herd” Liam Philpott and Anne Pounds who very kindly made the herd available for viewing. They were commended for providing us with such a valuable opportunity to view at first hand an outstanding selection of top genetics from the leading herds in these islands. The time and effort expended in preparing the venue and the cattle was clearly visible and a credit to all at Allowdale. Liam & Anne arranged some tremendous refreshments and Hereford Prime beef at the Rugby Club across the road accompanied by musical entertainment.
As part of the Centenary Celebrations of the I.H.B.S., the Munster Branch decided to honour six Hereford breeders and took the opportunity at the field evening to make the presentations to Tom Ludgate, Denis Collins, Gus Kingston, John Ludgate, J.J. O'Mahoney and Bobby Powell. The Munster branch has 60 paid up members and next year celebrates 40 years in existence being founded on the 8th of January 1970.
Photo of Hereford breeders honoured in Hall of Fame as part of centenary celebrations
MUNSTER BRANCH FIELD EVENING STOCK JUDGING
SENIOR MALE
1st Cornelius McCarthy
2nd Bill Deane
3rd Henry Parr
SENIOR FEMALE
1st Anne Deane
2nd Maura Fitzpatrick
3rd Cathriona Murphy
JUNIOR – under 18
1st Peter O’Donovan 24
2nd Lisa Copithorne 23
3rd Daniel Curtin 19
UNDER 12
1st Clodagh Murphy
2nd Aidan O’Brien
3rd Sarah Shanahan
WEIGHT 1150 kgs
1st Cathal Dolan
2nd Winnie Murphy
3rd Emily Deverell
4th Theola McHugh