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Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Paula Hynes: The championship of dreams - and it's not the hurling
Life certainly is a rollercoaster and we always try to do our best and ride the ups and downs. It was all systems go in preparing for the YMA National Finals. However, I also had a hospital appointment looming, which weighed heavily on both my shoulders and Pete's. I spent the Saturday of the All-Ireland hurling final in the Mater Private in Cork for a procedure; the staff, nurses and consultants in there are phenomenal, and thankfully, a huge weight was lifted from our shoulders. The work never stops, so there was no time on Sunday to watch the Cork hurlers in action. It was a case of ensuring the full team of heifers were clipped and washed and all the gear and feed was packed so we were ready for the trip to Kilkenny. With seven heifers travelling, Robert Shannon arrived in our yard at lunchtime on Monday to collect four of our heifers, as Pete had the three bigger heifers and gear on our trailer; it is true peace of mind knowing Robert was taking them and they would arrive safely. The crew arrived in Kilkenny to vet inspections, got washed and fed, and the team stand ready, before bedtime with two hectic days of showing ahead. With the Cork YMA team working hard on Tuesday morning, the day kicked off with the individual and team clipping competitions. Cattle fitter Paul Murphy was judging, a highly experienced clipper and with the competitors clipping against the clock, the pressure was on. Stephen Shannon and Gearoid Long flew the Cork flag high, winning the team clipping competition, and then Becky followed the success, claiming the Individual title. It was a win that meant so much to Becky, as she has clipped so many animals, but had never clipped by herself in public or in competition. Showmanship time at National finals is always a lot of pressure with so many top-class handlers and even busier with us having six of our heifers being part of the Cork team. Anna Stable was officiating as showmanship judge, a highly accomplished HYB handler over the years, and she has also judged showmanship at the highest level. Cork handlers started off the novice classes with great success, and then Georgie followed up with a second place in the Junior showmanship. She had the misfortune that her calf got stubborn and would not walk, but we were so proud to see her battle on and hold her nerve to get such a high placing in a big class. Becky chose Rouge as her heifer for the senior showmanship, finishing in second place with fellow Cork handler Sarah Shannon in third place. Cork handler Kevin Smith took our Crushable Sapphire heifer for the mature showmanship class and added another win for the Cork team. Sapphire is the heifer Becky used for the clipping competition earlier in the day, a heifer we took to Expo in April, where Georgie won the Junior showmanship and also placed second in her heifer class. She hadn't been out at a show since April, as the decision was made then to put her away for the clipping competition. The grand finale for day one was the showmanship championship. Anna Stable selected her final five and finally tapped out Manus Murphy from the Carlow Kilkenny club as champion handler, Becky claimed reserve champion handler with Kevin Smith taking honourable mention. Cork may have faltered in the hurling, but they certainly made up for it in the showmanship, with Cork YMA lifting the perpetual cup for the best team of handlers. Day two Day two of the National Finals was an early start at 5.30am as we had six heifers to show. Fed, washed and on the show line for 7am as the task ahead was to keep them eating and line them up in turn at the clipping crate for Richard Jones, who was topping and prepping for us. Richard has been an integral part of the team here for some time. Torben Melbaum from Germany, officiating as judge, has vast experience in Holstein genetics globally and has also coached at European Young Breeders in Battice. Kalani was first in the ring for the colourbreed junior calf and claimed top spot. Jones Holsteins took the win in the intermediate colourbreed class and then Kalani, full sister to Khaleesi, won the senior colourbreed class. The first championship of the day and Jones Victorious Cola was tapped out as Colourbreed champion, with Kalani standing as Reserve champion and Khaleesi taking Honourable mention. Moving on to the Holstein classes, which are always big classes at Nationals, Georgie showed Acorn into sixth place in the Intermediate calf class. Becky was straight into the next class to take fifth place with Jagerbomb in the Senior calf class and then handed Jagerbomb to Pete as she was showing Rouge straight away in the Summer Yearling class. From the moment she walked into the ring, she knew Torben liked Rouge, and she was right as Rouge won the class and the judge commented that she was an easy winner of the class. A brief chance to get Rouge a drink and grab one herself before the Red and White holstein championship, Torben selected four heifers for his final line-up and eventually tapped out Rouge as Red and White champion, a momentous show for us and still one more roll of the dice ahead as Rouge was also eligible as class winner for the overall heifer championship. The hottest Holstien championship of the season, with 14 heifers in the ring, the judge cast his eye across each heifer as they entered the ring, made his final comments and tapped forward five heifers for his final line-up, Rouge amongst the final five and as the crowd clapped. Torben circled his final line-up and then ran down to high five Becky with Rouge as his overall champion heifer of the show, Jones Holsteins claimed Reserve and Honourable went to the two Caught A Vibe heifers which are full sisters. A championship we had only dreamed of winning had now become a reality. We are so grateful to all the team who have played a part, Richard, who is always by our side, Pauric, who had been at the qualifier with us and all who help manage and keep the heifers healthy and fit at home. It means so much to us seeing Rouge achieve success, she is backed by a world-class pedigree, her dam Duckett Ranger 1132 was scored VG87 just last week having produced almost 15,000kg in her first lactation. A full sister to Duckett Ranger was max score VG89 on the same day and the grand dam SSI Doc Have Not ET or simply Doc as she is known globally, the $1.925 million cow, was classified EX94 as a four-year-old with an EX96 mammary and is a proven transmitter. Rouge has made another step on her journey. There is a long road with plenty of hard work, but hopefully we will take her to the next stage of being a great cow.
Irish Examiner
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Paula Hynes: A weekend of wins, heifers and hard graft
Our hectic weekend began with our three milkers leaving early for the Charleville show — Kasey, Kali and Acclaim. Competition is always top-class at Charleville and this year one of the judges was newly elected Holstein UK president, Mark Logan from Northern Ireland. Mark has a wealth of knowledge and formerly managed the Clandeboye Estate herd prior to his retirement last year, and has always been a phenomenal supporter of the younger generation and breeders, offering great words of encouragement. With a packed schedule ahead for the year, it was very fitting to have the president down judging the very best of cows in Cork. With all our young heifers at home, Daniel and Eimer Curtin kindly provided showmanship heifers, as Becky had clipped for them during the week. Georgie stood top of the line in the junior showmanship and Becky claimed the red rosette in the senior showmanship. Our Jersey cows were next to show and Kali won what was a very competitive Jersey heifer in milk class. Kasey was the youngest cow in the senior Jersey class. She has really developed this year and won the class before claiming her third Jersey championship of the year from three outings. Acclaim was entered in the Kerry Dairy Ireland All-Ireland junior cow class, which was the biggest class of the day for Holstein cows. She finished second to Paul Murphy's cow, and Mark truly liked the pair, as Paul went on to take the Holstein championship, with Acclaim taking honourable mention. A very successful outing for us, and it was all hands-on-deck when we arrived home as Pauric and Becky began clipping some of the heifers for the Cork YMA calf show. With 10 heifers entered, Sunday was spent clipping as well. Unfortunately, Aurora had some swelling on her hock and while she was clipped, we decided to leave her at home, but we were still happy with the show team, as eight out of the nine were homebred heifers carrying the Rathard prefix. The Cork YMA calf show is a qualifier for the YMA National Finals in Kilkenny in late July. With over 70 heifers entered, it was going to be a highly competitive show. Jane Steel travelled over from the UK to officiate as the judge — a highly accomplished judge, who will judge the colourbreed showmanship classes at the All Breeds All Britain calf show this year. She also photographs the very best of cows both on farm and at shows. The evening kicked off with both Georgie and Becky qualifying in their showmanship classes. Moving on to the heifer classes, months of work have been put in to ensuring the heifers look their very best. Our Jerseys were first into the ring with Khaleesi and Kalani standing first and second in the colourbreed class. They are full sisters sired by Avonlea Chocochip. This completed a successful weekend for Kasey, as she is the dam of both heifers. Aisling Murphy finished fourth in the class with Kaira, which was a super result for her first time in the showring. Becky was kept busy for the evening and led our November-born Sidekick Acclaim to win the intermediate calf class before taking the top spot again in the senior calf class with our Sidekick Jagerbomb heifer and completed a hat-trick, winning the summer calf class with our red and white Holstein heifer named Rouge, with Emilie claiming second place with our Bullseye Alanna heifer. Alanna had a super season last year, winning her qualifier and standing second at both Nationals and the Winter Fair. The highlight of the night had to be the fancy dress class. A huge effort was made by club members of all ages — from Yellowstone theme, Alice in Dairyland, Where is Wally — and huge credit to Conor Lehane, who seemed to be a mixture of gym tutu and '80s disco, and went the extra mile by completing the whole class on his knees and received an honourable mention from the judge. Georgie won the fancy dress with her Willy Wonka theme, and her calf dressed up as the Kalani Bar. The showmanship championship saw Sarah Shannon being tapped out as champion handler, with Becky taking reserve and Georgie tapped out as honourable mention. The heifer championship was hotly contested, with Gordon and Jennifer Kingston's Bullseye heifer selected as champion, Jagerbomb claiming reserve and the Kirbys' January calf as honourable mention. A great finish to a top-class weekend of showing, where we also scooped the premier exhibitor award and the premier breeder award at the calf show. Pauric Colman has been working with us at the bigger shows since December last year at the RUAS Winter Fair. He did an outstanding job of turning out all the animals with Becky. Competing at that level takes a huge team effort, so it is always very rewarding for the entire team when the animals are successful. Pauric takes great care of them, and the job is only ever complete when every animal arrives home safely. There is a job to do at the shows — everyone works together, sharing advice on each animal — and we have some great laughs to keep the spirits up when people start getting tired. A hectic show life makes for a hectic farm life, as there is always work to catch up on. Deasys mowed haylage for us on Tuesday morning, and they were out in force with the balers and trailers to ensure we have another 200 bales of Wrap-It-Pink haylage stacked in the yard. We plan to mow more surplus bales over the next few days, and second-cut silage is also on our minds as we try to fit that into the schedule later in the month, one eye on the weather forecast and the other eye on the show diary. The show whites are washed and ready for Dunmanway Show on Sunday, as we take a few young heifers, and I am looking forward to having a more relaxed show where I have more time to chat to people. I can honestly say I am humbled by all the people who read my column and take the time to call up and say hi at the shows. It is lovely to introduce the show team to you all in person, and with many adventures over the next month, I am looking forward to keeping you all updated.
