Supreme Champion – Aged Ewe, Arthur O’Keeffe with Judge, Dennis Taylor & Handler, Patrick O’Keeffe
The South of Ireland Suffolk Sheep Society held their annual National Championships at Dundalk Show on Sunday 9th June. All classes were very well supported with a mix of established and new breeders presenting an excellent standard of stock. There was great interest in proceedings with a strong ringside crowd watching on including many breeders from Northern Ireland. The Society would like to thank Connolly Red Mills for their sponsorship of the show this year.
The show judge was Mr. Dennis Taylor of the renowned Ballynacannon Flock, based in Co. Antrim who tapped out a tremendous ewe from Arthur O’Keeffe’s Annakisha flock as Overall Champion. A 2022 born ewe, she also took 1st prize in the Aged Ewe class and is sired by Ballinatone BT Buddy and out of a homebred ewe by Strathbogie AK Magic. After taking the Suffolk Championship, this ewe then went forward and claimed the Interbreed Championship.
Taking Reserve Overall Champion was the 1st prize shearling ewe from Philip Lynch’s Glyde flock. A stylish ewe, she is by Ballinatone BT Buddy and a Castleisle ewe by Lakeview Armani.
Reserve Champion – Philip Lynch, Shearling Ewe
A young ram lamb by Ballinatone BT Buddy and a homebred ewe by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince, from the flock of Arthur O’Keeffe claimed the Male Championship. This lamb was 1st in the Open ram lamb class and it was the 2nd prizewinner from the same class that took Reserve Male Champion. From the Malinhead flock of John Doherty, Co. Donegal, this ram lamb is sired by Crewelands Dancing Brave and out of a ewe by Limestone Red Rum.
Male Champion – Arthur O’Keeffe, Ram Lamb
Taking first place in the Shearling Ram and upwards class was JA & AJ Lucas, Finnvale with their stock ram Claycrop MacAllister, a private purchase by the 48,000gns Limestone Marksman.
For the first time this year, there was a New Members class and this was a huge success with a large entry. Taking top honors here was Sean O’Gorman, Roselodge with a ram lamb by Limestone Commando. The lamb’s dam was purchased as Female Champion at the Premier Show & Sale at Blessington 2022. This ram lamb then went on to claim 1st prize in the Novice Ram lamb class.
A strong ewe lamb from Shane Brady’s Milldam flock took 1st prize in the Novice Ewe Lamb class. She is by Bessiebell Big Brother and a Shannagh ewe.
Arthur O’Keeffe’s ewe lamb claimed 1st prize in the Trimmed ewe lamb class. This lamb is sired by the 10,000gns Blackbrae AB President with her dam being the ewe who was Supreme Champion on the day.
The untrimmed ewe lamb class was won by the Malinhead flock of John Doherty. This lamb is by Crewelands Dancing Brave and is a full sister to the Reserve Male Champion on the day.
In the Young Handlers class it was great to see so much enthusiasm and congratulations to Ben Lynch for winning 1st prize. In second place was Ben Whyte with Tara Bailey taking 3rd prize.
Young Handlers with Judge, Dennis Taylor: 1st Ben Lynch, 2nd Ben Whyte, 3rd Tara Bailey
The Society would like to congratulate the organizers of Dundalk Show on a very well run event.
The Society recently organised an open day at Blessington Mart for new breeders to learn about trimming Suffolks for shows. Among the attendees on the day were Sam Ritchie of Strabane Mills who delivered a talk on the importance of using the correct animal feed at the appropriate stage of development and Leo Forkin of Mayo Animal Healthcare who provided a very informative talk on various aspects of general animal husbandry.
We were delighted to welcome Ian Donald of Donbraid Livestock to demonstrate the skills required for successful sheep dressing. Ian, one of the top sheep dressers in Ireland and the UK, captivated the audience with his expertise while also answering numerous questions from the floor about all aspects of sheep dressing.
The event also featured a stock judging competition on the day where there were two categories to be judged – Shearling Ewes and a Ewe Lamb class.
Mayo Animal Healthcare generously sponsored the U21 judging while Strabane Mills sponsored the over 21 category.
The results were as follows:
U21s 1st Evan Hopkins
2nd Aaron Patton
3rd Ben Lynch
Over 21s 1st Sean Heraty
2nd Aidan Carney
3rd Beverly McBride
With over 40 breeders in attendance on the day, feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It was a fantastic day of learning and an excellent opportunity to socialise with fellow breeders while enjoying some light refreshments.
The Society extends our gratitude to Ian Donald, and our sponsors, Leo Forkin and Sam Ritchie for their contributions to the success of the event. We would also like to thank Blessington Mart for the use of their premises. Finally we would like to thank Breeders Niall Cassidy, for his contributions to the event and John Gahan and Philip Lynch for providing the sheep for the trimming and stock judging.
Our next event will be an Open Day to be held on the farm of Sean O’Connor and his wife, Dr Carina Mederle (Islandmore Suffolks) on July 9th from 6.30 to 9pm.
Jim Gahan, Barrowlands Flock, receives National Hall of Fame Award
Mr Jim Gahan of the Barrowlands Flock was recently awarded the National Hall of Fame Award 2024 by the South of Ireland Suffolk Sheep Society for his lifetime contributions to the Suffolk breed.
The Barrowlands Flock was started in 1994. I had always kept the Tullow-type or cheviot ewe, used Suffolk Rams and kept our own replacements. It was one of the best decisions in my life to get into Suffolks and in the past 30 years I have enjoyed travelling throughout the 32 counties of Ireland and across to the UK to Suffolk Shows and Sales and Social Events.
I was honoured to be asked to Judge the Flock Competition in N.I. on two occasions and I have also enjoyed judging numerous Suffolk classes in shows and sales both in the South and North of Ireland.
I served on Society Committee for many years spending this time working for the betterment of the Society. I enjoyed sourcing sheep for the Suffolk stand at the Ploughing, spending the three days there manning the stand and meeting people from all over Ireland.
I am lucky enough to have been successful with my Flock, winning Novice Ram Lamb in Maynooth, Reserve Champion at National Championships and winning the Howard Peel Cup for the Best Stud Ram with my Stock Ram “Carragh Captivate” in 2018 was the icing on the cake.
My flock is involved in a very successful Female Sale every November “Black Beauties Sale” and from this sale I have sold females to Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal and Romania.
There is a great social side to the Society and its important that members exhibit at local shows as this is the shop window for our breed. I believer that the Suffolk’s ability to reach target weights in a shorter time frame combined with good fleshing ability makes them the ideal sire for the commercial flock. Also, the Suffolk Cross ewe is in great demand for breeding and Suffolk lambs commands a premium price from the butcher.
I would like to thank the South of Ireland Suffolk Society for nominating me to receive the Hall of Fame Award and also my family who have helped and supported me through the years.
The South of Ireland Premier Show & Sale took place on August 4th & 5th in Blessington Mart
The 137th Annual Show & Sale of the Suffolk Sheep Society South of Ireland took place in Blessington Mart on Saturday August 5th where auctioneer Mr John Doyle described trade as ‘a very strong trade with exceptional demand from Commercial Breeders. Breeding rams were of excellent quality with stock presented on the day up on 2022’
Judging got underway on Friday afternoon under the experienced eye of Judge, Mr Alastair Barclay of the renowned Blackbrae Flock in Northern Ireland while Commercial breeders Michael & Ger Murphy were on hand to step in to judge the Gigot Ram class.
In a Championship of exceptional quality, the judge tapped out a superb ram lamb from the Annakisha flock of Arthur and Patrick O’Keefe. He was sired by the Reserve Champion from the NI Premier in 2022 Blackbrae AB President out of an Annakisha ewe. This stylish lamb had previously won the Open Ram Class and the Male Championship before claiming the title of Supreme Champion. 2023 has proved to be a very successful year for this lamb as he had previously won the Champion Ram Lamb spot at the National Suffolk Championships in Gurteen in June. The quality of this lamb came to the fore when he was eventually knocked down under John Doyle’s hammer for €20.000 and sold to the Cairness Flock of Jimmy Douglas in Scotland.
Taking Reserve Champion was Andrew & Jonathan Lucas’s lamb from the Finnvale Flock. Their lamb Finnvale BFG had been sired by last year’s Champion , Finnvale Am the Man whom they had retained. The ram had won the Best lamb sired by a South of Ireland Ram earlier in the day before claiming Reserve Male and Reserve Champion of the Show. He went on to sell in the ring to the Burnview Flock of William & Stephanie Tait, Northern Ireland for €2600 while the Finnvale pen overall, averaged €1695 with Am the Man lambs selling to an average of €2067.
Reserve champion of the Show – Andrew & Jonathan Lucas, Finnvale Flock
A Cairnton Chaos sired lamb out of a Solwaybank Ewe, owned by Alan Kilpatrick of the Convoy flock in Donegal claimed the second highest price of the day for a strong, stylish lamb which also found a home in Northern Ireland. Other top prices on the day included a Crewelands Dancing Brave ET lamb from the pen of JJ & Martin Doherty, Malinhead. This was a SIS eligible lamb which sold to a fellow South of Ireland Breeder for €2300. Also selling well on the day was another of the Doherty’s lambs which had placed 1st in the Pen of Three Class and was knocked down at €2100.
The winner of the Novice class was a very correct lamb from the Cronebane pen of local man, Gus Doyle. He had beaten off stiff competition from PJ McMonagle’s Forkins Masterplan lamb which sold at €2200. This Novice winner, sired by Donbraid Assassin went on to sell to a Donegal pedigree breeder also for €2200. There were a number of other lambs sold at the €2200 mark which included a Kells T-rex sired lamb from the Ballygarris pen of Michael & Marie Jennings in Mayo and two rams from the Finnvale pen sired by Salopian Pure Gold and Finnvale Am the Man.
Novice Champion from Gus Doyle’s Cronebane Flock
The Shearling Ram class was won by Philip Byrne of the Limepark Flock with his Muirton One Direction Ram which later went on to sell to a commercial buyer for €900.
The Female classes commenced with the Shearling Ewe Class, which saw local breeder John & Esther Gahan claim the top spot with a stylish Lakeview Del Boy sired Gimmer. She had fought off stiff competition from two Cairness Our Bucks sired gimmers from the Lismurtagh and Loughrynn Flocks who had been placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. While these two females remained unsold the Champion Shearling was knocked down at €1200 in the ring to another breeder.
Champion Shearling Ewe from John & Esther Gahan, Barronstown Flock
The ewe lamb class was a very stylish affair and was tightly contended. Taking top honours from the judge was the Mountford flock of Oliver and Adrienne Deane’s January born lamb, sired by Ballinatone Al Capone from a Mountford Ewe. This breedy lamb was eventually sold to a Pedigree Breeder in the West. Placed 2nd in her class, Philip Lynch’s Clyda Awesome bred lamb sold for €820 while the 3rd placed, January born lamb from the Milldam Flock of Shane Brady and sired by Cairnton Chaos also sold for €820.
In the final lineup in the Female Championship, it was the Mountford Ewe Lamb which proved to be the judge’s favourite as she claimed the top honours as Female Champion with Philip Lynch’s Glyde Ewe Lamb claiming the Reserve Female Champion spot.
Champion Ewe Lamb and Champion Female from Oliver & Adrienne Deane’s Mountford Flock
Overall, there was a great buzz about the sale with much interest being shown in the lots on offer both prior to the sale and ringside. With a clearance rate of 85% – well increased from the 2022 figures, it was clear to see that the excellent quality of stock on offer, encouraged buyers to purchase. The pedigree Average came in at €2628 with the Commercial average hitting €804 – up 16% on the previous year’s trade. While there was no export to Europe from the sale, there were a significant number of animals exported to Northern Ireland directly from the sale.
Gigot Class Champion from Arthur & Patrick O’Keeffe
The sale was described by Auctioneer John Doyle as ‘overall a very good trade with exceptional demand from Commercial Breeders, with some leaving disappointed at being unable to secure a purchase. Breeding rams presented were of an exceptionally good quality and the commercial end of the sale was on fire. ’
Despite the huge demand , there were prices to suit all pockets with SIS eligible rams being purchased from €500, which made for an extremely brisk trade. With an overall clearance rate of 85% on ram lambs, 70% of the lambs sold headed into the Commercial sector – up 20 percentage points on 2022. Demand was high and the Society attribute this high demand from the commercial sector on the confidence held in the Suffolk Breed for its ability to finish faster from a grass based system. In a climate of rising input costs this ability to finish ‘Fast from Grass’ is an important factor when trying to maximise farm profitability. Early finishing lambs always command premium prices – a major plus in this current difficult climate. Breeders are optimistic that this demand for the Suffolk breed will be evident throughout the breeding season and beyond.
Group of Three 1st Prize winners – Martin & JJ Doherty – Malinhead Flock
It was very encouraging to see so many of the newer breeders taking part in the sale for the first time and also to see the Young Handler Class so well supported with 1st place going to Isabella Taylor, Ballynacannon Flock, 2nd place, Paddy McMonagle with his own Beltanyview flock, recently founded with his brother Tommy and 3rd place to Millie Donald from Donbraid Suffolks.
The remaining Society Sales for 2023 will take place on the following dates: Cahir on Friday 1st Sept (Eve), Carnew on Wednesday 6th September (eve), Ballina on Tuesday 3rd October (day) and Raphoe on Friday 6th October (eve).
The Society would very much like to thank all our generous sponsors including – Championship sponsors Mayo Healthcare, Strabane Mills & Mullinahone Co-Op
Also Thankyou to our Class Sponsors Volac, Paul & Vincent, Corby Rock Mill, Tirlan, Redmills Feeds, LA McAuley Feeds, Galloway & Macleod, JP & M Doyle, Kiernan Milling, Dairygold, Animax Ltd, Brett Bros.
