Presentation of Prizes at Society AGM

Presentation of Prizes at Society AGM

Suffolk Sheep Society AGM

The Suffolk Sheep Society recently held its AGM in Tullamore.

The meeting was Chaired by outgoing Chairman Mr Dan O’Mahony who welcomed all the attendees. Mr O’Mahony thanked the Committee for all their hard work during the year. He re-iterated that much had been achieved in 2022 and he mentioned the fact that the Society is attracting many new breeders. He also stated that in the post Brexit era, the future is looking bright for the Society and the Suffolk breed and that there are many opportunities to be availed of by breeders.

The committee were delighted to have Mr Robin McIlrath, outgoing CEO of the Suffolk Sheep Society UK, along with his wife Roberta  in attendance at the meeting. A presentation was made by the Society to Robin as a token of appreciation for his all his hard work and guidance in the South of Ireland throughout his tenure as CEO and the Committee and attendees wished him well in his retirement.

Robin McIlrath (outgoing CEO Suffolk Sheep Society UK), Roberta McIlrath and Dan O’Mahony (Chairman Suffolk Sheep Society – South of Ireland)

Mr O’Mahony thanked attendees for coming and wished everyone well with their 2023 lambing season.

At the end of the meeting the presentation of prizes to the winners at the Premier Show took place. Winners of each class detailed below:

SHEARLING EWEANDY SMITH
EWE LAMBCOLIN WATCHORN
SHEARLING RAMJOHN HANLY
RAM SIRED BY SOI BRED RAMPATRICK O’KEEFFE
RECORDED CLASSCOLIN WATCHORN
NOVICE RAM LAMBDOHERTY BROS
OPEN RAM LAMBAJ & JA LUCAS
GIGOT RAM LAMBSUSAN O’KEEFFE
GROUP OF THREE RAM LAMBSAJ & JA LUCAS
FEMALE CHAMPIONCOLIN WATCHORN
MALE CHAMPIONAJ & JA LUCAS (OPEN RAM WINNER)
SUPREME CHAMPIONAJ & JA LUCAS
SHEPHERD OF THE SHOWAJ & JA LUCAS
SIRE OF THE YEARSEAMUS BROWNE -LIMESTONE GOLD RUSH
HOMEBRED SIRE OF THE YEARANDREW WILSON/EAMONN DUFFY   KELLS T-REX
SOCIETY CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL THREE DAYS AT NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS

SOCIETY CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL THREE DAYS AT NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The best of Irish Suffolk Sheep showcased at Ratheniska

The National Ploughing Championships returned after an absence of three years due to the pandemic and Suffolk Sheep Society – South of Ireland were delighted to once again be a part of such a great event.

Situated just inside the door of the NSBA Pavillion, the stand drew a huge amount of attention from attendees. Live Sheep are always popular and the stand showcased the best of Irish Suffolk Sheep breeding with both Pedigree and cross bred sheep on display. The Shearling Pedigree Ram, Muff Paddy, bred by his namesake, Paddy Carolan of Muff Suffolks was hugely popular with visitors to the stand – young and old alike. He was greatly admired and made impressive viewing on the stand.

The Society would like to express our gratitude to the Borris Ewe Breeders Association for loaning the Suffolk/Cheviot Cross ewes for the display. They were a great example of the superb breeding ewes which result from crossing the Irish Suffolk with a Cheviot Ewe. They make superb replacement ewes, who are easily lambed, milky and great mothers, who in turn produce fast finishing lambs ready to hit the premium Spring market at twelve weeks.

The hugely popular ‘Guess the Weight of the Lambs’ competition was back and saw an entry of well over 1000 over the three days. These were put in the draw for a €250 Society Voucher towards the price of a Suffolk Ram at any Society sale as well as second and third prizes kindly sponsored by Mayo Healthcare. We would like to thank Cormac Sheep Equipment for providing the scales on which the lambs were weighed on the final day.

Overall the Ploughing Championships proved to be a very successful three days for the Suffolk Sheep Society – South of Ireland, allowing us to reacquaint with old friends and meet many new ones. We were delighted to see such a large interest in the breeding of Irish Suffolk Sheep among so many farmers and we look forward to welcoming many of them into the Society in due course. With confidence in the Society at an all time high, the future is looking very bright for Irish Suffolk Sheep.

National Suffolk Championships 2022

National Suffolk Championships 2022

Charleville, June 26th 2022

On Sunday 26th June, Suffolk Sheep Society South of Ireland breeders from all over the country turned up to Charleville Agricultural Show to compete in the Irish Suffolk Sheep National Championships from which there had been an absence of 3 years as a result of the pandemic. It was great to see such a high level of interest at the Suffolk ring and we were especially delighted to see some of our Suffolk Colleagues from the Netherlands attending the Show while on a visit to Ireland.

The Society were delighted to receive a new cup for the Supreme Champion of the Show. The Tom Quirke Memorial Cup was presented to the Society by Ann Quirke-O’Mahony on behalf of the entire Quirke Family in memory of her late Father who was an enthusiastic and forward thinking Suffolk Breeder, from his Flock’s establishment in 1967 up until his death in August 2017.

Despite inclement weather conditions, enthusiasm was high as Judge William Fleming of the Hallhill Flock in Scotland prepared to take to the ring. The standard of sheep presented on the day was a credit to all the breeders participating and showcased the Suffolk Breed to its full potential to all those watching the show.

The show kicked off with the Junior Handler class which saw 7 enthusiastic young stock persons demonstrate their knowledge and ability to handle sheep. It was 15 year old Harry Graham of the Westside flock, which he established in 2020, who received the red rosette from the Judge.

In the Shearling Ram class, it was Arthur O’Keeffe who dominated with a Birness Freedom son with Coote Geelan’s Cairness Diamond Geezer son taking second and Harry Graham’s Errigal Jack the Lad’s son taking the third spot.

The sun shone as the Aged Ewes took to the ring with Susan O’Keeffe’s home bred ewe, sired by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince taking the top honours in the Class. In the Shearling Ewe Class, Susan O’Keefe dominated the field once again catching the judge’s eye with her Annakisha Ewe, again sired by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince. Her second entry  also sired by Prince took second and Kenneth Bailey’s Cairness Cobra sired ewe took the third spot.

In the Novice Class it was Coote Geelan of the Loughrynn Flock who took top honours with his stylish ewe lamb, sired by Beechbrook Oscar. It was a tight call between Kenneth Bailey’s ewe lamb sired by Cairness Our Bucks and Ann & Dan O’Mahony’s Errigal the Emperor sired Ewe lamb for second and third but the judge settled on Lismurtagh second and Ballygarvanstud third in the class.

The Ram Lamb class was next in the line up where Susan O’Keeffe’s Muirton One Direction son took top honours with Sean O’Connor of the Islandmore Flock claiming his first rosette of the day, taking second with a Beechcrest Bacardi son. Third in the class was Ann & Dan O’Mahony’s Blackbrae Diamond son.

Next it was the turn of the ewe lambs and the first class in was the Untrimmed Ewe Lamb where Philip Byrne of the Limepark Flock showed a lamb by Errigal Simply the Best. She was a stylish ewe lamb who emerged from the class victorious, claiming the red rosette, much to the delight of Philip’s son Padraig who had shown her earlier in the Young Handler Class.

The final class of the day was the Trimmed Ewe Lamb which resulted in a hat trick for the O’Keeffe family with Patrick and his Blackwater Flock taking first with his Ballinatone BT Buddy son, Susan taking second with her ewe lamb also sired by BT Buddy and Arthur taking third spot with his lamb sired by Castlewellan Sportsman.

In the Female Championship it was Susan O’Keeffe’s Shearling Ewe who claimed the top honours and Philip Byrne’s Untrimmed Ewe Lamb took the Reserve spot.

The Male Championship was awarded to Arthur O’Keeffe’s Shearling ram with Susan O’Keeffe’s Ram Lamb taking the Reserve Spot.

In the Final Showdown the judge tapped out Susan O’Keefe’s Shearling Ewe as his favourite of the day to claim the Supreme Champion title and the newly presented Tom Quirke Memorial Cup, with Philip Byrne’s Untrimmed Ewe lamb emerging as Reserve Champion.

The Society would like to thank our sponsors for the day – Connolly’s Redmills and Animax-Vet for their generous support. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Sheep Section Show Committee for setting up the penning and showing area and for running such a well organised event.

1971-2021 CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SUFFOLK BREEDING IN THE WEST OF IRELAND

1971-2021 CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SUFFOLK BREEDING IN THE WEST OF IRELAND

The West of Ireland Registered Pedigree Suffolk Sheep Breeders Club publish a 50th Anniversary Magazine to mark tremendous milestone in their history.

Click on the cover page below to read articles from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., ‘The Origins of the Suffolk’, a trip down memory lane and much much more.

If you would like a copy, please get in touch with any of the committee or at woisuffolk@hotmail.com and it can be arranged. You can also visit their website here or click the links below.

South of Ireland Branch Premier Show and Sale – Blessington 2020

South of Ireland Branch Premier Show and Sale – Blessington 2020

Castleisle Kilteskin Prince achieves top price from P O’Keeffe

Date: 1st August 2020

Auctioneer: JP & M Doyle

Judge: Campbell Watson, Bannview Flock

62% clearance for the largest pedigree Suffolk sale in Ireland despite Covid-19

LOT NO.FLOCKPRICE IN EUROSBUYER
41BLACKWATER6,500AJ & N Robinson
112ERRIGAL3,000R Tait
94BARRONSTOWN2,600D McCaughren
93BARRONSTOWN2,200M O’Neill
131FINNVALE2,100F Collard
34KILLYCLUG2,000K Casey
46ANNAKISHA1,800G Conroy
114ERRIGAL1,700T Feeney
170BARRONSTOWN1,700PJ Howard
42LIMEPARK1,600J Trimble
64BEECHBROOK1,500R Sands
124CONVOY1,400M McNally
150BEECHBROOK1,300C Finnegan

 Click here to view top price Blackwater NBK:20:06088

Show Results

Male and Supreme Champion

Lot 74 Eamonn Duffy

C46:20:03050 by Limestone T-Rex

Reserve Male and Overall Reserve Champion

Lot 46 Arthur O’Keeffe

R15:20:06089 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

Female Champion

Lot 24 Kenneth Bailey

HDC:20:00121 by Cairness Corker

Reserve Female Champion

Lot 16 James O’Connell

DBJ:20:02213 by Shannagh Synergy

Single Shearling Ewe

1st Lot 9 J Hanly

G4:19:02544 by Limestone Lowry

2nd Lot 8 Kenneth Bailey

HDC:19:00066 by Cairness Foremost

3rd Lot 4 Coote Geelan

F56:19:01208 by Errigal Tubridy

Single Ewe Lamb

1st Lot 24 Kenneth Bailey

HDC:20:00121 by Cairness Corker

2nd Lot 16 James O’Connell

DBJ:20:02213 by Shannagh Synergy

3rd Lot 19 David Quinlan

UHZ:20:01537 by Mullaghboy Goliath

Ram Lamb Sired by a SOI Bred Ram

1st Lot 46 Arthur O’Keeffe

R15:20:06089 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

2nd Lot 118 Mssrs Wilson

78A:20:06695 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

3rd Lot 78 Susan O’Keeffe

BYD:20:02462 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

Novice Ram Lamb

1st Lot 42 Philip Byrne

TJW:20:00024 by Strathisla Speed

2nd Lot 91 B & G Doyle

UTX:20:00146 by Castleisle Capaldi

3rd Lot 170 J & E Gahan

SKW:20:00531 by Ballynacannon Royal Flush

Recorded Ram Lamb Class

1st Lot 136 Arthur O’Keeffe

R15:20:06082 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

2nd Lot 94 J & E Gahan

SKW20:00546 by Limestone Aston Martin

3rd Lot 97 J A Doherty

CFN:20:02960 by Strathbogie A Kind Of Magic

Open Ram Lamb

1st Lot 74 Eamonn Duffy

C46:20:03050 by Limeston T-Rex

2nd Lot 81 Andrew Wilson

DDX:20:01174 by Castleisle Capaldi

3rd Lot 41 by Patrick O’Keeffe

NBK:20:06088 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

Gigot Class

1st Lot 123 L & A Kilpatrick

PWW:20:00194 by Birness Hustler

2nd Lot 137 Arthur O’Keeffe

R15:20:06091 by Castleisle Kilteskin Prince

3rd Lot 149 Colin Watchorn

PXL:20:00549 by Crewelands Oscar