Gene Ireland Maternal Bull Breeder Joe Malone with his stock bull Darima Jumbo K 426 ET. Jumbo K is a full brother to Goulding Jumbo King (GJB) standing in NCBC.
Background of the herd: Joe started his pedigree Angus herd with the purchase of heifers in the mid 00’s. He has been breeding on from these and the herd now totals 12 pedigree cows, their replacements and young bulls for sale.
Maternal Breeding: The herd has an average maternal index of €163 (top 30% of breed) while the young stock has an average maternal index of €228 (top 10% of breed). The reproductive performance of the herd is excellent with an average calving interval of 366 days.
Top Maternal Cows: Joe’s best cow is the 9 ½ year old Killaloe Lady Jemma D025. She has a maternal index of €205 (top 20% of breed) and has high PTA’s for milk and calving interval. She has produced 7 calves with an average calving interval of 379 days (last 363).
Key traits of interest: Key traits of interest for Joe are docility, milk and fertility while he feels the breed as a whole needs to maintain its name as an easy calving maternal breed.
Recent Sires used: Joe has used some AI in the past with varying degrees of success. All cows were bred to the stock bull (pictured) this year. He is a Rossiter son, bred by Matt Goulding and has a whopping maternal index of €286. He is in the top 10% of the breed on docility, carcass weight, carcass conformation and milk.
Breeder’s comment: “I have found the new beef index a big improvement on the old suckler beef value. The Angus’ didn’t do all that well on the old index because of the weighting on carcass traits, but the new maternal and terminal indexes give a truer reflection of the breed’s qualities”.