The RDS “Champion of Champions” awards are a set of prestigious awards presented annually by The Royal Dublin Society. These awards show the continued support which the RDS have shown to the cattle breeding industry throughout the years.
Each year there is an award presented to breeder’s from eight different cattle societies. The cattle are selected for these award’s based on their success at the premier livestock shows throughout the previous year. In addition to these awards, an award is also made to the highest Economic Breeding Index (EBI) dairy cow and also to the highest Replacement Index (Eurostar) beef cow.
Noel Beecher, Castlelyons, Co. Cork will be receiving this years Economic Breeding Index (EBI) award. Noel’s cow ‘Beesimon HZO Avaleen’ has an EBI of €421 (52% Rel). She is sired by HZO (Hazael Eminence Dano-ET). As can be seen from Table 1 below ‘Avaleen’ has 9 lactations with an average calving interval of 367 days. She has a lifetime production of 65,480 Milk kg, 2311.9 Fat kg, 3.55% Fat, 2487.7 Protein kg, 3.79% Protein. Avaleen has bred AI sire ‘BEESIMON LAMONT’ (S2123) . ‘Lamont’ has an EBI figure of €364. Avaleen is described by her owner as “a nice pleasant cow and she is very good natured. She would be one of the first cow’s to enter our spring calving system when we changed system 10 years ago”.
Beesimon HZO Avaleen has come to the top on the latest ‘Top 2000’ list. To see if any of your cows have made the list – CLICK HERE
Table 1: Beesimon HZO Avaleen’s Lifetime Production – Click Image to view
Gerald Harney, Ardrahan, Co Galway will be receiving this years Replacement index award (Eurostar) award. Gerald’s cow ‘Actualite’ has a Eurovalue of €233 making her the highest replacement index Parthenaise cow in the country. This means that she has a Eurostar rating of 5 stars within the Parthenaise breed and 5 stars across all beef breeds. She is described by her owner as a “very good breeding cow…she is about 700kg in her working clothes…she is a really lovely cow”. She has an average calving interval of 374 days. As well as having such a high index ‘Actualite’ has also proven herself as quiet the brood cow having bred Lisnagranchy Hulio (AYH) , a high replacement index AI sire formally progeny tested in the ‘Beef Gene Ireland Maternal Progeny Test Program’. Hulio is 5 stars within the Parthenaise breed and 5 stars across all beef breeds with a Eurostar index of €154.
‘Actualite’ with her daughter ‘Lisnagranchy Gertie’
Beef Gene Ireland Bull Lisnagranchy Hulio (AYH) bred by Gerald Harney from Parthenaise Cow ‘Actualite’
According to the RDS “The Awards, which encourage innovation and improvement in the Irish cattle breeding sector, are presented annually and have grown into one of the most prestigious awards in the cattle breeding calendar”.