Michael Mahony, Dangan House, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny

 Backround of the herd: The first two pedigree cows were bought from Seamus Cody’s ‘Ballysorrell’ herd in the mid 1980’s. He has been breeding pedigree Limousins for about 30 years. Current herd size is 32 pedigree Limousin cows and approximately 50 young-stock.

Maternal Breeding: The herd has an overall maternal rating of €124, placing it firmly within the top 10% of pedigree Limousin herds in the country.

Top Maternal Cows: One of the top cows in the herd is ‘Dangan Nymph’ (Luttrelstown Jacob x Pelletstown Buccaneer). She has a maternal index of €210 (reliability: 45%). She was born on the 7th of March 1998, is 15 years old and has had 12 pedigree calves (6 heifers & 6 bulls). She has an average calving interval of 374 days.

Key traits of interest:  Calving Ease, milk, fertility and weight for age are the main traits of interest.

Recent Sires used:  Ozeus (OZ), Netherhall Epic (NHL), Hauteclair (HCA), Milbrook Tanko (TKO) and the stock-bull ‘Ardlea Ebay’.

Breeder’s comment: Over the year’s, repeat customers have returned again and again with some bulls being also brought to the Kilkenny bull sales, where dairy farmers would typically be the biggest customers. Therefore it has always been important to breed bulls who will be both easy calving, as well as siring quality cattle.