Gene Ireland Maternal Bull Breeder Participant Sean Galvin with his ‘Terelton’ herd of pedigree Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle.
Backround of the herd: The ‘Terelton’Blonde d’Aquitaine herd was established in 1995 with the purchase of a heifer from Matt Murphy in Macroom.
Maternal Breeding: The herd has an overall maternal rating of €34 (30% reliable), and a Terminal Index of €107 (29% reliable) which places it well inside the top 10% across all pedigree beef herds.
Top Maternal Cows: One of the highest index cows in the herd is ‘Terelton Dolly’. Sired by ‘Oulou’ and out of an ‘Ardclone Pyxis’ cow, she has a ‘Replacement Index’ value of €155 (5 stars/26% reliable).
Key traits of interest: Key traits of interest for the herd are Milk, Fertility and female calving ability.
Recent Sires used: Blackwater Jockey, Budore Utah, Kilmoney Bruce, Ardclone Pyxis, Nielson, Landais & Clondown Biver (Stockbull by Hiver).
Breeder’s comment: “Having cows that are well able to calve themselves and rear a calf is essential. I like cows that have good depth to their bodies – its something I look for when selecting bulls. I closely follow the figures that bulls get in France where they are first progeny tested, I find they are never far wrong. A lot of the newly available bulls in Ireland have low reliability figures, this program will hopefully address that.
