Page 44 - Britich Blue Year Book 2023

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Balmoral kicked off the show season. This year’s show was
judged by Mr Andrew Price. After braving the wet spring
weather, Andrew’s Champion was Don Oreo, a super
powerful heifer sired by Imperial. She is owned by Tim and
Daniel O’Donovan, who travelled up from southern
Ireland. Their long journey proved to be a worthwhile one.
Reserve champion went to Corrandulla Queen, an
outstanding young heifer sired by Chocolate Du Champs.
Queen is owned by the Rogers family from Dromara,
County Down and this was the start of a very successful
Summer show season for her.
We held our herd competition in August this year and
Welcomed Society Council member, Mr John Okell. John
kindly travelled from Cheshire to judge the competition
and was accompanied by his wife Louise. John and Louise
spent three days travelling from farm to farm and were
greatly encouraged by both the quality and quantity of
cattle they saw. Both John and Louise remarked how much
they enjoyed their time here especially with the welcome
and hospitality they received everywhere they went. The
competition was sponsored by Mason‘s Animal Feeds and
HBS Animal Health. The awards were presented at our
annual barbecue and charity auction in the Spa Rugby
Club. John’s winner of the Herd Competition was James
and Sam Martin’ Springhill Herd and the runner-up for the
second year in a row was Isaac Wards Breezehill Herd.
John Killen from Crossgar, was a very entertaining
auctioneer for our charity auction which raised £1000 for
the NI Hospice. Special Thanks to John and Louise Okell
and to our sponsors and auctioneer, and all who donated
to the auction.
At the end of August, James and Sam Martins Springhill
Herd and Richard Mowbry’s Droit Herd, held a joint online
auction of elite breeding females. This sale was a massive
success and further proves the demand for Blue females
for both pedigree breeders and breeders of the top end
commercial show cattle.
Our AGM was held in February as usual with this year marking the 30th year since the formation of the NI Blue Cattle
Club. One of the founder members and past Society President, Mr Alan Cleland, give a very informative and
interesting talk about the first Blue cattle to come to NI and how the club was formed. This very entertaining evening
was followed by light refreshments.
NORTHERN IRELAND BLUE CATTLE CLUB 2023
Reserve Champion Corrandulla Queen Red Gene from the Rodgers Family
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