The IHFA (Irish Holstein Friesian Association’s) National Open Day was attended by a very large number of dairy farmers from all over Ireland. There were numerous trade stands and the event was officially opened by Conor Ryan, CEO of Arrabawn Coop.
The programme of events included inter-club, open and Macra na Feirme stock judging, a Teagasc reseeding workshop plus a talk on Bord Bia quality assurance scheme. The IHFA inter-club stock judging was sponsored by Arrabawn Coop, Chanelle Animal Health, FBD group and Volac.
The Master Judge for the stock judging competitions was David Perry, President Elect of Holstein UK. Austin and David Perry own the award winning Killane Herd based at Ahoghill in Co. Antrim. A full list of the winners can be accessed at – http://ihfa.ie/ihfa-national-open-day-2016-prize-winners/
The Gold and Diamond awards were also sponsored by the FBD group. A Diamond award is for cows having yielded 3,000kgs of protein in her lifetime (2015) and classified EX while a Gold award is for a cow having yielded 3,000kgs of protein.
A popular celebrity on the day was John Muldoon, Captain of the Connacht ruby team who arrived with the Guinness Pro12 cup. John is from a livestock farm near Portumna and of course Tommy Screene played rugby in his younger days with the Bucanner club.