Farming News in Ireland – What made the headlines this week?
In this article, editor, Catherina Cunnane, takes a look at some of our headlines here at www.thatsfarming.com this week.
Stories include:
- A Sligo vet’s successful Summer Belles Sale with cattle to €8,600 and sheep to €1,700;
- €13,000 Bailey’s Cow competition
- 51-year-old male fined for causing ‘avoidable pain, distress or suffering’ to hen;
- AI Tech Academy;
- Update for Clarkson’s Farm fans.
€8,600 Charolais heifer tops Gallagher’s sale
Prices skyrocketed to €8,600 at Ronan Gallagher’s Summer Belles, an annual sale of cattle and sheep, on MartEye’s platform in conjunction with Mayo-Sligo (Ballina) Livestock Mart, which drew to a close on Monday, July 3rd, 2023.
Leading the charge was a pedigree registered Charolais heifer, lot number 5 (main image), an Anside Foreman daughter, which was born in March 2020 and sold scanned in-calf 5 months to the AI Charolais bull, Fiston.
Next on the price table at €3,400 was lot number 1, another in-calf heifer, a PPS daughter out of a Limousin-cross dam, born in November 2020 and scanned in-calf to the AI Limousin bull, EBY.
Prices varied from €1,550 upwards, with 44 out of 47 entries finding new homes across Cavan, Meath, Mayo, Donegal, Louth, Carlow, Sligo, Tipperary, Galway, Leitrim, Clare and Armagh – cattle report via this link.
Meanwhile, Sheep entries ranged from €300 to €1,700 with a top call for number 54, a February 2022 born Texel gimmer, by the €8,500 Hillview Eloi, who was purchased at Blessington in 2021, and her dam is a full sister to Enniscrone Donovan.
On her heels, at €1,050, was lot 49, a February-2022-born Texel by Garngour Aerosmith and a Sportsman A Star daughter. Her grand-dam, 3038, was acquired from Teiglum, and she bred rams to 3.7k and ewes to 3.2k.
Entries were snapped up by virtual purchasers from Galway, Sligo, Mayo, Donegal, Monaghan, Kerry and Clare, with three lots unsold – sheep report via this link.
Get paid to become a bovine AI tech
Following on the back of last year’s success, Munster Bovine is recruiting trainees for its AI Technician Academy.
Every trainee will undergo what it brands to be an “unrivalled” training programme, which is “the envy of the industry”, before they qualify to “go on the road” as a qualified and licenced Munster Bovine AI technician.
Trainees receive “unrivalled” technical and practical training, which is fully funded by the company, which offers a range of cattle breeding, milk record and performance services to farmers.
Trainees are paid for their time and receive “unrivalled” back-up and support during training and thereafter.
Read more.
€13,000 Bailey’s Cow competition
Diageo Ireland and its cream supplier Tirlán, formerly Glanbia Ireland, are inviting Holstein Friesian breeders across the island of Ireland to prepare for the return of the Diageo Baileys Champion Dairy Cow at this year’s Virginia Show on August 23rd, 2023.
It includes an enhanced prize pot of €13,000 to mark the 40th year of the contest, up from €10,000 in the previous year.
The winner of the top title, overall champion, will this year receive a €3,000 prize, followed by €1,500 and €800 for reserve champion and honourable mention, respectively.
Other awards will be presented on the day across several categories, including junior cows in their second lactation.
The best junior cow category has prizes worth €1,550 in total, while the popular best-heifer-in-milk category carries a fund of €1,550 with 1st place worth €750.
Read more on this news story.
51-year-old male fined for causing ‘avoidable pain’ to hen
A 51-year-old man in Northern Ireland has been convicted of one charge of causing “avoidable pain, distress or suffering” to an animal, a hen, at the time of killing.
Michael Thorpe, with an address at Sconce Road, Articlave, Coleraine, Co Derry, appeared before Coleraine Magistrates Court sitting in Ballymena on Friday, July 7th, 2023.
He was also convicted of one charge of engaging in the restraint, stunning or killing of an animal without having the knowledge or skill necessary to perform those operations “humanely and efficiently”.
Also, a further single charge related to the failure to hold a carcase that had not been slaughtered for human consumption in such a manner as to ensure that any animal or bird would not have access to it.
Thorpe pleaded guilty, and the judge ordered him to pay a £450 fine in addition to a £15 offender levy.
Read more.
Clarkson’s Farm
The star of Clarkson’s Farm has said that the highly anticipated third episode is “a while off yet”.
In response to a fan account’s post regarding the third season on Instagram, on June 12th, 2023, Jeremy Clarkson explained that “we actually will not finish filming until October”.
“There is something we are trying, which will not be resolved until then,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, in October 2023, a spokesperson confirmed that the third series is in production with an August 2024 release date.
With filming taking place over the course of an entire farming year, viewers will, according to producers, be able to look forward to “more in-depth, authentic, and unexpected trials and tribulations” as Jeremy, Lisa, Kaleb, Gerald, and Charlie tackle the ever-unpredictable world of British farming.
Read more.
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