Latest news with #CorkYMA
Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Paula Hynes: A truly great Yorkshire show
As the saying goes, there is no rest for the wicked, and life seems to be busier than ever. We mowed two fields for bales this week — one actually yielded better than it did for first cut, and the second was a surplus paddock, although I'm not sure how surplus it actually was, as with the blistering sunshine last week grass growth has dramatically slowed and our paddocks are burning up. We saw afternoon temperatures reach 30C last week in the farm yard, but thankfully, the weather will be more showery this week. We are sticking with the pink bale wrap theme for #WrapItPink, so the yard is packed with pink silage bales now. While grass growth is slow, the rate at which our maize crop is growing this year is superb. The general rule of thumb is that maize needs to be knee high by the fourth of July, tassels should generally appear in August, and then it is a ripening process for the cobs, or what some might call sweet corn, and harvesting normally takes place from October onwards. Cob fill is highly dependent on temperature, and ultimately, the feeding quality is determined by cob fill. Our maize was actually 7ft tall by late June, and cobs were developing by July 4. Cobs should develop really well with the weather we are having, and the crop should be easily ready for harvesting in September. An American visitor asked recently how we were able to grow such fantastic maize, and I informed him the technical side of producing such a good crop was planting the seed, and after that, it was pure luck, heat, rain, more heat and sunshine. With Becky away last weekend, we attended Dunmanway show with Georgie and three young heifer, she won the January heifer class with an Ambrose-sired Adina heifer who is a daughter of the Unix heifer she won so much with in 2023, she also won the Jersey calf class with Kaira and got reserve champion jersey. She placed second in the All Ireland EBI calf class, which was won by the Shannon family and there is always a bit of friendly rivalry there, in the last six years it has either been us or the Shannons who have won the class and the rivalry remain friendly, the Shannons gave our girls great encouragement when we began showing and often gave the girls a loan of a heifer to show. Steven and Sarah are on the Cork YMA committee with Georgie and Becky. Stephen is the current chairperson and is always very encouraging to new members of the club. It is always nice to return a favour and it is great to see him taking our Bullseye Alanna heifer for the showmanship at YMA finals this year. I have been lucky enough to attend some great shows in the UK with Georgie, UK Dairy Day, New Forrest, UK Dairy Expo, the All Britains, the Royal Highland, so it was bags packed on Monday evening as we headed to the Great Yorkshire Show, where Georgie was showing her Jersey heifer named Ravina. The show was first held in 1838 and moved around Yorkshire until a permanent showground was secured in 1950 near Harrogate. The show has become the largest in England, and is only surpassed in Britain by the Royal Welsh and the Royal Highland. Queen Elizabeth II even attended the show in 2008 to help celebrate its 150 th birthday. This year, 150,000 visitors were due to attend — including us. We arrived at the show at 2pm, and after a quick look around, it was time to get Ravina clipped off and show ready, prepare the other two heifers Georgie was showing for Katherine Jenkinson, and then a little chill time before pitching our tent, which Katherine kindly brought to the show for us. Tent pitching gave me flashbacks of building my own mud hut in Kenya; similar temperatures but mud hut construction was somewhat easier. Tent building would not be our strongest attribute, and we were far from auditioning for the Girl Guides, but thankfully winds were low and we didn't blow away that night. A 5am start to get the heifers washed and dried so Georgie could topline them and be ready for the show ring at 9.30am. Ravina placed second, adding another prestigious prize card and rosette to Georgie's collection. Later that day, she was approached by other breeders to compete in the interbreed group of five with Ravina the following day, and she was delighted to be part of the group representing the Jersey breed. Another 5am start with showing starting again at 9.30am, so it was a busy start washing and getting the straw beds cleaned before getting Ravina prepared for the ring, while also getting another heifer ready for the showmanship. Alison and Hannah Shepard of Darrison Holsteins kindly offered Georgie the use of one of their heifers for the class. Boots shined, hair neat and tidy, Georgie in her HYB show whites headed into the ring for the Junior Showmanship which was being judged by Ben Yates. She knew she would have to deliver showmanship perfection to have a chance at winning the class, and she kept ice cool and delivered to be pulled in first place and remain there to win the class. Once out of the ring, it was a quick change into her jersey show uniform, and with Ravina waiting, she jumped on the halter for the interbreed group of fives, where the group finished in third place. Pete was home alone farming as Becky was also attending the IHFA open day at Greenans in Monaghan, where she was gaining more experience at stock judging. With all these adventures, the girls are constantly gaining new experience. Georgie has been lucky enough to attend some of the very best shows in the UK, learnt to constantly show different heifers, compete under pressure and make valuable memories. A neighbour of mine recently said to me to make the most of life. Sometimes, I wish we weren't so busy, but our adventures help us to make memories that will last a lifetime. We departed Yorkshire knowing indeed they are home to one of the greatest agricultural shows. Read More Paula Hynes: A presidential visit to Charleville Show
Irish Examiner
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Paula Hynes: A weekend of wins, heifers and hard graft
Our hectic weekend began with our three milkers leaving early for the Charleville show — Kasey, Kali and Acclaim. Competition is always top-class at Charleville and this year one of the judges was newly elected Holstein UK president, Mark Logan from Northern Ireland. Mark has a wealth of knowledge and formerly managed the Clandeboye Estate herd prior to his retirement last year, and has always been a phenomenal supporter of the younger generation and breeders, offering great words of encouragement. With a packed schedule ahead for the year, it was very fitting to have the president down judging the very best of cows in Cork. With all our young heifers at home, Daniel and Eimer Curtin kindly provided showmanship heifers, as Becky had clipped for them during the week. Georgie stood top of the line in the junior showmanship and Becky claimed the red rosette in the senior showmanship. Our Jersey cows were next to show and Kali won what was a very competitive Jersey heifer in milk class. Kasey was the youngest cow in the senior Jersey class. She has really developed this year and won the class before claiming her third Jersey championship of the year from three outings. Acclaim was entered in the Kerry Dairy Ireland All-Ireland junior cow class, which was the biggest class of the day for Holstein cows. She finished second to Paul Murphy's cow, and Mark truly liked the pair, as Paul went on to take the Holstein championship, with Acclaim taking honourable mention. A very successful outing for us, and it was all hands-on-deck when we arrived home as Pauric and Becky began clipping some of the heifers for the Cork YMA calf show. With 10 heifers entered, Sunday was spent clipping as well. Unfortunately, Aurora had some swelling on her hock and while she was clipped, we decided to leave her at home, but we were still happy with the show team, as eight out of the nine were homebred heifers carrying the Rathard prefix. The Cork YMA calf show is a qualifier for the YMA National Finals in Kilkenny in late July. With over 70 heifers entered, it was going to be a highly competitive show. Jane Steel travelled over from the UK to officiate as the judge — a highly accomplished judge, who will judge the colourbreed showmanship classes at the All Breeds All Britain calf show this year. She also photographs the very best of cows both on farm and at shows. The evening kicked off with both Georgie and Becky qualifying in their showmanship classes. Moving on to the heifer classes, months of work have been put in to ensuring the heifers look their very best. Our Jerseys were first into the ring with Khaleesi and Kalani standing first and second in the colourbreed class. They are full sisters sired by Avonlea Chocochip. This completed a successful weekend for Kasey, as she is the dam of both heifers. Aisling Murphy finished fourth in the class with Kaira, which was a super result for her first time in the showring. Becky was kept busy for the evening and led our November-born Sidekick Acclaim to win the intermediate calf class before taking the top spot again in the senior calf class with our Sidekick Jagerbomb heifer and completed a hat-trick, winning the summer calf class with our red and white Holstein heifer named Rouge, with Emilie claiming second place with our Bullseye Alanna heifer. Alanna had a super season last year, winning her qualifier and standing second at both Nationals and the Winter Fair. The highlight of the night had to be the fancy dress class. A huge effort was made by club members of all ages — from Yellowstone theme, Alice in Dairyland, Where is Wally — and huge credit to Conor Lehane, who seemed to be a mixture of gym tutu and '80s disco, and went the extra mile by completing the whole class on his knees and received an honourable mention from the judge. Georgie won the fancy dress with her Willy Wonka theme, and her calf dressed up as the Kalani Bar. The showmanship championship saw Sarah Shannon being tapped out as champion handler, with Becky taking reserve and Georgie tapped out as honourable mention. The heifer championship was hotly contested, with Gordon and Jennifer Kingston's Bullseye heifer selected as champion, Jagerbomb claiming reserve and the Kirbys' January calf as honourable mention. A great finish to a top-class weekend of showing, where we also scooped the premier exhibitor award and the premier breeder award at the calf show. Pauric Colman has been working with us at the bigger shows since December last year at the RUAS Winter Fair. He did an outstanding job of turning out all the animals with Becky. Competing at that level takes a huge team effort, so it is always very rewarding for the entire team when the animals are successful. Pauric takes great care of them, and the job is only ever complete when every animal arrives home safely. There is a job to do at the shows — everyone works together, sharing advice on each animal — and we have some great laughs to keep the spirits up when people start getting tired. A hectic show life makes for a hectic farm life, as there is always work to catch up on. Deasys mowed haylage for us on Tuesday morning, and they were out in force with the balers and trailers to ensure we have another 200 bales of Wrap-It-Pink haylage stacked in the yard. We plan to mow more surplus bales over the next few days, and second-cut silage is also on our minds as we try to fit that into the schedule later in the month, one eye on the weather forecast and the other eye on the show diary. The show whites are washed and ready for Dunmanway Show on Sunday, as we take a few young heifers, and I am looking forward to having a more relaxed show where I have more time to chat to people. I can honestly say I am humbled by all the people who read my column and take the time to call up and say hi at the shows. It is lovely to introduce the show team to you all in person, and with many adventures over the next month, I am looking forward to keeping you all updated.
