Gavin Stockdale pictured in 2018 winning the British Friesian herd competition. Image source: British Friesian Breeders Club
A Northern Ireland dairy farm has been named the winner of a new UK-wide award for the best British Friesian herd of the year.
Castledale herd, which is owned by Gordon and Gavin Stockdale and family from Lecale, Co. Down, has been named the first British Friesian Herd of the Year.
The Stockdale family have farmed in the area since the 1600s; however, it wasn’t until the 1950s that British Friesians were introduced onto the farm by Gordon’s father Tom.
AI was used from the 1960s onwards which was driving the herd forwards. In 1997, when Gordon’s son Gavin returned home from college, the herd was registered as pedigree under the Castledale prefix; classification and milk recording were also introduced.
April 30, 2021, 6:10 am
As the weeks progress in 2021, we are almost entering the month of May and the calf trade is seeing an ease back in the number of calves coming onto the scene this week it marts.
It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks if the rule of supply and demand will come into play and maintain the strong floor under calf prices which has been seen for a good proportion of the season.
In terms of the trade this week, managers are reporting very few setbacks in the prices of beef-sired calves – with only the beef calves coming from jersey cross-bred genetics and showing their true colours, stated to be back in price at some marts.
April 28, 2021, 6:10 am
Taaffe Auctions hosted the on-farm dispersal sale of the Lisfort herd, on Saturday (April 24) for the herd’s owner Martin Larkin, Ballymanangh, Craughwell, Co. Galway.
The sale consisted of 66 lots, with this spring-calving British Friesian herd achieving an average yield of 7,085kg at 4.09% fat and 3.66% protein, achieving 549kg of milk solids.
Lisfort herd dispersal sale – auctioneer
To gain some insight into the sale of the Lisfort herd,
Agriland caught up with the auctioneer Michael Taaffe of Taaffe Auctions.
Commenting on the sale Michael stated: ”We had an excellent sale, with the demand for quality stock continuing.
”The sale drew online bidders from Cork to Donegal, with cows being sold to all parts of Ireland. The sale for the herd averaged 2,623gns for the 66 lots that were on offer.”
These one-month-old Hereford heifers averaged €220 each.
The old adage that a week is a long time in politics could equally apply to calf sales if the sale in Bandon Mart was anything to go by on Monday this week.
A week ago, you would have purchased about 75% of Angus and Hereford calves for €20 either side of €200.
Something must have happened to create extra optimism, because there was a serious change in buyer mind-set over the last seven days.
A high proportion of those traditional beef breed crosses originating from British Friesian herds were making from €240 to €320.
Those lighter calves of the same crosses or those from Jersey-cross herds were back at around the €150 to €220 range.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Top priced Angus Liscolvin S Esminie who sold for €3,900. Pictured with breeder Martin Garvey
Kilkenny bull sales hosted its second sale of the year on Wednesday, with trade for Angus at an all-time high.
Similar to many sales across the country, numbers present at the sale were well back on whose catalogued due to vibrant on-farm sales being witnessed for the last six weeks.
In total, 26 of the 53 bulls catalogued were presented for sale, with all but one finding a new home.
This healthy clearance rate was accompanied with an impressive average price of €3,038.
While prices did hit as high as €3,900, it wasn’t the high prices that drove the average up but the fact that over half of the bulls sold make in excess of €3,000.