Local farmers joined more than 2,000 others for the Irish Holstein Friesian Associaton open day on the Taylor family farm near Newtowngore, Co. Leitrim.

The general crowd were awe struck at the beautiful setting and general neat layout of paddocks, farm roadways and the yard which looked splendid in blazing sunshine from the top of the hill. As the crowd made their way from the car park this impressive & scenic setting immediately made a lasting impression and set the tone for a tremendously enjoyable visit.

Charles Gallagher, Chief Executive and Tom Murphy, President of IHFA welcomed everyone to the Open Day when the official opening was performed by Michael Hanley, Chief executive of Lakeland Dairies who emphasised their commitment to dairy expansion in the area.

Other dignitaries included; Myreg James, Holstein UK; Mike Miller and his wife Shan from the Shanael Holsteins herd, Evesham, England; Gaston Wallace, Chairman of Holstein Northern Ireland; Tim O’ Leary, IFA Deputy President, Sean O’ Leary, IFA National Dairy Committee Chairman and Kieran O Dowd-National President of Macra Na Feirme, Among those helping out was William Crawford of the Ardmore herd near Brookeborough acting as a master judge for the senior stock judging.

The Taylor herd was established as pedigree registered herd in the early seventies by John’s parents, Harold and Betty. There are five gen­er­a­tions of the fam­ily asso­ci­ated with farm­ing the land at Cloon­boygher. Short­horns were the original choice, but that all changed three gen­er­a­tions ago when Friesians were intro­duced in the 1970’s by Harold and Betty with the pur­chase of 12 British Friesian heifers from a farm in Co. Meath. Over the years the herd has progressed and through the 80’s and 90’s different cow families were added to increase the genetic pool within the herd. Since 2000 they have relied on our own replacements and breeding strategy to keep improving the herd and at the same time maintaining almost a fully closed herd and with the exception of three animals, the 240 plus cattle on farm are all homebred.

Herd average for 2013 in 305 days was 8,611kg (1840 gallons) @ 3.77 % Fat & 3.34 % Protein, a total of 612kg Milk Solids per cow. The bulls chosen for breed­ing the future cow in the Cloon­boygher herd are selected to con­tinue improvements in milk solids and improve functional type. The aim being to breed a medium sized cow, suitable to our heavy land, with five equally important traits, good production of high solids milk, good feet and legs, well attached udders, good fertility and longevity. 85% of the milk­ing herd is clas­si­fied in the top two grades thus indi­cat­ing the suc­cess of the breed­ing pol­icy so far. Classifications currently are 30 EX, 52 VG & 23 GP.

Herd health is vital and because of this the Taylors rou­tinely vac­ci­nate all ani­mals for BVD, IBR, Lep­tospiro­sis and Sal­mo­nella. The Open Day was well attended by milk producers, pedigree breeders, trade, and many commercial and other agricultural organisations.