Dekeana Herd
Owners: Henry, Yvonne, and Sam Dudley
Based just outside Templemore Co. Tipperary. 82 spring and autumn calving cows. Had certain pedigree lines but graded up in 2019 and started classifying that year also. When breeding emphasis put on classifications, milk and protein % in recent years.
In 2024 the herd produced an average of 7021 kgs milk 528 kgs MS at 3.54 protein and 4.01 fat.
Sam was awarded the Judge's Choice award by Adam Lawson in the AXA Insurance, Irish Pure Friesian National Herds Competition, 2024. In the judge's view, "Sam is a very enthusiastic young breeder who is developing a very good herd of cows. He has a great knowledge of the breed and his herd."
Gortfada Herd
Owners: Francis, Catherine Fitzgerald and family, Co. Limerick
We have been breeding British Friesians since the early 1960s on our farm in Kilfinny, Adare, Co. Limerick. Our cows have great type, production, and fertility. When we are selecting sires, we like to choose ones that have the ability to complement our own cows. We like to see a recognised ancestry in the back breeding of the bulls. We are convinced that the longevity and regular calving dates of the dam and grand dam are especially important as well as the consistency of fat and protein levels, with overall milk production.
In 2024 Gortfada won the Cow Family award in the AXA Insurance, Irish Pure Friesian National Herds Competition
Grenan British Friesians
Owners: Michael & Patrick Quealy, and families, Co. Waterford
We have had a British Friesian herd for over thirty years, grading up to pedigree in the early 2000s. We operate a spring calving system, calving all cows to British Friesian. All male calves are reared on the farm with some exceptional genetics sold as breeding bulls, but all others finished as steers at two years old.
All heifer calves are reared on the farm and calved at two years old, with surplus heifers sold freshly calved.
In 2024 the herd produced an average of 6,789 litres at 4.46% fat, and 3.51% protein, which was 541KGs of solids, and a SCC of 137. This was achieved off mainly grazed grass and approximately one tonne of concentrate, throughout the year.
We place a big emphasis on cow type, with classification playing a huge part. At the moment we have 21 EX and 70 VG cows in the herd.
2023 Winner Senior Cow class, Iverk Show
2025 Winner First Lactation Heifer class, Iverk Show
Won the senior section of the Waterford/Tipperary Herds Competition 2024
Ballykennedy Pure Friesians
John O'Connor and family, Co. Limerick
At Ballykennedy, our passion has always been with the Pure Friesian breed and the unique qualities they bring to both pedigree and commercial farming. When moving into pedigree cattle, my late father laid the foundation of our herd with the purchase of 50 Friesian cows from the renowned Munster herd at their dispersal.
Since then, the herd has steadily grown to over 150 pedigree Pure Friesian cows, built on strong cow families, high classification, and excellent milk solids production. Breeding decisions are made with a clear focus on KG of solids, classification, and proven cow families; traits that have delivered consistent results over the years.
Our breeding program has not only produced quality stock but also earned repeat customers for both bulls and heifers, a testament to the strength and reliability of the Ballykennedy Friesians.
We are also proud to have won the Irish Pure Friesian Herds Competition in both 2023 and 2024, highlighting the consistency and quality of our cattle.
The Ballykennedy herd now offers an excellent opportunity for buyers looking to invest in strong, productive, and well-bred pedigree Pure Friesians.
Contact:
John O'Connor 087 648 1432 Jack O'Connor 087 606 0255
2023, Winner of the Overall Herd award in the AXA Insurance, Irish Pure Friesian National Herds Competition
2024, Winner of the Overall Herd award in the AXA Insurance, Irish Pure Friesian National Herds Competition
Carrickshock Herd
Pat Cleary is the third generation to farm in Hugginstown, Co. Kilkenny, upgrading his herd to pedigree status when he took over from his father Martin. Pat qualified in Agriculture Science, beginning in Kildalton Agricultural College and continuing onto Waterford Institute of Technology. Pat focuses on using AAA, classification and researching blood lines to bring about the best quality Friesians he can produce. The herd prides itself on having cows that sustain the family farm, while producing bulls, for AI and for sale, heifers and calves that all have a value, and that are also able to produce cows that are of show quality.
The herd has been built up using mainly Dovea bloodline through the years, and then other British Frieisian genetics have been sourced that have brought through new blood lines. The herd average for 2019 was: 6,912 litres, at 4.34% butterfat, 3.71% protein.
The families that have generated the most milk, with high protein and butterfat are: Carrickshock Dale, Carrickshock Daisy, Carrickshock Cissy.
The families that have been most successful in the show ring: Blackisle Mabel, Carrickshock Dale, Carrickshock Aine, Carrickshock Cissy.
For years, the Carrickshock herd has sold pedigree bulls and have attested to that fact with many of our customers returning year on year, for which we are extremely grateful. We have also sold many bulls for AI and have in 2020 we received great accreditation as Carrickshock GTW achieved highest PLI bull in the UK.
If interested in breeding stock, please contact Pat at 086-8807979.
Churchclara Herd
The O' Keeffe family have been farming at Churchclara, Co. Kilkenny since the 1600s and milk has been supplied for sale from the farm for much of that time. In fact the farm was the 10th supplier to sign up when Kilkenny Creamery was formed back in 1916.
Fertility, health and longevity have all improved hugely with the herd over the past years with the introduction of more and more British Friesian Genetics and production hasn't taken a back seat either. Last year's annual report shows a herd producing 6057Kgs milk @ 4.22Fat and 3.62Protein with a SCC of 64, a calving interval of 367 days and 9% empty after 10 weeks breeding.
The herd was also graded up to Pedigree at this time and some bulls were kept from the top Friesian cows in the herd to speed up the change over from Holstein to Friesian Genetics. Throughout the 2000s an effort was made to source British Friesian Genetics from the 1980s era with a preference for Gornal Pegasus and Grove Breadwinner bloodlines. These bloodlines have been found to produce healthy, dairy cows with enough size and frame for any system.
Barrowvale Herd
The Barrowvale Pedigree Friesian Herd was set up by Michael Dempsey and has been in existence for over 50 years. Many of the original stock came from the Ballyrogan herd in Co. Wicklow and the Mellifont herd in Co. Louth as well as some stock that Michael graded up. The milking platform is only 23 acres milking on average about 28-30 cows but with the emphasis on breeding, a large part of the farm income was made from the sale of bulls and other stock.
The herd is in the safe hands of Oliver Dempsey. Oliver explains: "I took over the farm, I decided to continue the British Friesian tradition and in recent years I have been flushing some of our best cows to accelerate the genetic gain. I believe that there will be a renewed emphasis on the British Friesian when longevity, fertility and calf welfare are taken into account. The recent drop in many of the figures for genomic bulls convinces me that we need to maintain a strong focus on a bull's parentage figures and be careful about relying solely on genomics. I believe that using a well selected stock bull, or team of stock bulls for larger herds, is an important strategy for herds who are looking to reduce labour, get better conception rates and to clean up after AI. In terms of sire selection, I believe the British Friesian is still the best solution in an Irish grass based Spring calving system and where the Friesian bull calf is still an important contributor towards the overall profitability of the herd."
6 of our cows made it into the top 50 EBI list of all Pure Friesian cows classified VG/EX in Ireland. Three of those cows were daughters or granddaughters VML. VML was a son of Barrowvale Damsel 21 (EX 91 4E) and still has sons and grandsons in AI to this day. Barrowvale Sabrina 40 was our top producer in 2019, she produced 10142KGs of milk at 4.25% Butterfat and 3.57% Protein which was a total of 793KGs of milk solids. She is by KLX and is classified EX92. She has 2 daughters milking in the herd, one of her daughters(Sabrina 63) was our highest milking second calver last year by JRB.
We flushed Sabrina 40 in 2017 and we have some more of her daughters calving down as first calvers next month and we had 4 more of her ET calves born in July this year. We flushed two of her daughters as well, Sabrina 63 who is by JRB and Sabrina 64 who is by RVJ. We also flushed Debbie 18 who is by RVJ and Dheaty 76 who is by CZZ. Sabrina 63's son will be in the Kilkenny bull show and sale in 2021 if Covid-19 doesn't have any say in the matter😊.
Damsel 56 is our highest producer so far for 2020 and is by PDY. She gave 10641KGs of milk at 4.16% butterfat and 3.62% Protein which was a total of 828KGs of milk solids. She is classified VG87. We flushed her 3 times in 2019 but we only got 3 embryos, hopefully we'll have some good luck with those. 3 cows from the Barrowvale herd were ranked in the top 3 pure Friesian EBI cows in Ireland in Spring 2020, they are Damsel 70 by RVJ, Dobee 55 by JRB and Dobee 48 by VML. Dobee 48 is on her 9th lactation and was classified EX92 5E this year. In 2019 we received another award for the highest EBI Pure Friesian herd from the Irish Holstein Friesian Breeders(IHFA). Some of our bulls are being genomically tested for entry to AI so fingers crossed with those.
AWARDS:
BARROWVALE DHEATY 62 EX 91 2E by JRB winner of the Pure Friesian Herds Competition in 2018 for the highest Protein at 4.44%.
BARROWVALE DHEATY 49 VG 89 by VML winner of the Pure Friesian Herds Competition in 2019 for the highest Protein at 4.24%.
Barrowvale Google 3 (FR7695) was purchased by Eurogene AI in 2021