{"id":110663,"date":"2025-08-26T06:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/110663\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T06:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:41:13","slug":"cross-border-cow-makes-history-in-county-cavan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/110663\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-border cow makes history in County Cavan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louise Cullen<\/p>\n

BBC News NI agriculture and environment correspondent<\/p>\n

\"FinbarrFinbarr O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n

Annaghmore Fitz Atlee EX96 (pictured here) took one of the most prestigious titles in the pedigree dairy breeding world at the Virginia Show last week<\/p>\n

A cross-border cow has made history at an agricultural show in County Cavan.<\/p>\n

The cow, Annaghmore Fitz Atlee EX96, took one of the most prestigious titles in the pedigree dairy breeding world at the Virginia Show last week.<\/p>\n

The six-year-old Holstein Friesian is jointly owned by Joel and Clive Richardson from County Armagh, and Philip and Linda Jones from County Wexford.<\/p>\n

And it is the first time in the five-decade history of the national Diageo Baileys Irish Champion Dairy Cow Competition, that the winner has come from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"FinbarrFinbarr O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n

Josh Ebron from Annaghmore Holsteins receiving his competitor county sash from sponsors Diageo and Tirl\u00e1n<\/p>\n

Josh Ebron, who works at Annaghmore Holsteins in Portadown and bred the prizewinner, says the win highlights the importance of genetics.<\/p>\n

“We always aim to breed a cow that is very functional, that will suit any system, and be able to give milk of great quality and be very efficient.<\/p>\n

“But you need a small bit of luck as well to breed a cow of that magnitude.”<\/p>\n

Improving the genetic make-up of cattle across Northern Ireland is so important, it has its own programme at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.<\/p>\n

The Sustainable Ruminant Genetics programme seeks to deliver increased efficiency, along with reduced emissions and a lower carbon footprint, through better breeding.<\/p>\n

And the interest in the pedigree dairy sector is huge.<\/p>\n

Prizewinners like Annaghmore Fitz Atlee can attract worldwide attention.<\/p>\n

“People are always after the genetics of these top cows so they can improve the genetic portfolio on their farm as well,” said Josh.<\/p>\n

He added that the number of inquiries about the prizewinner is already “phenomenal, on the back of the show success.<\/p>\n

“The inquiries that you have beyond Northern Ireland and Ireland, the UK, and into Europe \u2013 the cow that’s won here last week, she’s world-renowned and I think it’s great for our industry in Northern Ireland.”<\/p>\n

‘Completely delighted’<\/p>\n

\"FinbarrFinbarr O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n

Josh Ebron from Annaghmore Holsteins pictured alongside the cow who scooped the Best Protein winner<\/p>\n

Annaghmore Holsteins also took Best Protein in the competition with Lumville M Danoise, a previous winner of the Bailey’s title bought as a calf in 2017.<\/p>\n

For Josh, who “came through the ranks of Greenmount” and “had no experience in dairy at all”, it has been a journey of discovery.<\/p>\n

“I was able to go over to a dairy herd in England in my placement year, then came back and fell in love with the dairy industry.”<\/p>\n

He was “lucky” to join the Richardsons at Annaghmore Holsteins just as the farm was transitioning from a suckler herd to 120 dairy cows at the time, in 2017.<\/p>\n

The “showing scene” took hold of him and he set himself some lifetime targets, including winning the Bailey’s prize and winning at Balmoral.<\/p>\n

“I was completely delighted with being able to achieve these at this stage.<\/p>\n

“Now I have to think about doing it again.”<\/p>\n

This year’s competition in Virginia had a record number of entries from the province of Ulster, including from 4 counties in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Annaghmore Fitz Atlee EX96 triumphed over 27 other cows from all over Ireland to take the overall Championship prize, winning her breeders \u20ac3,000 and the Virginia Milk Products Cup.<\/p>\n

She was judged on strength, body conformation, and proven milk production capability by Italian dairy farmer Giuseppe Beltramino.<\/p>\n

The prize crowned a winning year for the cow, which also took the Interbreed Championship at this year’s Balmoral Show.<\/p>\n

There, the judge fell so in love with her that he later bought her calf.<\/p>\n

The Baileys Irish Champion Dairy Cow Competition is sponsored by Diageo and Tirl\u00e1n.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louise Cullen BBC News NI agriculture and environment correspondent Finbarr O\u2019Rourke Annaghmore Fitz Atlee EX96 (pictured here) took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-110663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}