50 Simmentals entered for the annual Four Breed Calf Show

50 entries have been recorded for the Simmental breed, including those from a number of new breeders. There will be junior, senior, pairs and championship classes as well as young handlers for 8-12 years old, 13-16 years old and 17-19 years old.

Judge on the day will be Heather Duff, a pedigree Simmental breeder operating under the Pitmudie prefix, based at Pitmudie Farm, Menmuir near Brechin in Angus, Scotland. Her family farm combines both a 120-cow commercial herd as well as a 50-cow pedigree herd which she has built alongside her parents Arthur and Jennifer. Heather’s Pitmudie herd is recognised for quality, with Pitmudie Princeton placing reserve champion in the beef-breed Interbreed section at the 2024 Royal Highland Show.

There are a number of key sponsors for the event including Kennedy’s Centra Ballinderry, Lynn and Brewster and Countryside Services.

Centra Ballinderry is a family run business which has been providing for the local community for over 50 years.

Lynn and Brewster cover a broad range of property services including residential sales, letting and property management, land and new homes, agriculture and equestrian as well as financial and corporate services.

Countryside services, sponsor of the young handlers across the four breeds was established to provide a broad range of information, commercial and professional services to the farming and rural community in Northern Ireland. One of their core services is the supply of livestock identification tags and also act as an agent for delivery of agricultural grant and funding programmes such as the Farm Business Improvement Scheme (FBIS Tier 1). They also offer training services for farmers and members od the rural community such as pesticide use, telehandler certification and chainsaw maintenance.