Northern Ireland Holstein Young Breeders are now in full swing

Kindly hosted by the Patton family of Carrowcroft Holsteins, Carrowdore, the event was once again very generously sponsored by Electromech Agri.

The renowned, 240 cow, Carrowcroft herd based in Carrowdore are managed by Geoffrey Patton and family. The Carrowcroft prefix is no stranger in the Holstein NI circuit being strong supporters of the monthly Dungannon Dairy Sales and Geoffrey Patton undertaking his role as the current chairman of the club.

The herd average at present is 10,200kgs at 4.35% fat and 3.59% protein on a twice a day milking system.

The herd itself is built around strong family lines with the main families in the herd today being Ruby, Cinderella, Jolee, Lustre.

Members were provided with two top quality classes to judge on the night, proving to be a difficult task.

The club are indebted to Holstein UK Classifiers who were in attendance on the night, Iwan Thomas and Andrew Swale talked members through reason giving along with linear assessment before they began the competition.

The club are very grateful for the hospitality received on the evening and the results from the event are as follows:

Junior section

First Will Patton, Carrowdore, second James Magowan, Hilltown, third Grace Magowan, Hilltown.

First James Gregg, Glarryford, second James Patton, Carrowdore, thir Jack Orr, Ballymoney.

Senior section

First Matthew Mclean, Bushmills, second Leah Steele, Crumlin, third Kyle McKinley, Kilrea.

Open section

First Martin Millar, Coleraine, second Nicholas McCann, Bangor, third Robert Magowan, Hilltown.

Members are competing for a chance to represent the club at the National Competitions Day, hosted by the Derbyshire HYB club at the annual Weekend Rally in August.

In order to qualify, members must attend a minimum of two judging events with the total of their top two scores taken to decide overall winners.

The final judging event will be taking place on Tuesday evening, 1st July at the Haffey family’s Kilvergan Herd, 83 Kilvergan Road, Lurgan, BT66 6LJ.

All information regarding upcoming events can be found by visiting Northern Ireland HYB on Facebook or contacting the coordinators, Andrew Patton, Newtownards 07789285272 or Jessica Hall, Nutt's Corner 07910355042.