Special entry at Summer Sizzler Sale will raise money for Air Ambulance NI

The sale will be held on Saturday 2 July at Andrew Kennedy’s farm on Straid Road, Ballymena, and will feature over 60 lots from Northern Ireland’s top herds, consigning direct daughters of some of the world’s best cow families.

David McAfee and Morrell McCollum, from Boghill Glamour Holsteins, are donating the calf to help with the fundraising efforts of four members of Ballycastle Runners AC.

As an avid runner himself, David is a member of Ballycastle Runners and his club mates, Paul Quinn, Damian Devlin, Kevin Murphy and Paul Humphries, will be taking part in the Extreme North (Quest) challenge to raise money for AANI.

The challenge consists of four half marathons in four days.

Paul Quinn, from Ballycastle, tragically lost his wife and uncle in a road traffic collision in November 2020.

As the Air Ambulance had been en route to the scene that day, Paul has decided to do something as a way of giving back to the charity.

“Back in January I was out running with my friend Damian Devlin and he broached the topic of doing a run for charity,” Paul explained.

“I thought this would be a great idea to give something back and, after doing some research, Damian came up with the Extreme North (Quest) run.

“It’s four half marathons in four days and takes in the Wild Atlantic Way, including Malin Head and Inishowen.

“It won’t be plain sailing but the different route each day should provide some stunning scenery for us to admire.”

He added: “Once I approached the other two fellas it was full steam ahead, we got it booked and are keeping up with the training.

“The roads will be narrow and some of the hill climbs will be over 1,000 feet in places - it’s not something you’d approach without taking it seriously.”

The challenge takes place from 11-14 August and will see Paul and his team mates run 13.1 miles each day.

Paul continued: “The charity everyone picked was the Air Ambulance NI, which was quite an emotional moment for me.

“It was only 18 months ago that I was involved in a road traffic collision and lost my beautiful wife Tracey and my uncle Fred.

“The Air Ambulance had been on its way to us that day, but unfortunately was diverted back to base.

“We are so fortunate to have this Air Ambulance available for everyone in Northern Ireland in the event of an emergency and I, for one, understand the importance of it and saving lives at the roadside.

“This vital service, which is able to get to remote locations, is dependent on fundraising to keep it operational.”

Damian is a member of Ballycastle Coastguard and sees first-hand how often the service is tasked to various incidents on a daily basis.

He commented: “Each day costs in the region of £5,500, and £2m is needed each year to keep the air ambulance service operational.

“They rely entirely on support from the public and local businesses and fundraising such as ours.

“We’d ask that people donate whatever they can, as little or as much as possible - it will all make a difference to saving someone’s life.”

Boghill Glamour Holsteins are pleased to be able to donate the calf as part of the fundraising efforts for Air Ambulance NI, with all of the money relating to the sale of the animal going directly to the charity.

David commented: “We thought we would do something a bit difference and decided to donate this calf to put towards their total.

“This is the second year of the Summer Sizzler Sale so it should hopefully get a good response.

“The farming community understands how important the Air Ambulance is.”

Boghill Glamour is well known throughout the Holstein world for breeding bulls for the AI industry, as well as breeding 70 per cent of the top 100 PLI females currently in the UK.

Being donated is a Bomaz Vader calf, out of the number 9 ranked PLI cow in the UK – Boghill Glamour Medley D Carlin (VG-88).

Medley D Carlin sold at last year’s Boghill Glamour reduction sale for 9,000gns and descends from their renowned Carlin cow family.

The calf, which itself is 760 PLI, comes from the same family as calves that sold last year to 40,000gns and 30,000gns respectively.

The dam is maternal sister to three bulls which are currently active in AI.

This is the first Bomaz Vader calf to be offered at auction from Medley Carlin, and provides a unique opportunity for someone to get into this cow family, to breed their own industry leader whilst supporting a very worthy cause.

The sale will be held on Saturday 2 July at 120 Straid Road, Ballymena, commencing at 6pm. Online bidding will also be available via MartEye.