2009 IHFA Open Day - sponsored by Progressive Genetics

"Celebration of 60 years of Black & White breeding"

The Irish Holstein Friesian Association, IHFA had a very successful Open Day at the Monamore Herd of Tom & Rhona Kelly and family on Wednesday 24th June 2009.

It was a very successful day with the cream of Dairy farmers and breeders from Cork to Donegal attending. There were many breeders from N. Ireland UK and International visitors. It is estimated that over 2,000 attended the event. The weather was lovely and despite the present doom and gloom over milk prices there was a great buzz in the place. There were a large number of commercial stands. Lely featured their latest innovation in Robotic milking machines.The National Dairy Council gave nutritional advice on their stand with a novely penalty shoot out to keep children occupied.

Tom established the Monamore herd in 1979 with some of the great family names such as Torch, Bunty, Fedora, Vera, ... from his late father's JJ Kelly's famous herd the "Moneymore Herd". Coincidentally it is 60 years since the foundation of the Moneymore herd and some of the great foundation cow families still thrive in the Monamore herd to this day.

Tom purchased some of the top International cow families such as Miss America, Roxy, Darlene, Lulu, Goldrose.. to broaden the base of the herd and he has successfully bred these families to achieve his breeding goals.The herd supplies of 220 cows and followers supply milk for liquid consumption to Winter. All feed where possible is homegrown. The herd average for 2008 is 9,800 milk kgs @ 3.64% Fat, 3.35% Pr Classification socres: 60 EX 105 VG.

There was a varied schedule of events with interesting topics and events for all dairy farmers.The Open Day commenced with an Opening address from Mairead Lavery, Chairperson of Agri Aware and editor of country Living Magazine in the Irish Farmers Journal. She stressed the importance of keeping the consumer informed on Quality Irish food and improving the image of Irish farming, also the contribution farmers make to the quality of life in the countryside and the environment. This was followed with the traditional Interclub Stockjudging. There were Junior, Intermediate and Senior teams from 16 clubs including a team from Northern Ireland.

The Master Judges for the day, Ken Proctor, Paul Hannan and Ricky Barrett then gave their reasons for their placings. This was followed by a presentation of the heifers by Alan Dorrian, Herdsman at Monamore.

Tom presented the remaining classes giving details on background breeding and production.

Longlife Cows at MonamoreFollowing on was a special presentation of 6 cows from the various cow families developed at Monamore namely Torch, Breeze, Lulu and Darlene They tipify what this great Black & White breed is all about. These are durable, longlife, fertile cows that are capable of producing large volume of milk with excellent solids and breed back in calf every year.Their lifetime average yield 58245 Kgs Milk , 4165Kgs Fat +Protein ,3.41 %Protein, Average lactation 6. All are classified EX.

There are cows from the Feedora cow family that go back to Volume 1 of the herd book which is celebrating its 100 year anniversity this year.

Tom emphasized the role and services of IHFA of Pedigree Holstein Friesian Registration, Ancestry recording, Linear scoring and Classification in adding value and using best breeding practice of AI and Milk Recording.

Grassland management a key factor in profitability
A very large crowd gathered at the Teagasc forum where the local adviser Tom Lalor along with Dr. Joe Patton Presented the “Grass Wedge” concept of measuring and monitoring grass on all the paddocks on the farm.The cover per cow on Tom’s farm was 186 Kgs which is at the upper end of the range and excellent for high yielding cows. Grass is capable of sustaining 26-28 litres of milk production .This is a key profit component in all milk production systems .

Presentations of Awards
The winners of the National Herds Competition , Interclub stockjudging, Macra Stockjudging and the Diamond and Gold awards for top achieving cows were presented with their prizes.

Celebration Sale
30 lots of young stock with impeccable pedigree were on offer. These represented national and international cow families.There was a buoyant atmosphere with excellent prices on the day.

Celebration BBQ
The evening ended with a celebration barbecue provided by the Kelly family which helped create a carnival atmosphere and an end to a very successful day.