Taking up office as the President of the Society on the 1st July 2015 is John Neenan, Tullaha, Broadford, Charleville, Co Limerick. John is serving his 2nd term on the Hereford Council and is a past Chairman of the Munster Branch of the Society.
The Tullaha herd was founded by his late father James Neenan in 1971 when he bought an incalf heifer from J.C.Bateman, Ballinhassig, Co Cork and was followed by animals from Johnny Delee from Templeglantine, Co Limerick. However brucellosis meant an end to those lines so he started again with the purchase of 2 heifers from the Linaun herd, the property of the Wall brothers, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. The Linaun line is still very prominent in today’s herd.
John lives in the heart of the dairy country and all bulls are sold at home. The President is a successful exhibitor on the show circuit and Judge at many shows and sales. During his term of office he hopes to attend as many Hereford events as possible and to relay the concerns of members to Council.
John is immensely honoured to be taking up office at a time when the Hereford breed is the most talked about beef breed in Ireland and all for the right reasons. However he has concerns for the poor star rating of some of our Herefords thus narrowing our gene pool. This is due to many of our Herefords bulls serving Jersey and Holstein X Jersey cows which are producing poor calves and low grade steers and heifers into our facilities. Often such animals overshadow the excellent stock produced when the breed is crossed on adequate females in either the dairy or beef herd.
The new Vice-President of the Society is Liam Philpott, Knocknacolan, Kanturk, Co Cork
Irish Hereford Breed Society Ltd 