In this week’s Irish Hereford Calf Rearing Series, we catch up with the Drumm family, hailing from “The Lake“ county of Co. Westmeath. The Drumm family has a strong tradition of showing quality pedigree Hereford cattle at many shows in the Midlands. Mother Christine and Daughters Tara and Elisa are never too far away from the show ring come the summer months.

Tara and Elisa Drumm have been selected to rear a Hereford bull calf by the North Leinster Hereford Branch. Tara and Elisa are no strangers to the showing circles where they spend most Sundays during the summer, showing their pedigree Hereford animals alongside their mother Christine.  The Drumm family own the well known Crowenstown Herd.

The herd consists of 60 commercial cows alongside 10 pedigree Hereford cows. The pedigree herd uses 100% AI on their cows. The girls choose 100% AI as it allows the herd to use selective mating of cows/heifers to select sires strong on particular traits such as easy calving bulls on heifer and optimising the genetics of the herd.

The Drumm girls love the Hereford breed as they are a very docile animal, easy to maintain and the commercial animals kill-out well in the factory. The family has a strict breeding policy currently in place, their ideal cow type is a good feminine cow with a good top line, well made around the back end and a foot in every corner is what the girls look for when selecting a future cow.

The girls love competing in the young handlers and last year Tara won the Junior young handlers and Elisa won the Intermediate young handlers at the Next Gen Hereford Calf show in Tullamore. The girls love competing in the young handlers and they love competing against each other, they have really missed exhibiting their Herefords at shows due to Covid and they really enjoyed the 2022 showing season.

Away from farming Elisa plays Hurling for the local club; Delvin and Tara plays soccer for her local soccer club. They love farming but playing sports helps them get away from the farm and meet their friends.

Speaking about the calf, the calf is a lovely red and white Hereford bull calf who has been sourced locally. After a lot of discussion and thought the girls decided to name their calf Logan. The girls are honoured to be rearing a calf for charity and were delighted to be asked by the North Leinster Hereford branch to take on the task. The girls said that “We are really looking forward to seeing how Logan develops and think it’s a great idea in which Irish Hereford Prime thought of”.

The Drumm family have chosen local charity; North Westmeath Hospice. This is a very worthy cause and rings close to home for the Delvin natives.