Next Gen Herefords held their second annual Youth Competition in GVM Tullamore on Friday 18th November as part of the Hereford event incorporating the National Hereford Calf Show & the Genetic Gems.

The weekend kicked off on Friday 18^th November with the Next Gen Herefords Youth Competition which saw 42 young handlers competing in three age categories; Junior, Intermediate & Senior. The event incorporated a Young Handlers Competition whereby each young handler showed an animal. The competition was judged by Mr. Sean McEnroe from Liss Angus, Meath. There was also an IMF scanning demo during the evening and an informative talk and demo from local veterinary surgeon; Janet Lewis. Many thanks to the facilitators for giving up their time and sharing their expertise with the groups. Many thanks also to the Deverell family for supplying cattle for the IMF scanning demo.

Competition winners;

Junior:

1^st: Aveen Curtin

2^nd: Aine Heffernan

3^rd: John Cregan

Intermediate:

1^st: Saoirse Kenny

2^nd: Clodagh McCaffrey

3^rd: Liam O’Reilly

Senior:

1^st: Mark Hyland

2^nd: Neil Twomey

3^rd: Brian Duignan

Sponsors:

As with all great events there were great sponsors behind this competition. Many thanks are extended to Clippers Ireland who sponsored an Egro Pro Cattle Clippers which was awarded to the Senior first Prize winner and the a Dual Motor Blower which was awarded to first prize winner in the Intermediate section. Clippers Ireland also provided four handy trimmers which were awarded to second and third prize winners in the Intermediate and Senior section.

Another generous sponsor of the event was Animal Farmacy who sponsored three Junior Showkits to the first, second and third prize winners of the Junior group.

To ensure each competitor received a token for participating, each Senior entrant received a voucher for AI Breed Improvement straws, each Intermediate entrant received a Metal Halter and each Junior entrant received merchandise from Farm Wardrobe.

Guess the Weight

There was a Guess the Weight draw held on the night also. Many thanks to Niall & Lisa Daly for providing and weighing two cattle for this activity. There were three separate draws held for the Intermediate group, the Senior group and the General Public.

Congratulations to the winners; Joint Intermediate winners, Tara Drumm & Anna Losty, Senior winner, Kieran Power and Eoghan O’Connor also. Each winner received a nose clip and clipper blades as provided by Clippers Ireland also. The combined weight of the two cattle was 920kgs.

Irish Hereford Charity Calf Rearing Programme

To cap the evening off, there was a parade of Hereford cross calves that are being reared by Hereford breeders across the country in aid of local charities. The calves were a credit to their young handlers as they were in top condition and turned out extremely well. These calves are a great advertisement for what the Hereford cross calf bred from a dairy cow can do for the farmer on the ground. Each of the calves returned home with their rearer after the event where they will be kept until next Autumn and sold in their local marts for their chosen charities. There will be continued updates on the Next Gen Herefords social media channels as the stories of these Hereford cross cattle progress.

Many Thanks!

Thank you to all the volunteers & organisers, to GVM Tullamore for facilitating the event, to the DAFM for facilitating the movement certs, to Willie McElroy for taking the photos, the judges on both days; Mr. Sean McEnroe, Mr. Steve Edwards and Mr. Nigel Heatrick, to John Lynch for facilitating over the weekend, to the Deverell family & Daly family for providing cattle, to all the generous sponsors, to all the exhibitors who attended, to all the spectators, to Irish Hereford Prime for providing vouchers, facilitating cattle for the various activities & also providing practical support during the event and to the Next Gen Herefords Committee for making the youth event happen successfully; Sinead Conry, Catherine Smyth, Michael Barrett & Eoin Lynch!