A bumper catalogue of over 40 Hereford bulls lined up for the Irish Hereford Breed Society's annual show and sale in Golden Vale Mart, Kilmallock, on Friday 16 October.
On the day, 28 bulls were presented for sale, resulting in a brisk trade, as auctioneer Eamonn Gaffney reported 22 sold to an average of €4,494.
Boosting that average was the overall sale leader Inchvale Dudsy HH, which set a new record price for a Hereford bull at the venue when it sold for €11,700.
Exhibited by Cork breeder Michael Barrett, Dudsy also claimed the overall championship in the pre-sale show under judge Albert DeCogan.
One of the youngest bulls in the catalogue at just 14 months old, he is a son of Gurtaleen Inchvale Phoenix and Balleen Yoko 91151, a Cill Cormaic Leo daughter going back to Balleen Achiever.
Excelling on carcase weight and carcase conformation traits, he came with a five-star terminal index of €97 and will now join the Irish Hereford Breed Society breed improvement scheme.
Barrett was in the money once again when he received €4,800 for the reserve overall champion Inchvale Ozzy HH. Sired once again by the impressive Gurtaleen Inchvale Phoenix, Ozzy's dam is the Droumdaniel Rambler daughter Droumdaniel Sally.
Like his stablemate, he came with some eye-catching index values, ranking in the top 20% of the breed on terminal traits, backed up by a beef sub index of €121. Taking this August 2025-born bull back to Co Wexford was Niall Jones.
First-prizewinner
Achieving the second-highest price of €6,000 was the red rosette winner Tullaha Justin HH, brought out by Maura Cregan from Co Limerick.
Full horned and born in July 2025, this Coisceim King son is out of Tullaha Bernadette.
A regular winner at this year's summer shows, Justin displayed a fabulous set of figures, sitting in the top 10% of the breed across terminal, replacement and dairy-beef, not to mention calving figures as low as 0.5% on beef cows.
Winning the bidding contest here was Peter Hayes from Co Tipperary.
Balleen Powerplay son
Hitting the market at €5,500 was Droumdaniel Knight HH, an April 2025-born son of Balleen Powerplay HH, exhibited by Eugene Lynch from Co Cork.
Another high-index bull, he boasted below-average calving figures across beef and dairy and sold to PJ Mason from Co Clare.
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