Limousin breeder goes to the top

JOHN McInerney has developed an uncanny knack of landing a major prize against the odds. In October 2008, the Newmarket-on-Fergus Limousin breeder proved that small producers could scoop national honours when his four-year-old cow, Drummin Veronica, took the coveted prize of Overall Limousin Champion at the Beef Expo in Kilkenny.

After serving as a member on the Limousin Cattle Society Council for just one year, John became the second Clare man to become its president last December.
John Moroney from Liscullane, Corofin served as president from 2004 to 2007 after previously working as vice-president and as a council member for six years. Having founded the Ballykinncurra Herd in 1994, Mr Moroney’s herd was prominent at several major shows and sales throughout Ireland.
It is considered unusual for someone to be elected as president in their second year on the council and the fact that John McInerney never held an office in the Clare Limousin Club, despite being a member for 10 years, made his election all the more remarkable.
Well known from attending Limousin shows throughout the country, John now presides over an organisation with 2,300 breeders of which 220, or almost 10%, are in Clare.
The large concentration of Limousin breeders is illustrated by the fact the Clare club operates as a separate unit of the South-West Club with five other clubs – North West, North East, South East and Cork.
West Clare has the highest number of breeders in the county illustrating the durability of the breed and Clare producers feature prominently in many of the major sales.
Society secretary, Paul Sykes, said the 12 council members felt that John had the necessary skills and personality that would be beneficial as president from his short stint on the organisation, which operates under the Friendly Society principle as a members’ co-operative under the rules and guidance of ICOS.
The 40-year-old father-of-two, who runs 70-strong dairy herd at Clonmoney West, Newmarket-on-Fergus, joined the association in 1994 when he purchased a pedigree cow and calf from long time Kilrush breeder, Liam Williams.
His father, Michael, had a Friesian dairy herd and slowly over the years, John started to build up a small Limousin herd without taking it too seriously. In 2000, John adopted a new approach and started to cull any Limousin cow he felt wasn’t up to the required standard.
Drummin Peach was the foundation of the herd and was the dam of the award-winning Drummin Vernoica by Moustic and her full brother Drummin Candy Man, who was judged Junior Male Champion at Roscrea Premier Sale in 2007.
John has a strict breeding policy of using a 100% AI on all his cows and only use sires with high reliability, top growth rates, high docility and proven maternal abilities, together with good muscle and skeletal indices. The herd consists of sires such as Mas Du Clo, Navarin, Lino and Scorboro Regius.
Embryo transplant also plays a major part in his herd using the two top breeding females in Veronica and Peach. Peach has bred 32 calves on the farm.
Having entered showing classes in 2005, John achieved the Holy Grail just three years later in October 2008. Highly respected judge Jim Goldie from Dumfries, Scotland declared Veronica the Overall Limousin Champion at the 19th National Limousin Show at Beef Expo in Kilkenny, where 100 top quality Limousin cattle from the four corners of Ireland were viewed by the huge crowd of interested onlookers from home and abroad.
Veronica was a September 2004-born cow with her stylish Shire Milton calf and had earlier taken the Female Championship. This home-bred daughter of Mas du Clo was no stranger to the show ring during her younger years, winning the All-Ireland Intermediate Heifer Final in Tullamore in 2007 and the Reserve Female Championship on the same day.
John feeds bulls over to 12-months and heifers from twelve months to two years. Particular attention is paid to diet as animals go to a higher level of feeding closer to sales and shows. Showing animals are given a weekly wash and their hooves are regularly paired.
While there is great rivalry between Limousin breeders who attend shows, John has forged friendships with people he would never have met only for his involvement with the society.
“Farming can be quite isolating as you spend a lot of time on your own on the farm. I left secondary school at 16 after completing the Junior Certificate and hadn’t seen a lot of life.
“The society provides a great social outlet for members and I have made great friends with people from different counties all over Ireland,” he said.
His daughter, Jean became a member of the society’s Young Members’ Association in 2008 and already she has developed a great interest of breeding and understanding bloodlines. Her brother, Owen, also helps out with work on the family farm and both of them love going to shows with John, where they enjoy walking their calves in the showing classes.
John hopes to use the organisation to enhance and develop the Limousin breed in an effort to become the outright beef breed in Ireland.
First introduced in Ireland in 1971, Limousin is now established as one of the premier breeds in the country. Traits of the breed include easy calving, high growth potential and an ability to finish at medium or high weights without becoming over fat, which is ideally suited to the new grid pricing system known as Quality Payment System (QPS) where excellent grades and low fat content secures higher prices for the farmers.
Excellent feed conversion makes Limousin economical to rear and finish while the high meat to bone ratio provides an excellent return of high priced cuts.
Official Department of Agriculture AI statistics for 2005 revealed a massive 92,390 inseminations for dairy and beef herds confirming Limousin as the number one beef breed in AI. Limousin also has the distinction of being the top suckler dam in the country.
In the past, some dairy producers were concerned about the fact that Limousin had a longer gestation than Friesian.
However, short gestation Limousin sires have now been identified to suit the dairy farmer’s requirement for compact calving.
John hopes that this will encourage an increase in the use of the breed as female Limousin calves from the dairy herd are always in demand as suckler cow replacements.
Alternatively, they can be finished easily and fit perfectly into the home “butcher heifer” market at a young age. Three-quarter and seven-eight bred Limousin cattle are tailor made for live weanling exporters whose customers often express a preference for “peas in a pod” Limousin on Limousin will guarantee this.
John insists the current base price for beef is way too low for sustained beef production. “The majority of Irish beef is going to the United Kingdom where producers are getting €150 extra for a 340 kilos animal,” he said.
“I am concerned about the future of farming. There isn’t a lot to encourage young people to get into farming. It is a great way of life but farmers need to make a reasonable return for an honest day’s work.
He warned that dairy farming would be in serious trouble if the price of milk doesn’t go over 30 cent a litre this year.
Last year, the price of milk plummeted to about 20 cent a litre, four or five cent below the average cost of production.
In May 2009, John was one of the six council members from the society who travelled to the Limoges area of France to identify potential bloodlines, which could be of interest to Irish Limousin breeders.
They visited approximately 20 farms in Limoges area with emphasis on progeny of bulls; utilised expertise of Sersia and KBS Genetics to gain access to relevant breeds and reviewed the results of polled breeding programmes.
They found a strong focus on well muscled animals, with strong growth potential also with continued emphasis on docility
They found that consistency of produce was very important to their customers while the breeders were always willing to try out new blood lines.
Clare breeders provide excellent support to local and national shows. The local season kicks off with the Newmarket-on-Fergus show on the May Bank Holiday weekend. Bridgetown Show will host this year’s calf finals and the national Young Members’ Association workshop where a team will be selected to represent Ireland in an annual event between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Last year, Ireland also scooped the top prize and finished a very close second with members including Sean Moroney from Corofin and team mate Tom Hickey taking the overall individual title for the second successive year.
John McInerney will be hoping that young and experienced members will enjoy more success in different areas during his tenure.