Over 900 entries for livestock show

Kildare: More than 900 entries have been received for the 2003 RDS Spring Livestock Show, to be held at Goffs, Kill, Co Kildare, on Saturday.

Sponsored by AIB, the one-day show has a prize fund of more than €40,000.

Some 14 cattle breeds will compete in 100 classes and there will be five sheep breeds in 50 classes.

RDS foundation activities manager Patrick McDermott said they were delighted with the response from breeders.

"Despite Government regulations on the scrapie status of sheep flocks, entries in participating sheep breeds are high.

"Entries in the cattle breeds continue to thrive and we are delighted to introduce a new category for the Aubrac breed, which will be showing for the first time in Ireland this year," he said.

In keeping with tradition, entries in the bigger sheep and cattle breeds, such as the Texel and Holstein Friesian breeds, are up.

The show, which is also supported by FBD and Greenvale Animal Feeds, has entries from every county in the state.

In the Leinster region, Meath and Laois have a particularly high number of entries, while in Munster, a large proportion of entries are from Cork, Clare and Tipperary.

Connacht is well represented, with entries from Mayo and Sligo. There is a particularly strong entry from Donegal.

Special awards based on genetic measurement of breeding value in cattle BLUPS and EBI will again be made at the shows.