Paula Hynes: Our first time showing at the National Dairy Show
Paula Hynes (right) on the family farm in Aherla, Co Cork pictured with husband Peter.
It is safe to say cows are family in our household, and as The National Dairy Show is now over, it closes the door on what was a busy show season for us.
Our girls have grown up around farming but we have always felt they needed to find their own feet in what they want to enjoy in farming.
Showing livestock is something that has allowed them to bond closer with our dairy stock and taught them great stockmanship.
Cork is a wonderful county to pursue that passion as there is an abundance of agricultural shows right throughout the summer.
We had previously competed on a smaller scale pre pandemic with the girls having a jersey heifer each to show but two years of lockdowns had given us a hunger to get back out having fun and with more quality animals to choose from on the farm, we had a team available that would keep us busy for the year.
The local shows allowed the girls to develop as handlers and as the qualifier loomed for the YMA National Calf championships we changed our show team slightly, bringing another Jersey calf in from the field and also purchasing Lisduff Zandra as we felt Georgie needed a nice Holstein heifer for handlers classes.
Rathard Kasey qualified for Nationals on her first outing as did Zandra in both her handler and calf classes along with Becky qualifying as a handler, great excitement heading home that night as it was the first time the girls had qualified.
Nationals came and we had a wonderful two days in Kilkenny with the highlight being Kasey taking the colour breed championship and then going on to win at the National livestock show in Tullamore a few weeks later.
As we headed home from Tullamore, all eyes were on Millstreet in October. The preparation started weeks in advance and having two new additions in September meant extra work was needed as Acclaim and Adina had never been to a show previously.
There was also the added work of attempting to show a cow in milk for the first time, but we were keen to take on the challenge.
Sally calved at the very start of September and we went straight to work with her on the halter, getting her diet correct, washing, grooming and hoping she would peak the third week of October.
Shows come with tears of joy and tears of sadness, Sally looked a million dollars as we departed for the National Dairy Show, however, she's a quirky cow that has trust issues with people.
Although we had built that trust with her on the halter, having so many people around her at the show made her nervous and we took the decision to bring her home early without competing as it was best for her welfare, but it was truly heartbreaking knowing we had put so much work into her.
Disappointment put to one side, I knew we had to crack on and concentrate on the girls and their upcoming classes over the two days.
Tiredness was setting in, but I was so proud of how the girls pulled together and got themselves organized and looked after the calves.
We were blessed in having Brian Smyth on the team also, he had clipped the calves and was on hand 24/7 to help and top all the calves for the classes.
Friday evening was a great success with both girls taking third in the YMA Showmanship league in the respected age groups and both taking second place with their jerseys before Georgie took the reserve junior jersey championship with Kasey.
We settled the calves for the evening and preparation began for the following morning with the first calf into the ring at 9.30am.
Competition was of the highest standard and I was enormously proud of the girls in the way they handled their calves and kept their cool.
They got some great results and I even made an appearance in the show ring, it is always an honor for me to show alongside my daughters.
Once we had finished our classes it was time for me to gather my thoughts and get organized to chair two panel discussions - that's when the nerves really kicked in, but that's a story for another day.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience to be there for a few days, getting a taste of the bigger shows and watching the professionals at work with their precision and attention to detail, and seeing the fantastic cows that were on display, with it always in the back of my mind that is where we want to go eventually.
As the show halters are hung up for 2022, the kitchen table chats already consist of what we will show in 2023, and how new life on the farm is developing, hoping there may be another little prize-winner come out of the calf shed.
