Paula Hynes: The championship of dreams - and it's not the hurling

A championship we had only dreamed of winning had now become a reality, as Rouge sizzles at National YMA Finals

Sponsors Volac, FBD agrinet, along with IHA chief executive Laurence Feeny, judge Torben Melbaum, Sizzler Rompen Rouge Red ET, Becky, and the Hynes family and IHFA president, Mary Rafferty. Picture: Maria Kelly Photography

Life certainly is a rollercoaster and we always try to do our best and ride the ups and downs. It was all systems go in preparing for the YMA National Finals. 

However, I also had a hospital appointment looming, which weighed heavily on both my shoulders and Pete's. I spent the Saturday of the All-Ireland hurling final in the Mater Private in Cork for a procedure; the staff, nurses and consultants in there are phenomenal, and thankfully, a huge weight was lifted from our shoulders.

The work never stops, so there was no time on Sunday to watch the Cork hurlers in action. It was a case of ensuring the full team of heifers were clipped and washed and all the gear and feed was packed so we were ready for the trip to Kilkenny. 

With seven heifers travelling, Robert Shannon arrived in our yard at lunchtime on Monday to collect four of our heifers, as Pete had the three bigger heifers and gear on our trailer; it is true peace of mind knowing Robert was taking them and they would arrive safely.

The crew arrived in Kilkenny to vet inspections, got washed and fed, and the team stand ready, before bedtime with two hectic days of showing ahead. With the Cork YMA team working hard on Tuesday morning, the day kicked off with the individual and team clipping competitions. 

Cattle fitter Paul Murphy was judging, a highly experienced clipper and with the competitors clipping against the clock, the pressure was on. 

Stephen Shannon and Gearoid Long flew the Cork flag high, winning the team clipping competition, and then Becky followed the success, claiming the Individual title. It was a win that meant so much to Becky, as she has clipped so many animals, but had never clipped by herself in public or in competition.

Showmanship time at National finals is always a lot of pressure with so many top-class handlers and even busier with us having six of our heifers being part of the Cork team. Anna Stable was officiating as showmanship judge, a highly accomplished HYB handler over the years, and she has also judged showmanship at the highest level. 

Cork handlers started off the novice classes with great success, and then Georgie followed up with a second place in the Junior showmanship. She had the misfortune that her calf got stubborn and would not walk, but we were so proud to see her battle on and hold her nerve to get such a high placing in a big class. 

Becky chose Rouge as her heifer for the senior showmanship, finishing in second place with fellow Cork handler Sarah Shannon in third place. Cork handler Kevin Smith took our Crushable Sapphire heifer for the mature showmanship class and added another win for the Cork team. 

Sapphire is the heifer Becky used for the clipping competition earlier in the day, a heifer we took to Expo in April, where Georgie won the Junior showmanship and also placed second in her heifer class. She hadn’t been out at a show since April, as the decision was made then to put her away for the clipping competition.

The grand finale for day one was the showmanship championship. Anna Stable selected her final five and finally tapped out Manus Murphy from the Carlow Kilkenny club as champion handler, Becky claimed reserve champion handler with Kevin Smith taking honourable mention. Cork may have faltered in the hurling, but they certainly made up for it in the showmanship, with Cork YMA lifting the perpetual cup for the best team of handlers.

Day two

Day two of the National Finals was an early start at 5.30am as we had six heifers to show. Fed, washed and on the show line for 7am as the task ahead was to keep them eating and line them up in turn at the clipping crate for Richard Jones, who was topping and prepping for us.

Richard has been an integral part of the team here for some time. Torben Melbaum from Germany, officiating as judge, has vast experience in Holstein genetics globally and has also coached at European Young Breeders in Battice. Kalani was first in the ring for the colourbreed junior calf and claimed top spot. 

Jones Holsteins took the win in the intermediate colourbreed class and then Kalani, full sister to Khaleesi, won the senior colourbreed class. The first championship of the day and Jones Victorious Cola was tapped out as Colourbreed champion, with Kalani standing as Reserve champion and Khaleesi taking Honourable mention.

Moving on to the Holstein classes, which are always big classes at Nationals, Georgie showed Acorn into sixth place in the Intermediate calf class. Becky was straight into the next class to take fifth place with Jagerbomb in the Senior calf class and then handed Jagerbomb to Pete as she was showing Rouge straight away in the Summer Yearling class. 

From the moment she walked into the ring, she knew Torben liked Rouge, and she was right as Rouge won the class and the judge commented that she was an easy winner of the class. 

A brief chance to get Rouge a drink and grab one herself before the Red and White holstein championship, Torben selected four heifers for his final line-up and eventually tapped out Rouge as Red and White champion, a momentous show for us and still one more roll of the dice ahead as Rouge was also eligible as class winner for the overall heifer championship. 

The hottest Holstien championship of the season, with 14 heifers in the ring, the judge cast his eye across each heifer as they entered the ring, made his final comments and tapped forward five heifers for his final line-up, Rouge amongst the final five and as the crowd clapped. Torben circled his final line-up and then ran down to high five Becky with Rouge as his overall champion heifer of the show, Jones Holsteins claimed Reserve and Honourable went to the two Caught A Vibe heifers which are full sisters.

A championship we had only dreamed of winning had now become a reality. We are so grateful to all the team who have played a part, Richard, who is always by our side, Pauric, who had been at the qualifier with us and all who help manage and keep the heifers healthy and fit at home. 

It means so much to us seeing Rouge achieve success, she is backed by a world-class pedigree, her dam Duckett Ranger 1132 was scored VG87 just last week having produced almost 15,000kg in her first lactation. A full sister to Duckett Ranger was max score VG89 on the same day and the grand dam SSI Doc Have Not ET or simply Doc as she is known globally, the $1.925 million cow, was classified EX94 as a four-year-old with an EX96 mammary and is a proven transmitter. 

Rouge has made another step on her journey. There is a long road with plenty of hard work, but hopefully we will take her to the next stage of being a great cow.