‘Game over’: Ann completes title hat-trick at the Baileys
2026 Diageo Baileys Champion Cow, Coolroehouse Abbott Ann, exhibited by Paul Murphy and Emma Behan from Co Cork. Picture: Maria Kelly
After years spent preparing champion cattle for other breeders, young Co Cork couple Paul Murphy and Emma Behan have claimed one of Irish dairy showing’s most coveted titles for themselves.
When Coolroehouse Abbott Ann entered the ring at Virginia Show last Wednesday, Swiss judge Marcel Egli’s mind was made up. “The standard at the show today was exceptional, but when this Cork cow walked into the ring, it was game over for me,” he said.
For Ann — affectionately dubbed ‘Queen Ann’ by local Holstein fans — victory in the Diageo Baileys All-Ireland Champion Dairy Cow competition completed a remarkable hat-trick of major summer titles.
The fifth-calver had already been crowned champion at Charleville Show before taking the overall dairy championship at Tullamore Show just over a week before the Baileys.
Her owners, Paul Murphy and Emma Behan of Hillholm Holsteins in Banteer, Co Cork, were still trying to take in the scale of the achievement after receiving the Virginia Milk Products Cup and €3,000 championship prize.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Emma said, as Paul’s phone buzzed repeatedly and the couple received a stream of congratulations, handshakes and hugs across the cattle lawn in Co Cavan.
The win was particularly meaningful for a couple who have spent much of their lives preparing cattle for other breeders and helping them compete at some of the biggest dairy shows in the country.
In 2024 alone, they helped to clip and prepare more than 40 animals for the National Dairy Show in Millstreet, as well as working with champions at Charleville, Tullamore and numerous other shows.
Paul traced his ambition to exhibit a cow of his own at the highest level back to the 2015 Baileys championship, when he was just 19 and helped the Barrett family prepare that year’s winning cow.
“They won the Baileys that year. It was probably the first big cow I got ready,” he recalled.
“I think it really inspired me to put my head down and think I’d like to have a cow in there — whether she would win or not, just to get to that level. Even just watching other breeders, all the good breeders who have won here, it has always inspired me.”
Eleven years later, it was Paul and Emma standing at the head of the line with a cow they owned themselves.
The couple have owned cattle of their own for the past three or four years, but moved back to Paul’s grandmother’s farm around a year ago. There, they installed a small pipeline and bucket milking plant for the two cows they brought to Virginia.
“We just milk the two cows that we had at the show here today,” Paul said. Their second animal also impressed, finishing runner-up in the heifer-in-milk class.
“Second and champion; we are very happy,” he added. “And they are best friends. They do everything together,” Emma said.
Ann was bred by the Forrest family in Banteer and is out of Coolroehouse Diamond Ann, by Willsbro Abbott.
Paul and Emma bought her from their neighbours, John and Ursula Forrest, as an in-calf heifer, but the connection between the two families stretches back much further.
“They really got me into showing years ago, when I was about 11 years of age,” Paul said. “They asked if I would lead a few calves at the calf show, and that’s where I got the bug from.
“Then, maybe about 15 years later, I bought a bunch of calves from them and noticed this one as an in-calf heifer. I thought she was nice and I ended up keeping her and selling the rest. We have been developing her now for the past four or five years.”
Already a two-time Emerald Expo champion, Ann has continued to improve with age and was described by Mr Egli as his kind of “stylish cow”, with “a beautiful mammary system and an open rib”.
For Paul, the Baileys victory was also a result he could not wait to share with the family who bred Ann and first encouraged him into the show ring.
“They won’t believe it. They will be delighted when they hear,” he said. “They are great neighbours and great people too.”
The competition aims to identify cows that combine outstanding type and conformation with the production, health, fertility and functional traits required of a modern dairy cow.
That combination was also evident in reserve champion Aliann Pepper Lila Z, owned by Alan and Leanne Paul of Slatabogie Holsteins, Maghera, Co Derry.
The couple bought Lila as a second-calver at a herd dispersal sale in England from Aliann Holsteins after her balance immediately caught Alan’s eye.
“If I had to sum this cow up in one word, that is it — balance,” he told the .
Now in her fifth lactation, Lila calved most recently in July and has produced approximately 72,000kg of milk over her lifetime.
“She would be one of the highest-producing cows on the farm, but she is also one of the best for type — the best of both worlds,” Alan said.
A winner at the Emerald Expo who has also topped classes at several shows in Northern Ireland, she produced more than 12,000 litres in her previous lactation.
Lila received the competition’s Best Protein Award in addition to taking the reserve championship.
Annaghmore Rager KD Jackie, owned by Clive and Joel Richardson of Co Armagh, received the honourable mention and was named Best Heifer in Milk and Best Exhibitor-Bred Cow.
Willsbro Lambda Galys Vray 46, owned by John and Bryan O’Connor of Co Cork, was named Best Junior Cow, while their Cedarmore Lambda Bazooka received the award for the cow with the highest Economic Breeding Index.
While judging takes place over a matter of hours, experienced cattle fitter Steve McLoughlin, at the halter of the reserve champion, said getting cows into the ring in peak condition is the culmination of months of careful planning.
The Kildare man arrived at the showgrounds on Monday lunchtime to help the Paul family from Co Derry prepare their animals. Arriving well in advance gives the cattle time “to settle and relax and be in the best form possible for when they come into the ring,” he explained.
The process begins long before show week, with calving dates, feeding, development and herd health all managed with the show ring in mind. “They get looked after better than ourselves,” he quipped. “They live in the equivalent of a five-star hotel.”
For the breeders and fitters involved, showing provides another dimension to the everyday work of dairy farming.
“It’s a love and a passion, and it’s an extra interest apart from a normal day farming,” Mr McLoughlin said. “It’s a business too. They have all got big pedigrees and you want to market your animals and let the general public see them.”
Presenting the championship trophy, minister of state at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Timmy Dooley, said the long-term strength of Irish dairy farming rested on “quality, innovation, genetics, sustainability and, above all, the skills and knowledge of our dairy farmers, breeders and their families”.
He also highlighted the all-island character of the competition, which has brought breeders from north and south together at Virginia for more than 40 years. “Simply reaching this competition and presenting an animal of this standard deserves great commendation,” he said.
- Rachel Martin, Farming editor
