Dualla livestock show 2023 went ahead on Sunday the 27^th despite the overall show being cancelled.

Donal Moloney from Ardnacrusha won this year’s FBD Supreme Championship with “Charlotte’s Sapphire” who had already landed many championships around the country this year including reserve champion at Balmoral and Tullamore. Taking the reserve ticket was the Commercial champion bred and showed by Jim & Erwin Stanley from Balacolla, Co. Laois.

Another heavily contested commercial class on the day was Heifer <460kg seeing 10 outstanding females battling it out in the ring.

The Junior Male Herford Champion went to Michael Barrett from Co Cork with his bull “Gurtaleen Inchvale Kingpin”. This class was judged 60% visually and 40% on terminal index. There was €500 up for grabs for this class which was kindly sponsored by Irish Hereford Prime & ABP.

The overall Hereford champion was awarded to Matthew Goulding from West Kerry with his Senior male entry “Glenvale 1 Fanfare”. This bull showed great power and strength on the day and caught the attention of many exhibitors.

The Munster finals for the Aberdeen Angus also took place at Dualla and taking home the championship was Eustace and Deirdre Burke from Carrigaline, Co. Cork  with an extremely powerful maiden heifer. This heifer also went on to win best traditional breeding female in a huge line-up of females from Angus, Shorthorn and Hereford breeds.

One of our largest attended classes on the day was in the Shorthorn ring with 9 females born after January 2023 battling it out in that class alone. The overall shorthorn champion went to James Muldowney of Portlaoise with “Ballylehaun Fluffy 7^th”.

The Belgian Blue attendance was also up on the day with the quality of cattle exceeding previous years. The overall Belgian Blue went to an exceptional cow from Dave Pearson from Co. Laois. The judge was very impressed by the length and depth of this cow and also commented how nice it was to see some colour coming through in the breed.

The Charolais on the day also dominated inside the ring with Goldstar Charolais turning heads when entering classes, taking best pair in show, Best Trio, Charolais Champion & Reserve Champion awarded to Martin Ryan, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Some exceptional stock on display as always from Goldstar Charolais.

Mooving onto our dairy entries, we seen some fantastic judging and showing in ring 1. A terrific Holstein cow bred and shown by Matthew Ryan talking overall champion with Tom Julian taking overall Jersey Champion. Our dairy Judge Aisling Neville, spoke highly of all stock on the day and gave exceptional reasoning regarding her placing of animals.

Finally, our young handler classes were very highly contested on the day with stern competition in all age classes. Judge Victoria McMordie was immensely impressed with the standard shown by these young kids. Aveen Curtain was our overall young handler champion, showing a Hereford animal on the day. This class was judged on the child and not the animal’s performance. Aveen kept eye contact with the judge at all times while keeping her animal under control.