The Irish Hereford Breed Society hosted a show and sale of Hereford bulls at GVM Kilmallock Mart, Co. Limerick, on Friday, April 24.

There were 24 bulls present on the day, 17 of which were sold with an average sale price price just shy of €5,000 at €4,976.47

This marked a significant increase on the 2025 average sale price of €4,182.

Of the 17 bulls sold, 15 made €4,000 or more. Five bulls sold for north of €6,000, including the sale topper of €7,100, while a further four bulls traded at over €5,000.

The pre-sale show was judged by John Paul (JP) Scott who runs the Athgreine Hereford herd in Co. Laois. The auctioneer was Eamonn Gaffney.

John Paul’s show champion came in the form of Lot 26, Clondrina 1512TH PH, from the herd of Gerard and Declan Donnelly from Co. Clare.

This bull was sired by Cill Cormaic Pereus and bred from Clondrinapoll 1 1225th (a Solpoll 1 Lawman daughter) and carrying 5-stars for Daughter Milk, went on to sell for €5,300.

He also has a better than breed average calving ease figure of 3.1% on dairy cows.

Taking home the title of Reserve Champion was Nigel Heatrick from Co. Monaghan with his bull Glaslough Bounty HH.

Bounty was sired by stockbull Balleen Hitman and out of a Glaslough Karl cow, Glaslough Page.

Bounty has 4-stars on the Replacement Index (€112) as well as for Daughter Milk and Daughter Calving Interval. Bounty later sold for €6,200.

Co. Offaly breeder Michael Molloy stole the show on the day when his November 2024 born bull, Moyclare X Factor HH took the top price on the day of €7,100.

X Factor drew the attention of a number of bidders both in the ring and online, before finally selling to a dairy farmer from Co. Clare.

X Factor sold with plenty of stars – 5-stars for each of the Terminal (€79) and Dairy-Beed (€111) Indexes, as well as for the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€104), Carcass weight and Carcass Conformation.

He also had 4-stars for the Replacement Index (€107) and for Gestation Length.

The second-best price on the day was €6,800 for Appel Elite PH, bred by John Appelbe from Co. Cork.

Elite is sired by Fisher 1 Profile P456 Pp and bred from Appel 1 Elite, a Ringfort 1 Alfie daughter.

He rates well on the EuroStar Indexes with 5-stars for each of the Replacement (€131), Terminal (€90) and Dairy-Beef Indexes (€120) as well as for the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€106), Gestation Length, Carcass conformation and Daughter Milk.

Elite also has 4-stars for Carcass weight and Daughter calving interval.

Selling for €6,100 was Tullaha Iarlugh HH, bred by Tommy and Maura Cregan, Co. Limerick.

Iarlugh has 5-stars on the Terminal Index (€99) and the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€118) as well as for Age at finish and Carcass weight, with 4-stars for the Dairy-Beef Index (€104) and for Docility.

He is sired by Coisceam King and out of Balleen Ceci 1204.

The final bull to cross the €6,000 mark was Co. Roscommon breeder Padraig McGrath’s Kye Pat 071 HH.

Sired by Balleen Flyer and bred from Kye Nan 879, a Free Town Nevada daughter, Pat has 5-stars for Daughter Milk and 4-stars for each of the Replacement Index (€102), Docility and Age at Finish.

He also has a calving ease figure of 3.3% on dairy cows (better than breed average).

Other prices of note on the day were as follows:

Lot 9: Coisceam Rocky PP. Breeder: Timothy Breen, Co. Cork. Sire: Churchcrosspoll 1 Hurler. Dam: Coisceimpoll 1 Orchid. Sold: €5,100;
Lot 13: Appel New York PH. Breeder: John Appelbe, Co. Cork. Sire: Kanimbla Power Quest Q006 (IHBS Breed Improvement Bull). Dam: Appel 1 Star Polly. Sold: €5,100;
Lot 31: Ballinveney Hugo HH. Breeder: Rory Farrell, Co. Tipperary. Sire: Kaludah Powerhouse L478 (IHBS Breed Improvement Bull). Dam: Ballinveney Beauty. Sold: €5,000;
Lot 16: Forteregal Mustang PP. Breeder: Gerard and Sheila Lucey, Co. Cork. Sire: Mawarra Mustang ET (IHBS Breed Improvement Bull). Dam: Woodpark 1 Fanny 1st. Sold: €4,500. 1st place in Class 2;
Lot 30: Clondrina 1519TH HH. Breeder: Gerard and Declan Donnelly, Co. Clare. Sire: Cill Cormaic Perseus. Dam: Clondrina 1339TH. Sold: €4,200. 1st place in Class 4.

The society expressed its thanks to pre-sale inspector Tommy Fitzgerald, the show judge, John Paul Scott, sale auctioneer, Eamonn Gaffney, GVM Kilmallock and Irish Hereford Prime for their continued sponsorship.

The Irish Hereford Breed Society have one remaining bull show and sale this spring, with the annual Hereford bull show and sale taking place in Central Auctions Nenagh on Thursday, May 14 show at 10.30am, sale at 1.00pm.