The Irish Hereford Breed Society's 2026 Spring Premier Hereford Show and Sale took place at GVM Tullamore Mart, Co. Offaly, on Saturday, March 21.

There were a total of 28 pedigree-registered Hereford bulls for sale on the day with the average sale price settling at €4,605.

The pre-sale show kicked off at 10.30am. It was Tommy Cregan of the Tullaha Herd in Co. Limerick tasked with judging on the day.

His choice of champion proved popular with the customers on the day also.

Lot 31, Springvilla Maximus 1238 HH was the pre-sale show champion and also took the top price on the day of €8,000 purchased by another pedigree Hereford breeder.

Homozygous horned, Maximus is an October-2024-born bull, sired by Corlismore Dafydd 151 and out of a Knockmountagh Super 2 sired cow, Springvilla Jackie.

He sold with 5-stars on the Replacement Index (€135) and 4-stars for each of the Terminal (€65) and Dairy-Beef (€92) Indexes and a below breed average calving figure of 3.4% on dairy cows.

Lot 21, Bawnlea Gizmo PP from the herd of Peter and Alannah Cooke, Co. Tipperary was selected as the Reserve Champion.

This July-2024 bull was sired by Panmure 1 Henry and bred from Bonleapoll 1 Dua Lipa – a Gouldingpoll 1 Superstar ET sired cow.

Gizmo has 4-stars for the Replacement Index (€103) and 5-stars on the Terminal (€114) and Dairy-Beef (€137) Index, as well as for the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€131).

He also carries 5-stars for gestation length, age at finish, carcass weight and carcass conformation. Gizmo sold for €5,600.

A total of seven bulls changed hands for €5,000 or more on the day making the sale "a great success", according to the breed society.

Lot 24, Moyclare Xeno HH from the herd of Michael Molloy from Co. Offaly was the second-highest priced bull at the sale, making €6,100.

He was purchased by a pedigree Hereford Breeder. The August-2024-born bull was sired by Moyclare Vance and out of Moyclare Rose 55, a Caislean Jake-sired cow.

Xeno has 5-stars for each of the Replacement (€121), Terminal (€76) and Dairy Beef (€125) Indexes. He has a below breed average calving figure of 3.2% on dairy cows.

It was a memorable day out for Michael Molloy who also sold lot 12, Moyclare Xray HH, for €5,000.

This bull is a half-brother of Xeno, also sired by Caislean Jake and out of another cow from the Rose family, Moyclare Rose 46.

Xray also performs well on the Eurostar Indexes, with 5-stars for the Terminal (€86) and Dairy-Beef (€127) Indexes, as well as the Beef Sub-Index (€107) of the DBI, and has a calving figure of 3.5%.

Coman Neary of Co. Roscommon, sold Clooncullane Rory 566 HH for €5,200.

Sired by Allowdale Rambo 738 and out of Clooncullane June 435, Rory has 5-stars for the Replacement Index (€128), Docility and Carcass Conformation.

T and A Fitzgerald of Co. Westmeath also hit the €5,000 mark, with their bull Grianan Charles PP.

He is sired by Solpoll 1 Dynamite PP and is bred from Griananpoll 1 Orange V 931. Charles boasts 4-stars for each of the Replacement (€107), Terminal (€68) and Dairy-Beef (€100) Indexes as well as the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€88).

The final bull to sell for €5,000 was Carrowboy Delboy PP from the herd of Alan Gibbons in Co. Roscommon.

He is sired by Ringfort 1 Carlos and out of Woodviewpoll 1 Pippa and again has 4-stars across the board for the Replacement (€103), Terminal (€67) and Dairy-Beef (€96) Indexes as well as the Beef Sub-Index of the DBI (€89).

Other notable prices on the day included:

Lot 3: Ardstewart Pirate PH, sold for €4,500;
Lot 17: Grianan Ben Hur ET PH, sold for €4,500;
Lot 25: Drumgoon Hill Victory PH, sold for €4,600;
Lot 26: Carrick Leon PH, sold for €4,700;
Lot 43: Crowenstown Rolex HH sold for €4,500.

The society expressed its thanks to the pre-sale inspector Thomas Fitzgerald; the show judge, Tommy Cregan; sale auctioneer, Eamonn Gaffney; GVM Tullamore; sale photographer, Shanon Kinahan, as well as Paul McKiernan and all those who assisted as stewards on the day.

The society also thanked Irish Hereford Prime for its continued sponsorship.