The suckler herd belonging to a well-known deceased farmer and contractor from east Co. Clare is set to be dispersed next Friday, January 23.

Patrick Davitt was a silage contractor and suckler farmer from Claremount, Broadford, Co. Clare, who sadly passed away on January 1 of this year after a short illness.

The dispersal sale of his suckler herd will take place at Sixmilebridge Mart in Co. Clare, on Friday, January 23, at 6:30pm with viewing from 4:30pm.

The sale will feature 60 suckler cows - both in-calf and with calves at foot - as well as three stock bulls.

Speaking to Agriland, the late Patrick's wife Nora and his step-son Dennis said that suckler-farming was something Patrick was hugely passionate about.

Nora said: "His suckler herd was his life and he built it up over years upon years.

"It will be awful sad for me to see them go but unfortunately that's the way it is. I'll be keeping the drystock rather than calving the cows and that."

Patrick was known locally as a good weanling producer and was in the business of producing the good continental-bred west of Ireland weanlings that were sold at the mart in the autumn time of the year.

The 60 suckler heifers and cows are a mix of Charolais-cross, Limousin-cross, Hereford-cross, and Salers-cross and are all due to calve from now to late March. Some of these already have calves at foot.

The stock bulls in the sale are Charolais and Simmental with two of the bulls under four years-of-age and one bull nine years-of-age.

The progeny of the herd are sired by these bulls as well as a Limousin stock bull.

Well-known east Clare contractor

His step-son Dennis told Agriland that Patrick had well over 2,000 contacts in his phonebook and served farmers across the most of east Clare and surrounding counties in his 30 years as an agricultural contractor.

He had retired from contracting in recent years and had been focused on farming before his untimely passing.

His range of services offered to farmers in the region included wagon silage, slurry, and round-baling.

Dennis said: "He was picking silage in parts of Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway.

"He was picking silage in Birdhill, he was picking silage in Mungret and Fedamore, he was picking silage even as far as in Woodford in Co. Galway."

The suckler herd dispersal will take place on Friday, January 23, at Sixmilebridge Mart, Co. Clare with viewing from 4:30pm, with selling kicking off at 6:30pm.