Tuesday's Farming Independent supplement contains a lovely chat with John Long of Roadmill Herd, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. John is not only our club archivist, but is also a quality breeder of dairy and beef stock.
Steeped in tradition
John's uncles Jimmy and Toss Boilson developed and encouraged his interest in breeding and were founding members of Irish Friesian Breeders Association, now the IHFA. John has written on this site about the importance of club stock judging and evenings as important knowledge transfer chances. This interest was honed over the years, and since 1980, the Roadmill Herd has bred some lovely examples, with16 VG/EX cows of sixth lactation or older currently in the herd.
Families
From the article, here are some of the cow families John highlights:
Roadmill Alan Lupin EX90 4E and Roadmill Enigma April 2 VG85, both in their ninth lactation, are the joined-oldest home-bred VG/EX cows.
Roadmill Marshall Princess VG86 and Roadmill Sochar Princess VG85 are in their eighth lactation.
Roadmill Sochar Princess 2 EX90, Roadmill Kevin Linda VG88 and Roadmill Paj Janet VG85 are all in their seventh lactation.
Roadmill Alan Lupin EX90 4E has produced 60,136kg milk, 4,499kg milk solids, 3.76pc fat, 3.69pc protein lifetime yield in eight lactations to date.
Roadmill Enigma April 2 VG85, one of the highest fertility cows in the herd, has produced 9,163kg milk, 671kg milk solids, 3.95pc fat, 3.37pc protein in her eighth lactation
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