IHFA All Star Award recipient 2022

Sterndale Colt Rae ET EX93 3E

Liam & Sandra Murphy, Evergreen herd, Fenagh, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow

The Pedigree Cattle Breeders Council of Ireland (PCBCOI) is a forum for affiliated cattle herdbooks to progress issues of a common interest and to help advance pedigree breeding goals through representation. The All Star awards is a PCBCOI initiative, first held in 2020, to build upon the renowned RDS Champion of Champions accolade. The 2022 awards function took place on Friday February 3rd last in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise.

Exemplifying tremendous breed qualities, the IHFA All Star Award recipient 2022 is Sterndale Colt Rae ET owned by Liam and Sandra Murphy. Born in March 2014 this mature cow commenced her sixth lactation last November. Just over one month into her sixth lactation she travelled to the Royal Ulster Agricultural Show (RUAS) Winter Fair where she won 1st Production cow and also won best udder of the class. She went on to be crowned RUAS Winter Fair Champion Holstein and Supreme Interbreed Reserve Champion. It is noteworthy for a mature cow, freshly calved in her sixth lactation, approaching her 9th birthday, to be recognised in the show ring and judged to be breed Champion.

Sterndale Colt Rae has admirable production qualities having recorded yields of over 10,000 kgs milk per lactation in her previous three lactations. Her average lactation length in these consecutive lactations is 342 days. Her lifetime milk production average per lactation over five completed lactations to date is 9,400 kgs. This production performance reflects very positively on fertility, longevity, health, and management traits as an overall balanced performance profile.

Classified Excellent EX 93 on Conformation overall, Sterndale Colt Rae completes eleven maternal generations of VG/EX breeding. She has attained the top conformation grade of Excellent on three prior occasions. Her tremendous functionality includes composite scores of Excellent (EX) 95 for Mammary and Excellent (EX) 92 Feet & Legs.

Summarising her qualities, Liam Murphy describes his recently crowned All Star cow as “A cow who keeps improving in every lactation”.