It is not often that a commercial beef animal makes all the headlines. But such was the case at this year’s Armagh Show 2025.
The event saw Robert Miller from Moneymore in Co. Derry winning his third commercial beef championship at successive shows – Ballymena, Ballymoney, and Armagh – with the same animal: a truly eye-catching Limousin cross heifer.
And her red colour, no doubt, adds to the attraction of the animal. She has been described as having all the attributes of an elite beef animal.
Robert now heads for next weekend’s Saintfield Show Co. Down with high hopes of making it four-in-a row.
Meanwhile, at the Armagh Show on Saturday, the wet conditions failed to dampen the spirits of the many pedigree and commercial livestock breeders taking part.
There was a record entry of sheep and commercial cattle for the event with pedigree dairy and beef numbers also extremely high.
At the end of a long day’s judging, show steward Robin Irvine noted an almost 100% turnout of competitors and their stock.
The event’s Beef Inter-Breed championship was won by Deerpark Shakira, who enjoyed a superlative showing career as a young pedigree heifer.
And it seems that Shakira is continuing where she left off as a young cow.
She entered the show ring at this year’s Armagh with her October-2024 bull calf, Shakira Viking, at foot looking every bit the champion.
And so it turned out. Shakira won the Limousin breed championship in the morning, going on to secure the Ballymena 2025 Inter-Breed Beef championship later that afternoon.
She was exhibited by Connor and Ryan Mulholland from Antrim.
The Dairy Inter-Breed Championship at Armagh Show 2025 was won by Damm Impression Beth2 EX92.
Bred and exhibited by Lisburn breeder, David Simpson, the Holstein third-calver looked an absolute picture in the ring, despite the rain.
David said: “The cow calved 120 days ago and is currently giving 44L of milk per day. This was her second outing of the year. She was the Honourable Mention at the 2025 Emerald Expo.”
Gary Jones from Co. Wexford judged the inter-breed dairy classes at Armagh. He said that his champion had all the attributes expected of an elite Holstein cow, adding:
“She had tremendous breed character, outstanding mobility and a tremendous mammary system.
“I also want to commend all the exhibitors taking part for the quality of the dairy stock that added so much to the standard of each show class.”
Meanwhile, the standard of competition was equally strong in the sheep classes catalogued for Armagh Show 2025. A case in point was the Suffolk Championship, won by Mark Priestly from Seaforde in Co. Down with an elite ram lamb.
However, he was pushed to the pin of his collar by the reserve, a more-than-impressive gimmer from the Co Tyrone flock of Dennis Taylor.
The champion will be sold at public auction later in the year.
Richard Wilson from Raphoe in Co. Donegal judged the Suffolk classes at Armagh, and described his champion as a young ram with “tremendous breeding potential”.
