All Star Award 2024 – Eedy Doorman Fame EX96 2E, bred and owned by Robert, Sylvia, Jason & Laura Helen, Eedy Herd, Co. Cork

Pedigree Cattle Breeders Council of Ireland annual award spotlights the breed’s “best of the best”

Eedy Doorman Fame EX96 2E owned by Robert & Sylvia and Jason & Laura Helen, Eedy herd is the winner of the Pedigree Cattle Breeders Council of Ireland (PCBCOI) All Star Award 2025, nominated by the IHFA Board. This unique annual award, based on recorded performance merit further endorses the top-quality attributes of Eedy Doorman Fame as the winner of back-to-back National Dairy Show Supreme Senior Champion successes in 2024 and 2023.

Eedy Doorman Fame EX96 2E National show successes include

• Supreme Champion, Exhibitor bred Champion, Best Udder of Show and 1^st 5-Year-Old cow in-milk National Dairy Show 2024.
• Supreme Champion, Exhibitor Bred Champion, 1^st 4-Year-Old cow in-milk National Dairy Show 2023.

Her Classification credentials include

• EX96 2E (max Classification score per parity)
• Maximum score attained in her 4^th lactation, aged just five years and three months.
• 7^th generation VG/EX

Classification Composites as scored on 20/11/2024

Overall Body	EX95
Dairy Strength	EX97
Overall Feet & Legs	EX95
Overall Mammary	EX96
Overall Conformation	EX96

 

• VG87 2-Year Old
• VG89 2^nd calver
• EX93 3^rd calver (max score)
• EX96 4^th calver (max score)

With a lifetime average calving interval of 353 days, calving her 4^th just after her 5^th birthday. This is a tremendous overall health and fertility milestone, embellishing her already significantly impressive multiple achievements. Doorman Fame at time of writing is on a flush programme.

D.O.B.                18/08/2019

Sire                      Val-Bisson Doorman EX

Dam                    Clonpaddin BK Fame ET EX93 4E by Mr Atwood Brokaw

1. Dam Cradenhill Linjet Fame EX93 2E by Sunnylodge Linjet EX93

 

Milk Recorded Performance               as of February 21^st ‘25

Lact.	Date	Milk kgs	Fat kgs	Ptn kgs	F + P kgs	Fat %	Ptn %	S.C.C.	Days
1	12.10.21	8,750	354	291	645	4.05	3.32	27	324
2	01.11.22	9,089	386	306	692	4.25	3.36	55	276
3	07.09.23	9,309	400	321	721	4.30	3.45	65	309
4	06.09.24	7,510	346	250	596	4.61	3.33	42	162

 

Eedy Doorman Fame’s Dam, Clonpaddin BK Fame, was Jason’s first purchase of his own at the age of 18. Purchased from the 2015 Dalevalley Sale, Jason recalls ‘I had my sights on a fancy Goldchip bulling heifer from the Fame’s, but my budget didn’t stretch that far. The Brokaw was my second choice, and I couldn’t let her go, from the day I brought her home I knew it was meant to be. She was All Ireland Heifer In Milk herself and she’s bred us a back to back National Dairy Show Champion and last years’ Intermediate Champion (by King Doc), we owe a lot to her.’

The All-Star Award is the continuum of the renowned Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Champion of Champion award, a fabled annual award which was in place for decades in recognition of the historic role and association of the RDS in breed improvement involving all livestock breeds through the prism of the RDS Spring Show era. The Champion of Champion award was discontinued by the RDS in recent years and the PCBCOI now carry that torch forward through the All-Star Award function. All member herd books are invited to participate by nominating their chosen recipient.

The award was presented to the Helen family at a special PCBCOI function in Portlaoise on Saturday March 1^st. All PCBCOI member herdbooks were represented, and the attendance also included a VIP guest who presented the award winners of every individual breed. Jason said of the award ‘We feel extremely proud to have bred a cow like Fame and of all her achievements, but to have her recognised in this way is very special’

The Eedy herd of Robert & Sylvia and Jason & Laura Helen is located at Lyre, Clonakilty, Co. Cork. The herd was established by Robert & Sylvia in 1994 and is managed today in a family team effort joined by their son Jason and his wife Laura. Top quality milk is supplied all year round in a 50% Autumn/ 50% Spring calving pattern. Average annual milk recorded production per cow last year was in excess of 9,300 kgs milk, 695 kgs milk solids with an SCC average of 84. 90% of the herd is Classified to VG/EX standard of conformation.

 

All Star Award 2023 – Bawnmore Pepper Almeric EX90 Max, bred by John & Bryan O’Connor, Bawnmore Herd, Kanturk, Co. Cork

 John & Bryan O’ Connor’s BAWNMORE PEPPER ALMERIC EX90 (max score) wins the “Showing Oscar of the Year”. 

Bawnmore Pepper Almeric EX bred and owned by brothers John & Bryan O’ Connor, Kanturk Co. Cork is the recipient of the IHFA All Star Award for 2023. Her credentials in terms of success and achievements in National shows last year includes; 

• Supreme Champion Tullamore National Livestock Show 

• Reserve Champion & Exhibitor bred Champion, Diageo Baileys All Ireland Championship 

Bryan and John were presented with the award at a special Pedigree Cattle Breeders Council of Ireland (PCBCOI) function held in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise on Sunday February 11th last. Fourteen breed societies were represented, each with a nominated recipient as the “All Star” of their respective breed. Bryan and John describe the function as “Thoroughly enjoyable, akin to the Oscars ceremony in terms of the best of the best of all breeds and it is a fitting modern iteration of the RDS Champion of Champions”. 

2023 was a remarkable year of achievements for Bawnmore Pepper Almeric. Having achieved a Classification score of VG88 2-Year-Old she then went on to achieve the maximum Classification score possible of EX90 as a second-calver on October 4th. 

She also won Senior Champion & All Ireland Junior Cow Champion of Charleville Show 2023. She won Champion All Ireland 3-Year-Old 2022 & joint Champion 4-Year Old 2023 in the IHFA All Ireland awards. 

She has a projected 2nd lactation yield (305 d) of 10,274 kgs milk, 717 kgs milk solids. 

Bryan comments “From a young age it was always obvious that she was something special. Even as a yearling heifer she had that X factor”. 

In a remarkable mirror-image double achievement by both daughter and Dam, both she and her mother Clongowes Sid Almeric 2 EX95 4E exhibited by the O’Connor family, won Champion Tullamore National Livestock Show and Senior Champion & All Ireland Junior Cow Champion of Charleville Show respectively, seven years apart with her Dam achieving this National success in 2016. Bryan and John are very pleased with the performance of her maternal sister Bawnmore Massey Almeric EX94 3E in the herd. 

The Clongowes herd connection & Pat Fanning 

Bryan and John are fulsome in their praise of Pat Fanning, former manager of the Clongowes herd for his role and foresight in developing the Almeric cow family. John states “In fairness to Pat, he really developed the family, he always used the top sires of the time in a strategic way in every generation. Credit to him, he really got the show on the road”. Testament to their own innate sharp eye for quality breeding, no doubt inherited from their late father Brian Senior who was a noted stockman, Bryan and John picked out her mother Clongowes Sid Almeric 2 as their weanling of choice when making a purchase at the youngstock dispersal sale of the Clongowes herd in Co. Kildare in 2013. Bryan comments “In my view she was the standout weanling in the sale. I had been really impressed by her Shottle mother, her udder quality was something else. The sire stack in her pedigree of Sid x EX Shottle x EX Goldwyn was also appealing”. 

Pepper’s Showing Achievements and the talents of Paul Murphy 

Bryan states “Her maiden outing to a show was Emerald Expo in 2022. It was a very successful show where she won 1st Heifer in milk, and she also won Intermediate Champion. She was never haltered prior to preparing for Expo. She has a lovely unassuming nature, very quiet disposition however she just did not like the halter at all initially. It is without doubt 

thanks to Paul Murphy for his skills that we managed to get her trained. Paul with his patience and perseverance, gained her confidence over time”. John concurs; “Paul has been the one and only on the halter leading her in the ring for all the shows. Paul is gifted, he is simply brilliant, so switched on, a super operator. If we are talking in terms of Pepper Almeric being an Oscar winner, then in our eyes Paul is also an Oscar winner for his incredible supporting role”. 

All Star Award 2022 – Sterndale Colt Rae ET EX93 3E, bred by Liam & Sandra Murphy, Evergreen Herd, Bagnelstown, 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 five lactations. Her average lactation length since her first milking twelve years ago is 342 days. Her lifetime milk production average (to date) is 9,240 kgs. Having completed lactations from youthful heifer through to mature cowhood, she performs exceptionally 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 obtained 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 way.”

All Star Award 2021 

All Star Award 2020 

All Star Award 2019 – Lisnalty Megasire Rituel EX90 2nd lactation, bred by Paul Hannan & family, Lisnalty herd, Friarstown, Crecora Co. Limerick.