Ballyglunin farmer hits the jackpot with €19k prizewinning Charolais

A NORTH Galway farmer didn’t have to rely on the lotto last weekend to hit the jackpot when his 14-months-old pedigree Charolais bull made a whopping €19,000 at a sale in Roscommon.

David Watts from Ballina, Ballyglunin, knew that he had ‘a good one’ from his embryo implant into a cross-bred Friesian cow, who did the ‘carrying and rearing’ of Garra Rockey.

The smashing Charolais — out of Maerdy Sinndar (sire) and Kilcumeragh Dorothee (a cow imported from France by Brendan Canning) — took the Junior Champion title at the Christmas Cracker sale at Elphin Mart on Saturday.

But the real action began when Garra Rockey (822kgs) entered the ring with the bidding — often in ‘jumps’ of €500 — shooting up to an incredible €19,000, eventually being knocked down to English farmer, Jonathon Watson, owner of the famous Tweedale herd.

“I knew that he was a nice animal but to be honest about it, I never thought that he’d go that kind of money.

“The breeding though was good with the mother having bred a few national champions in the past — as a calf he was always a lovely animal and really matured over the past few months,” David Watts told the Farming Tribune.

Embryo breeding is of course not all plain sailing with the initial purchase costing anything from €400/€500 to €1,000, while the birth is normally a ‘section’ to reduce the risk of losing the calf and/or the mother.

Vet Brian Burke from Francis Canavan’s practice in Tuam performed the operation in the autumn of 2020 which ‘went 100%’ and from there on it was pretty much VIP treatment for Garra Rockey.

The Christmas Cracker Charolais sale at Elphin attracted an entry of almost 100 bulls, all of which have to be vetted and checked before being accepted for the show.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.