<p>The Irish Aubrac Cattle Society held a farm walk last weekend on Cathal and William Bannon’s farm to highlight what the breed has to offer. There was a large attendance at the event, which involved a walk through the cattle, a number of technical talks, and up-to-date information on the breed. </p><p>One of the key factors discussed was the commercial beef value (CBV), and how well the Aubrac breed is performing on genetic evaluations. </p><p>The most recent Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) genetic evaluations ranked Aubrac as the number one breed on both the dairy beef index (DBI) and the replacement index. </p><div att="1" class="mx-auto w-auto w-fit text-center gadvertisementheader px-2 pb-2 mb-2"><span class=" my-font-roboto-regular text-[0.625rem] my-text-color-gray-1 text-center">ADVERTISEMENT</span><!-- /144848334/new2025-articlepage-deskmob-slot2-300x250 -->
<div id='div-gpt-ad-1753366990195-0' style='min-width: 300px; min-height: 250px;'>
<script>
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1753366990195-0'); });
</script>
</div></div><p>Based between Killenard and Portarlington, father and son duo William and Cathal Bannon operate a dairy enterprise using Aubrac sires, which they run alongside their pedigree Wilcot Aubrac herd. </p><p> </p><p>The Bannons have been crossing Aubrac sires on their 55-cow dairy herd since 2016, and established their well-known Wilcot pedigree herd the following year.</p><p>Since then, the herd has gone from strength to strength, with the pedigree herd winning the award for the best small herd in the Irish Aubrac Cattle Society’s most recent herds competition. </p><p><strong>Why Aubrac?</strong></p><p>Cathal explained that their venture into the Aubrac breed was a result of curiosity. “Relatives of ours had been using Aubrac straws on their dairy herd. They were drawn to their ease of calving and short gestation,” he said.</p><div att="2" class="mx-auto w-auto w-fit text-center gadvertisementheader px-2 pb-2 mb-2"><span class=" my-font-roboto-regular text-[0.625rem] my-text-color-gray-1 text-center">ADVERTISEMENT</span><!-- /144848334/new2025-articlepage-deskmob-slot3-300x250 -->
<div id='div-gpt-ad-1753367097616-0' style='min-width: 300px; min-height: 250px;'>
<script>
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1753367097616-0'); });
</script>
</div></div><p>“Calves were well-conformed and easy to sell. I wanted to try the breed myself, so I purchased an Aubrac bull from Kelly and PJ McGrath in 2016 and bred him to heifers. I have not looked back since. </p><p>"Aubracs are our breed of choice when it comes to our dairy heifers and
cows – we do not use any other beef breed. They are efficient feed converters, grade well and have high kill-out percentages.” </p><p><strong>Pedigree Aubrac herd </strong></p><p>The herd’s first pedigree heifers were purchased from Ray and Joe Muldowney’s Portarlington herd. These heifers were the foundation for today’s Wilcot herd. </p><p>This spring Cathal calved down 17 pedigree Aubrac cows, and a further seven heifers will join the breeding herd in 2025. </p><p>“I favour a sweet-headed animal, that is docile, functional, and somewhat traditional in character, weighing between 650kgs-700kgs,” said Cathal about the breeding selection process. </p><p>He is delighted with the demand for Aubrac bulls from dairy farmers. “We have been supplying bulls to dairy farmers for nearly eight years now, with great feedback. They love their ease of calving, short gestation, docility and
calf quality.” </p><p></p><p></p>