Irish Simmental Yearbook 2022-D 2 - Flipbook - Page 6
€4,400 while our heifers topped €8,800 with an
average of €4,075. In total 18 bulls and 22 Heifers
were exported, showing the high regard that our
top generics have outside the jurisdiction.
2021 was a year of change, the biggest being the
decision by Peadar to move on to pastures new. For
22 years he has been the face of the breed and has
had a huge contribution to the development of
the breed over that time. He had a great rapport
with breeders and would always do his best to
accommodate buyer’s requirements, where possible.
I have seen 昀椀rst-hand the lengths that he has gone,
to defend and promote not only the breed but the
sector as a whole. He was a great stalwart of the
breed and a great friend to many, many breeders.
Change also leads to opportunities and we are very
fortunate that we have someone of the calibre of
Deirdre McGowan joining us as General Manager.
I expect that she will be equally amicable with
breeders and buyers and will get the chance to
apply her own stamp on the role. She will be ably
guided by Marian, who has been so committed
to us during the transition and without whom we
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PRESIDENTS ADDRESS - Irish Simmental Yearbook 2022
would have struggled to keep the of昀椀ce going.
The outlook for 2022 is that we are heading into a
new normal. The spectre of covid is diminishing
so hopefully breeders will get to dust off their show
halters this year. Post covid I expect that climate
change will be the main focus this year, particularly
the emissions from agriculture. Age of slaughter
has been identi昀椀ed as the area with the greatest
potential to reduce the emissions from the sector.
This is a great opportunity for our breed given
that weight for age has always been one of our
strengths. Over 7 years in Tully trails, Simmental
steers 昀椀nished between 48 and 81 days earlier than
the other main continental breeds.
Finally, I wish to thank my fellow council members
for having the con昀椀dence in electing me as
president. As a council we have had to address so
many dif昀椀cult issues, but it was great to see that
everyone was prepared to shoulder some of the
work. I must single out Jennie Aherne who as
president led by example and undertook a huge
amount of work over the past year. I have a tough
act to follow!