From left to right, Mount Temple breeder Anselm Fitzgerald, Judge Seamus Nagle and Irish Hereford Breed Society President John Boddy pictured with the Reserve Champion at the show, bull Griananpoll 1 Whizkid.

Mount Temple bull sells for €6k at Tullamore Mart

Kayley Hardiman

Published: Wed 10 Apr 2024, 4:21 PM

Last updated: Wed 10 Apr 2024, 4:33 PM

A Mount Temple bred bull has sold for a whopping €6,000!

Griananpoll 1 Whizkid, owned by Mount Temple Hereford breeder Anselm Fitzgerald, garnered the highest price at the recent Irish Hereford Breed Society (IHBS) Show and Sale at GVM Tullamore Mart on March 23 last.

Born in April of 2022, the bull has been used on Anselm and his father Tom's farm up until the sale, serving polled cows, that is cows without horns. He was sired by IHBS Breed Improvement sire (breeding improvement scheme), the sire of a Canadian bred bull and bred from Griananpoll 1 Orange M 661. Whizkid has nearly double the breed average kg for carcass weight and milk.

Anselm said that they weren't surprised that the bull was sold at such a high price. “We knew he was fairly good so we kind of had something like that (price) in our mind.” His father Tom Fitzgerald established the herd in Mount Temple in 1954 and has been breeding Herefords for the past 70 years.

The judge on the day of the sale was Seamus Nagle, a suckler farmer and the owner of Bull Bank, which specialises in supplying beef and dairy genetics to farmers in Ireland, the UK and the EU. Griananpoll 1 Whizkid, won the title of Reserve Champion on the day.

From a young age, Anselm attended shows and sales and became involved in breeding Herefords. Hereford breeders through the Irish Hereford Breed society have won many awards and accolades for their product over the years including the world’s best steak award.