Henry, Yvonne, Sam, and Jane Dudley of the Dekeana Herd in Co. Tipperary welcomed large crowds to their farm for the Irish British Friesian Club's annual open evening. 

The Dudley family, based just outside Templemore, are milking 80 pedigree British Friesian cows in a split calving system.

The family has being breeding British Friesian cows since the 1970s, but only started to classify them in 2019.

Just over six years later, the Dekeana Herd, which produced 7,019kgs of milk at 3.89% fat and 3.53% protein, held the 2026 Irish British Friesian Club's annual open evening, which is a testament to the knowledge and graft the Dudley family has put into breeding.

Heifers are synchronised on the farm and served to sexed semen, with the top percentile of cows also getting served to sexed semen with the aid of Moonsyst cattle monitoring boluses.

Dovea Genetics' Barrowvale Google 8 ET (FR8896) was the Dudleys' choice of sexed semen for the 2026 year, with Atshanboe Seamus (FR2811) also providing cover.

The rest of the herd is either served to conventional semen or mopped up by two stock bulls, one Friesian and one Angus.

The Dudleys bring approximately 14 replacement heifers into the herd each year, picking the best from a total of 30-40 heifers calved down each year.

The combination of sexed semen and the Friesian bull allows them improve the herd annually while pushing profits by selling surplus heifers as weanlings in the back end of the year or in-calf heifers before their second winter.

They also run a pedigree suckler herd alongside the dairy enterprise, comprised of purebred Aberdeen Angus and Shorthorns.

The beef operation is also split calving, with approximately 18 breeding cows across the two breeds.

Irish British Friesian Club

The event the Dudleys hosted drew a large crowd of both British Friesian breeders and and non-British Friesian breeders last Friday evening (July 24).

At the event, attendees had the opportunity to win spot prizes by entering the open stock judging competition.

This involved ranking a group of junior, intermediate, and senior cows ahead of the master judge, Glenn Carter of the Ransboro herd.

The evening, which was sponsored by Moonsyst cattle monitoring, also saw clipping demonstrations, an array of trade stands, and more.

Attendees also had the opportunity to personally view 20 heifer calves from the elite Dekeana Herd, which were up for sale.

Sam praised the British Friesian breed, saying: "They're a good strong and robust cow, and we're getting plenty of milk out of them, typically hitting 7,000kg of milk."

He also noted the demand for the calves, stating that they were getting an average of €450 for month-old bull calves this spring, albeit there was good prices across the board.

Henry pointed out the importance of the classification system, stating that the herd has 'improved drastically' since they started classifying animals, with the system "putting things into perspective in terms of what type of cow you would like".

He also noted how the Irish Pure Friesian Club also drives improvement in the herd, especially as they attend event and other shows and chat to other British Friesian breeders.

The family thanked all attendees on the evening, as well as extending their best wishes to purchasers.