Agriland recently visited the farm of Philip Jones in Co. Wexford after what could only be described as an 'unbelievable year' for the farmer.

Philip is milking roughly 100 cows on a 120ac platform just outside Gorey , alongside his wife Linda, his son Will, and his daughter Kate.

He is the proud owner of the pedigree Hallow Holsteins herd, which have claimed quite a few titles during the 2025 season.

Annaghmore Fitz Atlee EX96 (who is co-owned by the Annaghmore Holsteins' herd from Co. Armagh) kicked off the year with a win in Balmoral.

Six-year-old Annaghmore Fitz then went on to claim the prestigious title of Baileys Champion Cow in August.

Her success was well met by the Jones' Hallow Octain Twizzle ET EX93, who was crowned champion at the 2025 Tullamore show in August.

Hallow Octain Twizzle then went on to be crowned the supreme champion at the 2025 AXA National Dairy Show in Millstreet.

The Jones's herd have also picked up a couple of reserve positions this year.

Philip said: "We have had an unbelievable year this year; it only happens every now and again but it's great when it does happen."

The genetics of the Hallow Holsteins herd are phenomenal, with mainly Canadian and American embryos bought in each year since Philip's father's time.

One of the most successful stories of an imported embryo has to be the Twizzle family, who came from Lucky Holsteins roughly 20 years ago.

Philip bought six embryos from the American herd and said he was lucky enough that he got five heifer calves from them.

He says nearly half of the current herd now stems from the Twizzle family.

With the family's significant success, Philip has sold a lot of the herd's genetics across Ireland, the UK, and even as far as Italy.

He is using 100% artificial insemination (AI) at breeding, the majority of which is sexed semen, as cows are fitted with the CowManager heat detection tag.

Philip added: "We focus mainly on cow cow families here."

Farm system

The farm operates a split calving system, with approximately 50% calving down at each side of the season.

He milks the herd in a 10-unit double-up Fullwood parlour, where they are currently producing over 10,000kg/milk at 3.6% protein and 4.5% fat.

However, Philip said with limited land available on the farm, he intends to continue pushing hard on genetics to increase milk supply, aiming to climb as far as 12,500kg of milk while maintaining solids.

The herd is currently running in or around 100,000 cells/ml in terms of somatic cell count (SCC).

Philip has previously won awards for low SCC and has even come second place in Tírlan's milk production awards for liquid milk in the past too.

In terms of feeding show cows, Philip said getting them ready is a a long and unique process.

His main focus is getting them on a balanced diet.

He said there is a bit more roughage in their diet when compared to the average herd as he aims to fill out their capacity and rib cage.

Show cows are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) four times a day, as well as being housed and milked separately to the rest of the herd.

The TMR consists of high quality silage, maize, and minerals, while cows continue to get concentrates in the parlour.