The Mottistone Fold Breeding

1. We started by begging, stealing and buying as many females as we could.


2. We kept the best and culled the rest – poor conformation, size, feet, temperament, late calving, barren, poor producers etc.


3. With breeding, the strength is in the female line. We look for quality and consistency.


4. Bull selection is all important to maintain or improve the quality of the female line. We look for a bull which:
   
   1. says "look at me, I am a bull!";
   2. is sound with good, straight and free movement;
   3. has a good bull-producing pedigree,
   4. good temperament, and
   5. the potential to win prizes at 2yo or 3yo.


5. We will normally only keep a bull for two years. If he is good, he has time enough to leave his influence, but if he is kept longer and fails to nick, he is capable of major damage to the Fold. Hence the two seasons limit.


6. We categorise bulls "a", "b" or "c" on the various characteristics. No bull is bred from with a "c" in its consideration for use.


7. By having consistently good calf crops from Eoin Mhor of Miungairigh and then his best son, Eoin Mhor 8th of Mottistone, a "Mottistone" type has evolved which is very distinctive with good size, body and good height characteristics.

Before breeding Highlands I bred foxhounds and thoroughbred racehorses - the latter up to international championship standard, which included the 1984 Irish Breeder of the Year award by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association. I thoroughly studied the top breeders of both and concentrated strictly on performance, culling what did not come up to my standards. This has given me 46 years of experience of both failure and success. Accordingly, I have adapted the principles learnt to my breeding of Highland cattle. It seems to work.