Pictured here above receiving his award from Pat Gilligan FBD (left of photo) & Fabien Peyaud Herdwatch (right of photo)
The executive of the FBD National Hall of Fame Awards is delighted to present the National Hall of Fame Award 2025 for Irish Simmental Cattle Society to Mr. Raymond O’Malley.
Raymond O`Malley from Ardee, Co. Louth established the renowned Lanmor Herd in 1974 with the importation of eight Pedigree Simmental heifers from Austria. Raymond along with other pioneering beef farmers were very aware of the direction the Irish Suckler herd needed to move. They set about visiting Austria and Switzerland to select the best females possible to allow the Simmental breed to establish itself in Ireland. The result of this work is that Ireland is now a World Leader in Simmental genetics.
The Lanmor Pedigree Simmental Herd continues to be run in conjunction with a Suckler Herd in Ardee Co. Louth where currently over 100 Simmental Cows are all crossed back to Simmental Bulls. In recent years Raymond has become a keen advocate for the benefits of quality polled Simmental cattle, and this has resulted in Raymond importing a number of bulls and cows from both Denmark and the UK. Raymond sees the quality and beefing ability of these polled offspring equal in every aspect, weight gain, milk, docility, fertility as horned Simmentals and sees a market niche for polled Simmental.
Raymond played an integral part in the establishment of the Irish Simmental Cattle Society in the early 1970’s & 80’s and continues to this day to be actively involved in the affairs of the Society. Raymond held the position of Society President from 1985 to 1991, a period that saw major growth in the breed in Ireland. He was involved in enabling the six regional clubs to establish their own Club Championships as well as providing media training for the clubs. Raymond was also instrumental in the setting up of the Simmental X Breeding competition which he also won on two occasions at Virginia Show. A fact Raymond often highlights is that the average price for Simmental Bulls in 1985 was £800 and this had risen to £2000 by 1987.
Another milestone for the Lanmor Herd was when the World Congress visited Ireland in 2000. Over 650 guests were treated to a fabulous display of Simmental cattle and needless to say did not go away hungry or thirsty. Raymond also hosted many other open days and farm walks throughout the years.
The Lanmor Herd was very prominent on the Show Circuit in the 1990’s with many successes recorded in the RDS Show when it was the key agricultural event in Ireland. The Lanmor herd had the honour of wining the Supreme Simmental Championship at the RDS in 1990 and went one better in winning the Interbreed Championship with herd sire Mountroyal Western. The Lanmor herd exhibited at all the shows in the Nort East region in the early 90’s and in fact Raymonds last show to exhibit at, was Dundalk Show in 1993 when again he won the Simmental & Interbreed titles with a homebred cow Lanmor Ashling. Ashling was a three year old Anatrim Ted cow, who in turn was out of a Creemore Pirate dam, Lanmor Victoria.
Farming politics then took over with Raymond becoming IFA Livestock Chairman in the mid 90’s where he helped steer the industry through both the BSE and Foot & Mouth challenges.
Raymond takes great pride in seeing how his Lanmor animals perform for both Pedigree & Commercial customers, knowing too well that happy customers are repeat customers. Raymond met many of these customers when judging at many Shows & Sales throughout Ireland and the UK.
Over 50 years of working with Simmental cattle leaves Raymond ideally suited to receive the Simmental Hall of Fame award. Here’s to many more years breeding Simmental as quality beef animals are suddenly becoming popular again. Raymond and his Simmental friends can look forward to many a gathering in the years to come.