Mark Nutsford from Cheshire knows his cows. He has a reputation as one of the best judges of cows, not only in Europe but farther afield. He travels the world judging bovine competitions.
Yesterday Mark was in Virginia, Co Cavan, to pass judgment on Ireland's finest in the Bailey's Championship Dairy Cow competition. He could barely contain his delight at the quality of the animals on which he was adjudicating.
In all, 31 of the best were in front of him worth, according to some of the experts, between €30,000 and €50,000 each.
"Big-time cows," he enthused, as he watched the cows parade around him, all having qualified for the event on the quantity and quality of milk they produce.
Watched by nearly 2,000 people, Mr Nutsford eventually narrowed his choice down to three cows. At last he adjudged "the big-uddered, balanced, beautiful" Baldonnel B Charles Rosebud the champion cow.
Rosebud was shown by Cyril Dowling, Kingswood Farm, Baldonnel, Co Dublin. The lucky cow also won the top prize of €8,000 last year. But Mr Dowling's joy was even greater when Mr Nutsford picked out the reserve champion, Baldonnel Lilly Finesse, which was also shown by Mr Dowling.
"She walked in as if she owned the ring," said Mr Nutsford, a dairy farmer from Cheshire, who yesterday rejected out of hand research published yesterday morning in Britain that cows moo with a regional accent.
The proposition, put forward by Prof John Wells of the University of London, found few takers on the Virginia showgrounds yesterday, where upwards of 15,000 people attended the event.
If it were true, there would have been a virtual Tower of Babel in the main showring, where there were cows with thick Cork accents, thin Donegal ones, flat ones from the Midlands and of course, the melodious Dublin accents.
The Bailey's competition attracts only the finest cows. It is reckoned by those in the breeding business to represent the finest gathering of dairy animals anywhere in the country. Only the Tullamore Show and the National Dairy Show in Cork can come anywhere near this event.
The show, now in its 65th year, has managed to retain its place as one of the best in the country, attracting not just fine cattle but horses and sheep too.
The event provided a showcase for a host of commercial stands and cultural and social booths, including one for Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority.
It is teaming up with the Cavan-Monaghan Rural Development Co-operative Leader group, to host a biomass conference and demonstration at Ballyhaise Agricultural College in early October.
Teagasc has been monitoring the interest in cultivating energy crops and yesterday its staff was inundated with inquiries about such fuel crops as willow and elephant grass.
There was also interest yesterday in cookery demonstrations given by Cavan's most famous son since Gen Stonewall Jackson, Neven Maguire, who entertained huge crowds.