Hall of Fame Award 2005
Anthony O'Connor was nominated by the Belgian Blue Society of Ireland for the national hall of fame award '05. Anthony is breeding Belgian Blue cattle for over 17 years. He first used Belgian Blue bulls on his friesian herd in Wexford and found he was getting very good quality crossbred calves. He was the first man to use a Belgian Blue bull across his whole friesian herd. In 1989 he purchased his first purebred heifer from Michael and Dominique O'Sullivan from Cork. In 1990 he became a member of the Belgian Blue Council. In 1994 he was elected President of the Belgian Blue Society and remained President for 9 years. He is still a loyal member of the Belgian Blue Council and continues to work hard in promoting the breed.
He was the man who instigated the society to hold open days on commercial farms. The first was held on his own farm in Wexford where hundreds of farmers turned up to view the quality crossbred and pedigree cattle. He organised many open days since then,the most notable being in Tulsk, Co Roscommon where over 4000 farmers visited a commercial suckler herd.
He was a founder member of Wexford Quality beef where he promoted the breeding and rearing of quality beef cattle where Belgian Blues made up a large percentage. At that time the Belgian Blues had the highest usage of AI over any other breed in Wexford.
During his time as a breeder he has shown cattle all over the country winning many championships including the RDS, National Show at Tullamore and the All Ireland Calf Championships.
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