There were a few of the better Irish cattle that did make it to North America, especially near the start of the Irish importations. We imported the second set of Irish Shorthorns just a few weeks after BGR brought the first ones to Mankato, KS. We did not know about the cattle that had been imported by BGR until we had finalized our deal in Ireland. When we found out there were other Irish cattle in North America, we immediately headed to Kansas to see them. It was a very rememberable trip as we stopped at HUB Shorthorns as well and got to see this excellent herd. We also saw all the cattle BGR had imported. Johnny Hook was working at BGR at this time.
When we were selecting our cattle in Ireland, we were allowed to purchase any of the calves on the cows but we were only allowed to select a few of the females in production( and the prices were considerably higher than for the open females). We felt that Highfield Irish Mist was the best bull calf of his year in Ireland, and his mother Highfield Una, was amongst the very best females in that country. We purchased Irish Mist for $300 Canadian. We also selected the two females that we considered were the best there. They cost us $500 each. During the quarantine in Ireland, we were told that the females we had selected had failed their health tests. We were suspicious that the Kevin Culhane ( who seemed to have total control of all the breeders in that country, and had the final say into which animals could be sold and which could not) had decided that they were not going to leave Ireland. We told him that we would not accept the replacement females that he had selected, and after several negotiations with him, our original heifers suddenly " miraculously" passed their health tests and were able to come to Canada. They were quarantined for 2 months in Ireland and then were quarantined for 2 months at a quarantine station on an island in the St Lawrence River in Quebec, then an additional 2 months at a quarantine station near the Edmonton airport. Despite 6 months of quarantine, our total cost in importing Irish Mist was $2000 including his purchase price. The two females cost us $2200 each so we had $6400 wrapped up in bringing these cattle to Canada. Probably one of the best decisions we ever made! Two years later, American breeders were bringing plane loads over. The Irish breeders caught on fast. When we imported our second bull three years later, ( IDS Duke of Dublin) the purchase price was $25,000 and it cost us an additional $7000 to get him on Canadian soil. The following January, we displayed Duke of Dublin in front of the Exchange Building in the yards at Denver. During the week we were at the show, we got semen orders for more than what we had invested in him.
A few years later, when the importation of Irish cattle had slowed down substantially, John Maloney ( Highfield Shorthorns) phoned me one evening. He told me that he was in trouble with his banker, and that he needed to raise some money to pay him off. He offered me a deal where I could select 70 females from his herd and I could select from his entire herd except for 2 females. He said he would be willing to sell my pick of 70 females at $1500 Canadian dollars each. At first I told him, that I could not do this deal, but a few days later I started to think more about it. I contacted the owner of Flying Tigers Airlines from New York City, who specialized in transporting livestock around the world, and he said he would bring an entire planeload of these cattle to Edmonton Alberta for $32,000. With quarantine costs included, I was looking at $2200 per female. I decided to make some phone calls and see if it would be possible to sell some of these females to pay for some of the ones I wanted. After 3 nights on the phone, I had committments from several breeders for about 25 of these females at $ 4500 each. That left me with 45 females for a cost of $41,500. This sounded like a workable deal so I started making arrangements to fly to Ireland to select the 70 head of cattle. Before I had even got to the point of getting my plane ticket booked, I heard a rumor that Ireland was having some major issues with Brucellosis. I made some phone calls and after getting some vague answers, I decided to wait and not proceed with this deal. I just had a bad feeling from what I was being told. That was also one of the best decisions I ever made as the Highfield herd was quarantined within a couple months, and most of it ended up going to slaughter because of there being many brucellosis positive females. I think I would have had a real mess on my hands if I had got into the middle of this deal and found out that I owned a plane load of brucellosis carriers!