John Farrell established the Dillon Angus Herd in 1998 with the purchase of Clooncolligan Nichola. It was Dillon Tara that put Dillon Angus on the map being the first female to be shown out of the Dillon Angus Herd. Her first show was Roscommon in 2002 where she was reserve champion, then Mohill where she was over-all champion, Elphin over-all champion and the All Irelands in Strokestown where she was over all Female Champion. The following year May 2003 Dillon Tara was shown in the RDS Show which was held on the showground in Goffs where she was over-all female champion. This was the last RDS Show to be held. In 2005 in Tullamore Dillon Tara was shown as a cow with calf at foot where she was overall female champion.
In 2005 John was elected to the Council of the Irish Angus Cattle Society Irish Angus Cattle Society and serves on Council straight through to this present day. In 2006 John was one of the founder members of the Irish Angus YDP, the first YDP workshop being held on the farm of Dillon Angus. John worked with the YDP for 10 years travelling up and down the Country and to Scotland organising workshops and tours. John was elected as vice President in 2014 and 2015 and elected as President of the IACS in 2016 and 2017
During 2017 the Irish Angus Cattle Society Irish Aberdeen Angus Association Irish Angus Cattle Society celebrated its 50th Anniversary. In 2009 John represented the Irish Angus Cattle Society at the World Angus Forum in Canada and in 2017 represented the Irish Angus Cattle Society on a marketing trip to Romania accompanied by Joe Burke of Bord Bia and Micheal Maxwell of Maxwell Livestock Exporters, which proved very successful.
John has judged at shows up and down the Country including the All Irelands in Strokestown, the elite sale in Carrick on Shannon and bull sales in Carrick on Shannon, Kilkenny and Kilmallock. There are bulls and heifers from the Dillon Angus Herd to be found all over Ireland, Europe and as far away as Kazakhstan and Romania. There are two bulls, Dillon Knight Eagle Challenger and Dillon New Holland standing in AI. Dillon Angus has won many championships at Shows and Sales around the Country including 2 All Ireland titles in 2008 and 2009 for Angus X heifers and also in 2019 All Ireland Irish Angus Senior Male Champion with Duibhgiolla Mario.
Finally John has put in a huge amount of work helping out the Society at numerous events, Ploughing Championships, shows & sales and All
Ireland Championships over the years. It has to be said that John has led by example and has been an inspiring figure. It is impossible to adequately express John’s contributions, his spirit and work behind the scenes to the Irish Angus Cattle Society. This is an opportunity for the Irish Angus Cattle Society to express our gratitude to John and his family.
It is with great pleasure that the Irish Angus Cattle Society nominate John Farrell for the National Hall of Fame Award 2023