Steaks from two Simmental x bulls took the champion and reserve awards at the ASDA Highland Show steak competition.
Champion from William and Billy Nelson, West Brackley, Kinross and the reserve from Andrew Braes,West Bradieston, ST Cyrus.
Both bulls graded U-3, the steaks were cooked on the ASDA stand and judged by celebrity Chef Ainsley Harriot.
All roads will lead to Cookstown on Monday evening July 1, for the Northern Ireland Simmental Cattle Breeders’ Club’s annual stockjudging competition.
Commencing at 7.00pm, the event will be hosted by club chairman Nigel Glasgow, and his wife Phyllis, at the Bridgewater Farm Herd, 30 Creevagh Road, Cookstown, County Tyrone, BT80 9QU.
During the evening the highest placed competitors (under 30-years-old) will be selected to form teams to represent Northern Ireland at the British Simmental Cattle Society’s National Stockjudging Competition. For the first time in its history, the national final is taking place in Northern Ireland.
Club secretary Robin Boyd said:”We are delighted to announce that the Northern Ireland Simmental Club is hosting the 2013 stockjudging finals at Enniskillen Show on Wednesday, August 7. This is a very prestigious event in the society’s annual calendar, attracting upwards of 50 young members from throughout the UK.
“We are looking forward to welcoming breeders from across the water, and showcasing the cream of the Province’s Simmental cattle.”
“The club usually selects two judging teams to compete at the national finals, but this year we are putting forward three teams in each age category – junior, under 21; and senior, under 30 – giving 12 young people an opportunity to compete at the national competition. We are also pleased to reveal that Bank of Ireland has weighed in to sponsor the club’s junior judging teams.”
The NI Simmental Club’s Young Members’ Association co-ordinator Zara Stubbs is urging all club members and their families to attend the Cookstown event on July 1. “The club’s annual stockjudging competition provides Simmental enthusiasts with an opportunity to get together socially and put their stock judging skills to the test.
“Thanks to the Glasgow family for agreeing to host the competition, and to Bank of Ireland for its generous sponsorship.”
Simmental is the ultimate breed of choice for suckler herd owners Robert Ferguson, and son William, from Sperrin View Farm, Stewartstown, County Tyrone.
The father and son duo run a herd of 60 suckler cows, alongside an intensive 150-sow birth to bacon pig enterprise.
The suckler herd comprises of 46 commercial females, the majority of which are three-quarter-bred Simmentals, while the remaining 14 cows form the Sperrin View pedigree Simmental herd which was founded shortly after William graduated from Greenmount College ten years ago.
“Simmental is without doubt a true dual purpose breed. The cows are superior mothers, and their progeny will match, if not surpass, the growth rates and carcase weights of other continental breeds,” explained William who speaks from experience, having finished various beef breeds over the years.
Robert and William operate a closed-herd policy, and have been members of the AFBI health scheme for two years. “The commerical herd is mainly home-bred, and we are currently using a home-produced pedigree stock bull which was retained for his excellent conformation and above average Breedplan figures,” said William.
The January 2011 born Sperrin View Columbo was sired by the Cleenagh Flasher son, Omorga Volvo, and is bred from a Kilbride Farm Newry daughter. He is in the breed’s top 10% for terminal sire index +77, self replacing index +89, and eye muscle area +3.5; and has a milk value of +5.
“The Simmental bulls have a docile temperament and a long life-span. We usually change our stock bulls after a few seasons. They are still fit at five-years-old, and are sold privately to other suckler herds.”
William is full of praise for the Simmental cows. “Nothing beats the Simmental, they have it all – size, strength, fertility, longevity, mothering ability and milk. The cows are easy to manage on a low input system, and have a nice temperament.”
Eighty-five-per-cent of the herd is spring calving, and it is routinely vaccinated for Lepto and BVD. Cows calve in a straw bedded house, and weather permitting are kept outside during the day, and re-housed at night. They are fed a diet of silage, straw and minerals which is mixed using a feeder wagon.
The Fergusons farm 140 acres and their main grazing period is from March to October, but this largely depends on the weather.
The herd is divided into batches. All calves are reared naturally on their mothers at grass, and the bullocks are introduced to creep feed from four-months-of age. Weaning takes place at around seven-months-old.
In the past Robert and William kept their male calves entire and finished them as bull beef. The cattle were achieving deadweights of around 500kgs at fifteen-months-old, with 80% of the carcases receiving U grades.
“With escalating feed prices we decided to stop bull beef production, and are now selling our bullocks as stores at between fifteen and twenty-months-of-age.”
A few weeks prior to leaving the farm the stores receive silage, straw and one kilo per head per day of a 16% crude protein blend. They are sold at a local market where they attract a strong demand and regularly secure top prices. “Bullocks sold in 2012 averaged 551kgs and sold for £1,100 per head,” confirmed William.
Robert and William have also witnessed a ready market for their Simmental heifers. The better heifers are retained as herd placements, with the remainder sold through the store ring.
William continued: “The Simmental females are healthy, and we don’t have a high replacement rate, so we are able to sell surplus maiden heifers on an annual basis. We have regular customers who buy from us privately, and we’ve also sold heifers at the Simmental Club’s commercial sale in Dungannon. Last year our heifers averaged £1,023 per head at 484kgs.”
The pedigree herd is also managed commercially, with AI sires Curaheen Vio, Omorga Volvo, Omorga Baldwin, Clonagh Tiger Gallant, and the 20,000 Euro Curaheen Tyson featuring in the breeding policy.
William, who was runner-up at the 2012 Farming Life/Danske Bank Pig Farmer of the Year Awards, has represented Northern Ireland on several occasions at the Simmental society’s national stockjudging competition, and has judged at the local club’s Dungannon show and sale.
The Sperrin View herd savoured success at the recent bull sales in Stirling. Making his debut appearance William sold two bulls to average £6,562 per head. Leading his entry, and setting a new record for the herd at 6,500gns, was the twenty-month-old Sperrin View Challenger. He was sired by Keeldrum Schubert, and out of the home-bred Kilbride Farm Newry daughter, Sperrin View Trudy. His other entry was the May 2011 born Sperrin View Crossfire which came under the hammer at 6,000gns.
Concluding William added:”Simmental is an all-round beef breed and there is nothing to beat it! It is an excellent choice as a terminal sire, and the cross-bred Simmental cows are an unrivalled foundation for any profitable suckler herd.”
Hard work, commitment and enthusiasm have paid off for Lancashire farming and agribusiness family, the Barlows.
In the 1970s the family was the first in the UK to establish a pedigree milking herd of dual purpose MRI cattle, a pedigree Simmental herd and a trailer manufacturing business at Denizes Farm, Ulnes Walton, near Leyland.
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| Denizes Cadette 29 with from left to right, Matt, John and Sam |
Now the MRI cattle are in demand from dairy and beef breeders across the UK, the Simmentals are commanding top prices at pedigree sales and the trailer business, which is now a distributor for Ifor Williams, is the brand’s biggest distributor in the UK and has the country’s largest hire fleet.
Cattle are a passion for Michael Barlow, who runs Barlow trailers with his father, John, and brothers John and Graeme, establishing the Denizes Simmental herd in 1978 and taking on the running of the MRIs.
Michael’s sons share his enthusiasm for the cattle, with Matt, John, who is studying for a BSc honours degree at Myerscough College, and Sam all working on the family’s 138 ha which includes Littlewood Hall. Fourth son Thomas will work at home after completing an agribusiness degree at Harper Adams University College.
Michael is a member of the British Simmental Cattle Society’s council and is the young members representative. It was the boys’ great grandfather Albert who began farming at Littlewood Hall Farm after the Second World War and their grandfather Johnny began manufacturing trailers at Denizes in 1970.
The MRI herd was started when great uncle Tommy in the 1970s, after a visit to Holland where he saw the cattle, decided to switch to the breed from Dairy Shorthorns. Now the Littlewood MRIs work well together with the Denizes Simmentals and a small herd of pedigree Limousins also under the Littlewood prefix.
Cross bred Simmental/MRI bullocks sold up to £1,470 last autumn and averaged £1,250, achieving weights of 700kg finished off grass. They are also in demand as embryo recipients, making excellent dams because of their milkiness, and the Barlows use them to carry Simmental embryos.
Since Michael started the pedigree Simmental herd, the aim has been to include as many of the important cow families as possible and, currently, most are included even with only 25 breeding females. The majority of the herd is home-bred but a couple of significant recent purchases have further expanded the genetics.
“Our aim is to produce between 10 and 15 Simmental bulls for the society sales in Stirling, Carlisle and Bristol each year,” said John. “We have got most of the cow families we want and now the plan is to increase cow numbers from 25 to 70 to 80 and produce bulls for every sale,” he added.
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| Ranfurly Beauty 5 |
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photo by Julie Hazelton
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The heifer Ranfurly Beauty 5 was secured by Michael in a telephone bid for the top price of 16,500 gns at David Hazelton’s production sale last September in Co Fermanagh, breaking the breed’s record price for a maiden heifer. She has since been flushed and MRI cows are carrying five embryos by Heywood Handsome and Cairnview Snazzy.
A member of the Kim family was purchased in November in Roscommon from for 8,000 Euros, the top price of the sale. Raceview Cinderella Kim, purchased from Raymond and Marion O’Connell, will be flushed in the spring.
The Denizes herd has won the female championship three times at the Perth Stirling society sales but the best sale so far was in February 2011. Out of an entry of 200 cattle on the day, the Barlows took the top price of the sale at 17,000gns with 15 month old home bred bull Denizes Amazon, their female champion, the 30 month old heifer Denizes Nelly sold for 9,200gns.
Probably the herd’s best family to date and Michael’s favourite is the Melody family. It began with the purchase in 1999 of the heifer Brinkton Melody 10, a daughter of the famous ‘Golden’ show cow Stuartslaw Melody. Brinkton Melody’s daughter, Denizes Melody 2 won the reserve breed championship twice at the Royal Show.
Another successful family the Trixiebelles has had success in the show ring with Denizes Trixiebelle 3. By Ashland Tornado, she was first and senior heifer champion at the English National Show and she was in the winning sire group of three at the Three Counties Show. Her February 2012 daughter, Trixiebelle 6 was champion Simmental in a strong line-up at Borderway Agri Expo last November. Ashland Tornado, the herd’s six year old current stock bull, has added his stamp, siring some of the top selling progeny, including Amazon. The first seven of his sons sold at Stirling to average £6,500.
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| Denizes Cadette 29 |
A grand daughter of the oldest cow in the herd at 17, Denizes Cadette 8, Tornado daughter Cadette 29, a three year old heifer due to calve to Curaheen Apostle at the beginning of April, is entered for the Stirling sale on February 18.
Two home bred bulls by Tornado, Chicago 11 and Commander 11, out of the Cadette family, are also entered for the sale. Health is a priority and the cattle are Johnes and BVD accredited and the herd is in the SAC CHeCS health scheme.
The MRI milking herd currently runs to 48 cows, reduced because of the poor forage harvest last year and an increased number of stock generally. The plan is to increase the number of milkers to 60 to 70. Twenty per cent of the herd are crossed with the Simmental bull, a few going to the Limousin and the remainder bred pure. The herd averages 7,000 litres a cow with butterfat running at 4.12% and protein at 3.28% with milk being sold on a cheese contact to Milk Link and attracting 28ppl.
The attributes of the dual purpose breed which is long-lived and expected to average six lactations brings a ready number of purchasers of both pure bred and crossbred females from across the UK, including Scotland.
The Ravensdale herd owned by Michael Hind, near Mayfield, East Sussex, has been recognised by EBLEX as the Most Improved Herd of Simmental cattle in England for 2012.
The award is presented by the EBLEX Beef Better Returns Programme (Beef BRP) to the recorded herd that shows the greatest genetic gain for commercial characteristics over a 12-month period. There is a separate award for each of 11 UK breeds.
Michael Hind bought the 162ha (400 acre) Bungehurst Farm, Near Mayfield, East Sussex 14 years ago. He established the Ravensdale herd of pedigree Simmental with one bull and ten maiden heifers which calved down for the first time in 1998. A year later he also began breeding pedigree Sussex cattle. Numbers now stand at 20-25 Simmental cows, 35 Sussex cows plus a herd of 35 Sussex and Simmental crosses.
Both the pedigree herds have been performance recorded since they were established, and only performance recorded bulls are ever used. Mr Hind is looking particularly for easy calving and good milking traits and says there are plenty of recorded bulls to choose from.
The bulls are turned out with the cows from the beginning of June to the middle of August. Scanning takes places at the end of September and anything barren is culled. The herd is brought in and fed straw/silage at the end of October or early November. The heifers calve down in January followed by the cows at the beginning of March.
They are turned out during late April, weather and ground permitting and the calves are offered creep feed from the start of July. They are weaned in October.
When selecting which females to keep, Mr Hind with his farm manager, Brenda Hide have been looking in the past year or two for those with good milk figures based on 200 day weights, to counteract a couple of bulls used previously which proved poor for milk.
The poorer milking cows have now been culled from the herd and the Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) are now showing improvements in milking ability.
Bulls are chosen for easy fleshing, providing they have good size and mobility traits.
“Our current stock bull is four years old and will remain active in the herd for another three or four years,” says Mr Hind. “His second crop of calves are on the ground now, and we can see that he is already putting extra weight gain into his progeny, which is very pleasing.”
The cattle are shown at all the local shows, and this year they also went up to the Cheshire Show. This generates a lot of interest with commercial farmers who are interested in crossing Simmentals onto native cattle because of the easy calving and fleshing traits. Sales are made directly from the farm, through word of mouth or from interest generated at local sales.
Commenting on their strategy for the future, Mr Hind said: “Performance recording is the way the breed needs to go to ensure easier fleshing and to prevent the animals getting too big.
“Figures are a very useful management tool that help us understand the detail and concentrate on specific traits to achieve this.”
Samuel Boon, EBLEX Breeding Specialist says:
“Michael and Brenda are to be congratulated on their success. The main way to change the genetic potential of a herd is through careful sire selection, and this farm provides a good example of where it has been done well.
“High EBV sires should be selected in a balanced manner, taking into account not just growth and carcase traits – but also those that influence characteristics such as ease of calving and maternal performance.
“The bull selection decisions made today will still be influencing the herd in ten years’ time – so a little time spent studying performance records now is time well spent. Bearing in mind the long-lasting impact of genetic selection – this year’s win bodes well for the future of the Ravensdale Herd.”
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