by Iain | Mar 29, 2012 | Uncategorised
by Julie Hazelton
Simmental is noted for its dual purpose attributes and when it comes to breeding milky, functional suckler cows the continental breed is at the forefront of the breeding programme for County Down farmers Francis and Fergal Watson.
The father and son team farm over 750 acres near the villages of Rubane, Kearney and Cloughey on the Ards Peninsula. They were hosts of the 2011 Northern Ireland Ploughing Championships, and run a herd of 250 suckler cows, the majority of which are spring calving.
“We’ve been using Simmental stock bulls for years,” stated Francis, who ceased milk production in 2008. “We used to run a British Friesian dairy herd alongside 110 suckler cows, but since we stopped dairying the suckler herd has more than doubled in size.”
The mainstay of the suckler herd traces back to British Friesian cross cows and also comprises of other continental crosses. However, over the past two or three years Francis and Fergal have been using Simmental as the main maternal sire. “The Simmental is the ideal cross on other breeds. The females have hybrid vigor, good big frames, are very hardy. The more Simmental blood the better!”
When looking for a Simmental stock bull Francis Watson aspires to buy a red coated bull with good conformation. “I specifically like red bulls as they stamp the Simmental markings on other breeds. I like a long, growthy bull with a good broad back, but not too sharp at the shoulder. Sound legs and feet are also important, as well as calving index.”
Stock bulls are purchased at the Northern Ireland Simmental Cattle Breeders’ Club ‘s official show and sale at Dungannon Farmers’ Mart. The herd’s senior stock bull is Ashland Teviot, an October 2006 born bull bred by current breed club chairman, Pat Kelly, and son Frank, from Tempo, County Fermanagh.
Ashland Teviot was purchased for 5,000gns and was the reserve supreme champion at the Simmental Club’s sale in April 2008. Sired by Raceview Nigel, his dam is the Hast daughter Corlesmore Clodagh. With a calving ease score of +3.5 this bull is in the breed’s top 10%, and is +6 for milk which is ideal for breeding replacement females.
“Now over five years of age, Ashland Teviot is still going strong and has really made his mark on the herd. Daughters are like peas in a pod, and have a good temperament and plenty of milk,” added Fergal.
The herd’s junior stock bull is the February 2010 born Knockreagh Barney, bred by Val and Conrad Fegan, Rostrevor, County Down. Bought at Dungannon last year, he was a second prize winner and came under the hammer at, 3,800gns. Sired by the Cleenagh Flasher son, Omorga Volvo, his dam is a home-bred Ballinalare Farm Nemesis daughter. His daughter calving ease score is +2.6, also in the breeds top 10%.
Francis added:”This time last year we had four Simmental stock bulls, but unfortunately one got hurt, and the other was getting too closely related to the younger females within the herd. This spring we’ll be on the look-out for another couple of Simmental bulls.”
Heifers calve into the herd at two-years-old, and all cows and heifers are calved in the house and turned out to grass from the end of February onwards. “Most of our land is close to the shore and the fields are made up of good free draining soil. Weather permitting we put the cows and calves out in small batches,” explained Fergal.
“This is a closed herd and we breed all our own suckler replacements. We are gradually trying to improve the quality of our suckler herd, and have been focusing on using good quality Simmental bulls and retaining our best home-bred heifers. The Simmental crosses are docile, milky, easy calving and have great mothering ability. The Simmental is noted for its longevity, and in the future we would like to be in a position to sell surplus heifers.”
Calves are weaned at between seven and eight months of age. “The Simmental cows have plenty of milk and the calves are in great bloom, which reduces the need for expensive creep feed,” added Fergal.
Three cuts of silage are harvested annually using a forage wagon. “We have new swards rich in clover and this high sugar, high protein silage is fed to the youngstock, while the ryegrass swards produce stemy silage for the dry cows,” explained Fergal.
The Watson’s grow 300 acres of cereals annually – barley, wheat and oats, as well as 25 acres of kale and 25 acres of fodder beet. Half of all home-grown cereals are used as animal feed, while the remainder is sold off the farm.
Cattle are housed from mid November onwards. Cows are kept in large open-fronted sheds which are straw bedded. They receive a diet of silage, straw and minerals which is fed using a Keenan feeder wagon.
“We like to buy premium quality minerals. We have no doubt that minerals are the answer to improved cow health and fertility within the herd. Minerals are expensive but worth every penny. Last year we scanned the entire herd and 94% were settled in-calf,” added Fergal.
During weaning the bullocks and heifers are separated into batches and fed a diet of silage, fodder beet, straw, minerals and cereals.
Simmental heifers are hand-picked and retained as herd replacements, while the bullocks are finished for beef at between 20 to 24-months of age. “We are very selective when it comes to picking replacements for the suckler herd. Those that don’t make the grade are finished alongside their male counterparts,” added Francis.
Occasionally the Watsons sell bullocks and heifers at Ballymena Mart, but the majority of their beef cattle are slaughtered at ABP in Newry , mostly receiving U and R grades. Heifers weigh between 320kgs and 380kgs deadweight, while the bullocks reach weights of 400kgs and over. “The Simmental ticks all boxes on this farm. The heifer calves make ideal suckler replacements, while the bullocks have the potential to put on weight and are finished on a par with other continental breeds,” concluded Fergal.
The Watson’s farm is fully self-sufficient, and with the help of four full-time employees Francis and Fergal can harvest all of their own silage and cereal crops, as well as carry out routine ploughing, slurry spreading, hedge cutting, fencing, maintenance and building work. They are nearing completion of a three-year land improvement and drainage programme using the farm’s track digger.
by Iain | Mar 9, 2012 | Uncategorised
What HCC offer to Simmental Breeders in Wales?
Hybu Cig Cymru is the organisation responsible for the development, promotion and marketing of Welsh red meat. HCC currently offer a range of funding opportunities and resources to beef and lamb producers in Wales.
Breed Improvement
HCC aims to help breeders in Wales by offering support to introduce superior genetics into their herds.
The table below shows the amount of funding available to breeders in Wales.
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Performance Recording
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Artificial Insemination
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Embryo Transfer
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50%
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50% (max £500)
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50% (max £700)
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Performance Recording (PR)
- Performance recording allows you to:
- Enables herd selection based on performance.
- Measure traits that you can’t see (e.g. eye muscle area).
- Improve selected traits while maintaining others.
- Use the figures as a marketing too.
Artificial Insemination (AI) & Embryo Transfer (ET)
To qualify for AI and ET funding from HCC, the bulls used must have EBV’s in the top 90% for calving ease direct. They must also be in the top 10% for either 400 day weight or eye muscle area.
| The table below shows the 2012 Qualification Criteria for Simmental bulls |
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Calving Ease Direct
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400 Day Weight
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Eye Muscle Area
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Top 90%
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Top 10%
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Top 10%
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-5.6
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64
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3.6
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Fertility Testing Bulls
HCC are offering funding towards fertility testing bulls. Bull fertility is vitally important as infertile bulls are a major cause of economic loss in the industry.
HCC will fund 50% of the cost of fertility testing up to £200 (to a maximum of £50 per bull)
Carcase Selection Events
The opportunity to assess live animals, follow them through the abattoir process to the chillers and review the carcases. The event gives an insight into:
- Current market demands
- Carcase classification
- Breed traits
by Iain | Jan 10, 2012 | Uncategorised
Courance, home to the Jack family, is only a few miles north of Lockerbie and 30 minutes from Carlisle. The estate is made up of 5 farms totalling 1400 acres, all of which is farmed in hand. The land is ideal for cows and carries 300 Simmental x cows, 240 Spring calvers and 60 Autumn calvers. There are 8 Simmental stock bulls at present.
60 acres of cereals are grown for feed. The rest of the land is either grazing/cutting grass or rough grazing areas which provide natural shelter for cattle.
300 acres of first cut silage are made, and 200 acres second cut. Contractors are used for silage and combining, all other work is carried out in house.
The enterprise is managed by Raymond McKerlie with one more full time member of staff and as Raymond said “having Simmental cows allows us to run a large enterprise with only 2 staff members due to the Simmental’s quiet nature and ease of handling”.
The Cows are split across two main farm steadings, and each steading has winter housing for over 450 animals. All the commercial cows have high health status as does the pedigree
Spring Calvers – Calving starts on the 3rd of March and is relatively short as the bulls are withdrawn after 10 weeks.The cows having been overwintered on slats on a diet of silage/straw and minerals are moved to deep litter straw courts prior to calving. Once calved, they are moved outside as fast as possible normally 2-3 days post calving, male calves are castrated.
The land offers natural shelter allowing early turn out which in turn maximises profitability and efficiency. Creep is introduced towards the end of August and all calves selected for store sales are vaccinated in the Surecalf programme and sold at UA in Stirling in October and November. It is mainly the earliest calves that are sold at the autumn sales and Raymond said “compared to the Limousin cross calves as we had in the past the Simmentals are a minimum of 40kg heavier when we sell them or at today’s values nearly
£100 per head more”. Younger steer calves are overwintered and sold store in the spring again at UA. All heifer calves are overwintered and grazed the following summer, any not suitable for further breeding are sold as stores and the rest are retained or sold privately to a growing list of repeat customer seeking quality bulling heifers of a known “health status.”
Autumn Calvers – Calving starts at the end of July and again is tight, the bulls being in with the cows only 8 weeks, the Autumn herd was created to ensure a plentiful supply of replacement heifers for the spring herd. Cows calve outside on very bare land. Like the spring calvers the autumn cows are over wintered on slats with a bedded area for the calves, last winter sawdust was used as bedding and proved very successful reducing bedding costs by 20%. Cows are fed silage/straw and minerals and 1kg of barley in a TMR, calves are crept earlier than the spring calves and are self weaned before turnout.
This extremely efficient operation is based on the values of Simmental cross cows being good fertile and natural mothers producing calves that are easily got and then grow very fast.And as Raymond said “Simmental cows work with you, and most importantly, for you.”
by Iain | Dec 29, 2011 | Uncategorised
Ever since the development of the ‘barley beef’ system by Dr T.R Preston at the Rowettt Research Institute during the late 1950’s there has been an intensive beef system at Harper Adams. The beef unit rears Holstein and Continental cross Holstein bulls from the 400 head dairy unit and provides three resources.
Firstly the beef cattle are used for teaching purposes for students to monitor performance and learn how to select cattle for slaughter. Secondly to provide a research facility for ‘production focused’ experiments for final year BSc students and over the years we have evaluated numerous breeds, feeds and supplements. Thirdly to show ‘best practice and make a profit’. Thankfully we exceed ‘top 1/3rd’ performance targets but this is done with attention to detail with husbandry and management.
We have recently finished a batch of over 30 Simmental x Holstein bulls.
They recorded a DLWG from 3 months old of 1.48kg to slaughter weights of 591kg at 13.3 months old. They killed out at 55.3% with R grade carcasses weighing 327kg having consumed 2.28 tonnes of feed at an FCR of 4.74. This performance significantly exceeds the EBLEX targets for continental bulls and is some of the best performance we have achieved when compared to other continental breeds reared through the Harper Adams beef unit. I would comment that the Simmentals were bred from bulls with top 10% Terminal Indexes with positive Caving Ease Direct EBVs.
This is always the type of beef bull we use on our dairy herd, and is based on all of our research evaluating progeny from beef bulls with different Terminal Indexes.
The performance of the Simmentals is shown in the table below in comparison to the Holstein bulls reared alongside them. The Simmentals as we would expect produced significantly higher DLWGs, slaughter weights, grades and FCRs and were obviously so much ‘easier on the eye’ compared to the Holsteins!
The bulls were weighed at slaughter ‘gut full’ so therefore the killing out percentage appears relatively low. If they had been weighed ‘gut empty’ as per at market or in the abattoir then the killing out would be increased by approximately 2 percentage units.
In 2009/10 our cereal fed Simmental bulls recorded gross margins of £343 per bull which was very respectable. We are of course well aware of what has happened to cereal prices this last year which is going to put pressure on margins for intensive finishing systems but thankfully as I write this article (May 2011) finished beef prices are starting to rise and climb over £3.00/kg which is ‘good news’.
by Iain | Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorised
Dennis Mitchell runs the family business at Station Farm, Thursford, Fakenham in Norfolk on behalf of the Mitchell Partnership Family Trust, and trust is exactly what they have put in Simmental for many years.
120 Simmental cows are split into two calving groups, half from mid January until the end of March and the back-end group from mid August until October. The enterprise runs on 260 acres of mostly meadow type grass (poor quality ground) with 75% of the grass in Stewardship Schemes. Straw is sourced locally on a straw in and muck out agreement. 350 tons of grass silage and 700 tons of maize silage are produced annually. The herd is run commercially but most of the cows are Pedigree Registered. 10% of heifers are retained annually and the herd is relatively young.
All cows are over wintered on a TMR.
Spring calving cows – calves are weaned in the middle of September, creep is introduced when the calves are two months old, it is a 16% protein finishing blend and maize silage is fed after weaning. Last year’s spring bull calves averaged 400kg with a top of 430kg dead weight, coming to an average of £1075 and a top of £1204, all were away before they were 13 months old. Heifer calves are also weaned in September, and then over wintered on a TMR containing grass and maize silage, minerals and protein balancer.
Autumn calving cows – bull calves weaned at the end of March at 7-8 months old then finished on the same finishing blend and maize silage, the silage intake is 7-8kg per head per day.
Heifers are also weaned in March, turned out onto grass then over wintered the following year in open yards on the same ration as spring born heifers.
The autumn bull calves are always slightly heavier and also younger than the spring born bulls when slaughtered.
3 or 4 bulls are retained every year and brought out for breeding. Some Heifers are sold privately off the farm.
Bulls are traded through H G Blake of Norwich. Live cattle are traded through Newark market with the majority at one sale in the spring. Sale toppers from last year’s spring store sales included 10 yearling heifers @ £1050, 10 of 14 month old heifers@ £1350
The minerals used at Station farm are specific to the farm to balance any deficiencies in the grass.
The herd is in the SAC cattle health scheme but they do not routinely vaccinate for anything other than regulatory blue tongue.
All females over 6 months are treated with a pulse release bolus and copper and selenium boluses before going to the grass and then dosed for fluke at housing and a low cost mectin wormer two weeks after housing.
The system is simple and profitable or as Dennis says “the cows keep me, not me keeping the cows.”
“As either a terminal sire or for breeding replacements the Simmental ticks all the boxes.”
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