THERE’S MORE TO SIMMENTAL: TOPPING COMMERCIAL SALES AT 34 MARKETS AROUND THE UK IN JANUARY 2025

THERE’S MORE TO SIMMENTAL: TOPPING COMMERCIAL SALES AT 34 MARKETS AROUND THE UK IN JANUARY 2025

THERE’S MORE TO SIMMENTAL: TOPPING COMMERCIAL SALES AT 34 MARKETS AROUND THE UK IN JANUARY 2025

ABERDEEN; BALLYMENA; THAME; ST BOSWELLS; DARLINGTON; HUNTLY; THIRSK; GISBURN; STIRLING; THIRSK; TRURO; AYR; HEXHAM; SALISBURY; MALTON; BROCKHOLES; CARLISLE; BAKEWELL; SWATRAGH; CASTLE DOUGLAS; WORCESTER; HALLWORTHY; EXETER; WHITLAND; DUMFRIES; FROME; PENRITH; MARKET DRAYTON; LANCASTER; DUNGANNON; OSWESTRY; MARKETHILL; HUNTLY; GISBURN.

Beef prices continue to hit unprecedented levels and the Simmental breed remains front and centre, topping commercial sales and sections around the UK.

Commercial producers taking sight of the forward industry know that their suckler cows are the engine of their beef enterprise. They’re turning to Simmental to future proof their herds, and with the benefits in milk, easy calving, fertility, and ability to rear a quality calf year on year, that adding Simmental genetics brings.

Include the Simmental’s proven abilities in age at slaughter and daily carcase gain, all with significantly reduced finishing costs, and less environmental impact, and it really does add up to money, performance, and efficiency for producers.

SIMM STORES TO 477.3P AT THAINSTONE
At Thainstone on 31st January, Aberdeen & Northern Marts sold 581 store cattle and young bulls. Heifers (339) averaged 379.6p and sold to 477.3p per kg for a pen of seven 264kg Simmental Cross from Bogmore, Duncanstone. On the same day and a sale of 95 store cattle on behalf of Orkney consignors, bullocks sold to £2390 gross for a 660kg Simmental Cross from Workwell, Orphir, with heifers selling to o £2300 gross for a 620kg Simmental Cross from Workwell.

At Ballymena on 31st January, and a sale of breeding bulls, dropped calves, suckler cows, and weanlings, sucklers were topped by E Gillan with a Simmental at £2300, and who had other Simms at £2100, and £2020.

At Thame Farmers Auction Mart’s sale of 165 store cattle on 31st January, M/S Benford topped the heifer trade with six Aberdeen Angus X Simmental 22 months at £1785, and a second pen at £1570. Simmental X from the same farm sold at £1565.

SIMM BULLOCKS TO 447.1p AT ST BOSWELLS
At St Boswells store cattle sale on 30th January held by H&H, bullocks topped at 447.1p for Simmentals from Mossilee. The same vendor had further Simmental bullocks at 444.4p, and 427.5p. Mossilee also sold Simmental heifers to £2290.

SIMM PRIME HEIFER TO £2840 AT DARLINGTON
Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on 30th January 2025. Forward were 225 cattle. In the clean cattle (139) , the gross values continue to climb by the week and further success for Scotland was evident as our leading beast in the lump was a superb Simmental heifer from S & J E Andrew, Letter Farm, Loch-of-Lowes at £2840

At Huntly on 30th January, United Auctions Huntly 166 Store Cattle and OTMS. Store Cattle trade continues to climb with buyers eager for all sorts. Heifers (53) sold to a top gross of £2060 for a 565kg SimX from Auchnairn, Keith.

At Thirsk on 30th January, and a sale of cull cows, top price in the lump was a 69m, Simmental cow which sold for a fabulous £2250 consigned by F & D Cornforth, Hambleton and purchased by R Pearson & Son, Bradford.

In a sale of cast cattle at Gisburn on 30th January, continental beef bred cows sold to a high of 324ppk for a fed Simmental cow from Dales farmers Mason & Gardner.

STIRLING BULLOCKS TOPPED BY A SIMM AT £2470
At Stirling on 29th January, United Auctions sold 1256 Store Cattle and 163 out of spec cattle, cast cows and bulls, and 31 Rearing Cattle. Bullocks (724) sold to £2470 for a 682kg Simmental from Whiteside. Simmental heifers sold to £2400 from Hatton of Newtyle. Bulls (15) sold to £2970 for a 906kg Simmental from North Balloch. OTM bulls were topped by North Balloch with a Simmental at £2970, followed by West Mains with a Simmental at £2890.

Holsworthy’s sale of store cattle on 29th January, saw younger stores topped by 13mth Simmental steers from Messrs CR & CF Timms & Son, Inwardleigh at £1410.
In a sale of rearing calves at Truro, two month old Simmentals topped the bull trade at £550 from Messrs AD & JA Bray of St Martin, Helston.

At Ayr on 28th January and a sale of calves and stirks, bullocks topped at £1300 for a 8 Month Old Simmental Cross Bullock off Messrs Mathewson, Thorn.

In a sale of prime cattle at Hexham on 28th January, Messrs Graham, Miller Hill sold Simmental cross heifers to £2236.80 to feature in the leading prices.

In a sale of barren cows and bulls at Salisbury Livestock Market on 28th January, an under three year old, Tb tested, farm assured, Simmental x grazing cow from Gemma, Will and George Edwards reached a market record price per kilo of 269p. In the OTM clean cattle, a run of farm assured, over thirty month, steers and heifers from Tony Nutland and family met an exceptionally strong trade to reach 314.5p or £2204.65 for Simmental x steers and 311.5p or £2071.48 for Simmental x heifers.

A small sale of OTM cattle at Malton on 28th January saw heifers topped by a 695kgs Simm X from SF Stubbings at 337.50ppk (£2345.63).

In a sale of cast cows at Brockholes Arms Auction Mart on 28th January, the cows just keep getting dearer and dearer. In the lump it was K & L Wildman’s Simmental which topped at £2088.

At Carlisle’s primestock sale on 27th January, Mr Tom Byres, Ellen Bank sold a 41 month Simmental cross bullock for 866kgs, 325.5p, £2818 to Charles Kirkpatrick. In the prime bulls Messrs McCulloch, Overhill, Bathgate sold 1055kg Simmental to £3054.23.

At Bakewell on 27th January, a small sale of OTM bulls were topped by a six year old Simmental at £2500 from P Cafferty, Ashover.

In the sale of 479 store cattle at Darlington on 27th January, beasts under a year saw the highlights include Simmental and Charolais steers from E Parsons, Newstead Farm to a top of £1610. On the same day, a flying stock bull trade saw Simmental bulls sell to over £2500.

At Swatragh on 27th January there was a super demand for all kinds of stock. Cows sold to a top of £2280 per head for a Sim at 770kg (296p/kg) from a Cookstown producer.

Wallets Marts, Castle Douglas on 27th January had forward 205 OTM and Store Cattle. Top per kilo on the day was 304ppk for a Simmental from also from Messrs Black, Hillside.

In a sale of store cattle at Worcester on 25th January, continental heifers were topped at 317ppk for Simm X’s from M&EA Ford.

SIMM HEIFERS TO £2390 AT THAINSTONE STORE SALE
At Thainstone on 24th January, Aberdeen & Northern Marts sold 1295 store cattle, young bulls, and weaned calves. Heifers (494) sold to a top gross of £2390 for a pen of four 684kg Simmental Cross from Euchries, Crossroads. Bulls (41) sold to £2300 gross for a 780kg Simmental Cross from Brawliemuir, Drumlithie.

On 23rd January and a sale of cull cows at Thirsk, topping both the ppk and pph was a superb 37 month, 798kg Simmental cow from BW & AM Mook of Flaxton which sold for a whopping 293.5ppk or £2342 and was purchased by R Pearson & Son, Bradford.

At Hallworthy’s store sale on 23rd January, the sale of the day was the young suckler Steers with Mr J Buckland of St Buryan who had his usual run of pure Simmental Steers at 9-10 months with huge frame and plenty of conformation to £1625 for three.

In a sale of rearing calves at Truro on 22nd January, a pair of Simmental x steers flew away to top the trade at £585 for Messrs A D & J A Bray from St Martin, Helston.

On 21st January at Whitland Mart and a sale of weaned calves, the steers were led by a nine month old Simmental at £1050 from Jones, Tegryn.

C&D Auctions Ltd held their fortnightly sale of OTM and Prime Cattle in Dumfries on 20th January 2025. Bulls were led at £2300.40 by a Simmental from Dollard. Feeding steers were topped at 235ppkgg for a Simmental from Killervan.

‘SIMMENTAL IS KING’ WITHIN WOLFSTAR PEDIGREE AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE!

‘SIMMENTAL IS KING’ WITHIN WOLFSTAR PEDIGREE AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE!

Here we focus on the King family at Ormiston, East Lothian, and who run the highly noted Wolfstar pedigree Simmental herd alongside their 100 cow Simmental cross suckler herd.

Farm Facts:

  • Ross King farming in partnership with parents, Alex and Marion
  • Wolfstar, Ormiston, East Lothian
  • 700 acres arable
  • 200 acres permanent grazing
  • 70 cow pedigree Simmental herd
  • 100 cow Simmental cross suckler herd
  • Commercial finishing enterprise

Ross together with his father, Alex and one employee not only manage a 700-acre arable enterprise but also a multi beef enterprise firmly built on Simmental genetics – a 100-cow commercial suckler herd with progeny finished on farm, and the 70-cow Wolfstar pedigree herd commonly regarded as one of the foremost in the herdbook and having bred 10 five figure bulls at Stirling in the last five years.

“We run the pedigree and commercial herds as one. Management is identical. We breed all our cattle as efficiently as we can in terms of performance; the pedigree cows have to match the performance of the commercials,” Ross explains.

“All our breeding females have to be able to look after themselves and remain in average body condition score 2.5 – 3.0 all year round. They have to be hassle free and calve themselves outdoors with minimum assistance. And since we live one mile from the calving fields, they have to be able to get on with it themselves, then they must have good mothering ability. Furthermore, newborn calves have to be vigorous and get up and away, especially in bad weather.”

Wolfstar’s commercial herd comprises Simmental cross Angus genetics. “We introduced a criss cross breeding strategy 25 years ago and have something that works very well for us. While we’ve maintained that hybrid vigour, we’re breeding a really nice balanced hassle-free cow with a moderate frame and able to rear a calf demonstrating good growth.

“Our objective for the pedigree herd is to breed bulls that we would like to use ourselves. While we’d always like to breed a curve bender with ease of calving and high growth rates, we focus solely on selecting for commercial traits and then rearing the progeny in our commercial environment. After all, we have to have confidence in what we breed,” comments Ross adding: “We don’t do any summer showing – we are very strict on biosecurity and taking the other enterprises into account, we just don’t have the time.”

Both commercial and pedigree females are maturing at an average 720kg, reaching 400kg at bulling to calve at an average 24 months. Calving is all complete within nine weeks and we’ve 90% of the herd calving within the first two cycles. To keep the herd fresh, cows only have eight calvings, that’s unless she’s a superstar,” he says. Commercial steers are going on to finish at an average 350kg at 14 months, heifers an average 320kg at 16 months and grading within the U and R specification.

He adds: “Simmental has definitely found its feet as a dual-purpose breed and I firmly believe the breed will always have a place both at Wolfstar and in the national suckler herd where it is increasingly prolific, and very popular for crossing with other breeds. Furthermore, Simmental sired calves continue to top the National Beef Evaluations chart as the fastest to finish which means fewer days on farm and subsequently reduced Carbon footprint.”

The King family’s overall objective at Wolfstar is to manage a profitable farming business. “We’ve a traditional arable enterprise growing winter and spring barley, winter wheat and combining peas however we’ve areas that can’t be ploughed – both flood plain, reclaimed woodland and undermined, so we’ve always farmed a complementary suckler finishing herd.

Dad manages the arable enterprise, and myself the cattle, but we both help out with each enterprise and discuss most decisions, and we find there’s usually some friendly competition. We always compare the annual accounts; each cost is analysed and area margins worked out to see where we can make improvements.”

Turn the clock back over 35 years and Wolfstar’s herd comprised Charolais and dairy bred beef genetics producing suckled calves. Seeking to breed their own replacements, the Kings were introduced to the Simmental. “Dad liked the fact the breed was dual purpose and we could close the herd. Back in the 1990, he subsequently invested in a bull and found he left easily managed females that could calve outdoors with minimal assistance.” The rest is history.

Alex went on to invest in his first pedigree heifer in 1997, Woodhall Damara followed by only four more and the odd bull, Ross explains. “The pedigree herd was very much a hobby until 2009 when I came home from college and travelling and then we began to grow the numbers. We introduced a focused breeding programme featuring good commercial traits to produce cattle that we would wish to farm ourselves, as well as other producers. We also started to push up numbers – to 30, then 40, but we’ve now reached a peak for time being at 70 cows, a nice comfortable number.”

The Kings attribute some of their initial success to Team Celtic 11, who will reach 14 years of age in March 2025 and is still in his working clothes. “He definitely put us on the map.” His sons include Wolfstar Jackaroo at 18,000gns, Wolfstar Fearless at 14,000gns, Wolfstar Flying Scotsman 17,000gns and Wolfstar Gold Digger at 15,000gns.

18,000gns Wolfstar Jackaroo

While a small selection of bulls are traded through the Stirling ring, the vast majority are sold to local suckler producers having been promoted on Facebook and word of mouth from repeat customers. “We outwinter these bulls on forage diets to challenge the genetics and we like prospect customers to see them in commercial conditions and in their working clothes.”

The Kings also privately trade a quantity of quality pedigree breeding females each year, some of which have gone to start up herds.

Ross repeatedly says their success is also down to adopting a commercial strategy for trait selection, as well as for management purposes, accompanied by a strict culling policy. “We don’t keep any calves for breeding unless they show plenty vigour. We also have a very strict culling policy for feet, udders and temperament; we try to take on issues before they happen.

“When looking for a bull we pay attention to Breedplan data and select according to the trait required to improve specific performance for example growth rate, back fat and ease of calving, but first and foremost he has to appeal to the eye and then we make sure he will suit our herd and what it requires at the time.”

The latest addition to Wolfstar’s genetic mix is Hiltonstown Matrix secured in Stirling 2023 for 20,000gns. He was in the breed’s top 5% for 400 and 600 day growth with a +7 figure for maternal (milk). “While he carries very balanced performance figures, he was one of those bulls that stood out on inspection with plenty of length, tremendous fleshing qualities, and just full of flash and style.”

Ross King is also using some of the latest technology to take the pedigree herd to the next level. “We introduced In-Vitro Embryo Production (IVP) a few years ago to enable us to select specific sires to cross with some of our best breeding females to produce high genetic merit progeny for potential sale. IVP also has the potential to provide us with more choice of homebred bulls to retain for breeding purposes. Equally important, we use the service as an insurance policy – if anything happened to wipe out the herd, for example an FMD outbreak then we could rest assured we had sufficient embryos in the tank to re-establish the herd.”

Looking to the future, Ross says: “We want to continue to breed in demand bulls in commercial conditions that will not only keep our customers returning, but also attract new ones keen to improve their herd’s commercial performance and ultimately towards a more sustainable, profitable beef enterprise.”

Combined pedigree and commercial herds performance
24 months age at first calving
95% heifer scan
98% cow scan
90% calving within the first two cycles

 

 

SHAPELY BULLS, AND MILKY FEMALES, THE KEY TO NEWBIEMAINS SIMMENTALS

SHAPELY BULLS, AND MILKY FEMALES, THE KEY TO NEWBIEMAINS SIMMENTALS

Here we feature the Newbiemains herd of Jim & Patricia Goldie, Newbiemains Farm, Annan, Dumfriesshire. Jim will be the ‘main in the middle’ when he judges the pre-show sale of Simmental bulls at Stirling on Sunday February 16th 2025.

The Newbiemains Simmental herd was initially established 20 years ago as a hobby alongside the Goldie family’s dairy herd, but two decades later, it’s the beef cattle that take centre stage at this 280-acre farm, which sits on the Solway coast, near Annan, in Dumfriesshire.

As Jim Goldie prepares to judge the Simmental classes at the upcoming Stirling Bull Sales, next month, he reflects on the development of the Newbiemains herd and the changes within the breed as a whole, over the last two decades.

“It was the dual-purpose aspect that really attracted us to the breed in the first place, and we definitely felt that the breed hadn’t yet reached its full potential. We knew they could produce a good, milky female, and we saw it as a challenge to try and breed more shapely bulls, while maintaining that milkiness. The breed has improved a lot, especially in the last 10 years; the bulls have more shape and better weight gain,” he explains.

The Goldies previously farmed in Ayrshire, before moving to Newbiemains in 1993, where they built up a pedigree milking herd of 250 dairy cows – the second highest yielding herd in Scotland at one point. By 2015, however, spiralling costs and falling milk prices (to 16p per litre), meant the family could no longer justify continuing to milk cows. By that time, they had built up the Simmental herd to 80 cows and the decision was made to sell off the dairy cattle and work on building the beef herd.

Jim adds: “At the time, we thought we’d put off the dairy for a year or two, with the option of going back into it. It was hard for the first few years, but we gradually built up a lot of loyal customers for our bulls and we now sell up to 35 bulls a year, mainly from home. There’s also a constant demand for heifers, which we sell both at home and at sales.”

It’s a family effort at Newbiemains, with Jim and his son Niall carrying out the bulk of the farm work, with help from Jim’s wife Trish, who also runs a nutritional advice company, AgriFeed Solutions, and Niall’s fiancé Abby Forsyth, who works for the agricultural department, based in Dumfries. There’s also Jim and Trish’s son, 13-year-old ‘wee’ Jim, who loves to be involved whenever possible and recently won the overall young handler title at the Stars of the Future event in Stirling. The current stock count at home includes 130 pure cows, along with 46 in-calf heifers and 16 recipients carrying embryos, which are due in April.

From the beginning, the Goldies had a particular type of Simmentals in mind that they aspired to breed, so early purchases included ‘beefy’ females, with particular emphasis on feet and legs.

Jim adds: “We initially bought a few from Trish’s family in Ireland; good, beefy, breedy type females that we thought would work here. We wanted them to be fleshy but still milky and most of the females we’ve bought have bred well for us. We generally find that if the rump structure is right, then that follows through to the feet and legs, and more often than not, if they have a good head, with plenty character, that follows through the body too.

“We took our time building up the herd and were very selective with the females that we bought. The Simmentals are a prolific breed and in the first five years, we got a lot of heifer calves, so that helped build the numbers up.”

Working with dairy cows for so many years, has no doubt influenced Jim’s management style with the Simmentals. Heifers calf at two years old, which they find improves their ability to get back in calf. When milking, the goal was to produce as much milk from forage as possible, and the Goldies use this same principle with the Simmentals:
“Heifers are fed concentrates up until they’re a year old, but after that they only receive forage and minerals. We grow our own wholecrop, so they get that and haylage and minerals through the winter. They are a breed that are good at looking after themselves, so they do well on forage. We re-seed often and have good quality grass here, so we make the most of that, with cows normally out to grass at the end of March. When we can, we outwinter the heifers, and we’ve found that those heifers always do better throughout their lives,” says Jim.

Although the bulk of the calving takes place in February and March, they calve year-round, which allows them to have bulls and heifers available at any time of year, to suit their various customers’ needs. Cattle are brought inside to calve, for easier management with tasks such as dehorning, and all bull calves are kept entire.
“Keeping the bulls entire and having a high-health herd, gives us plenty options when it comes to selling any cattle. Those bulls not making the grade are sold as stores between 8-10 months, at Carlisle or Dumfries,” explains Niall.

“We always ask customers what their purpose is for the bull – we have a variety of types that will do different jobs and we’ve found that being completely honest with customers is the best policy. A Simmental cross heifer has the ability to calf at two years old and look after its calf well, so you get a far quicker return with the Simmental compared to some breeds,” he adds.

All the bulls run together in age-group batches, which the Goldies say helps put muscle on them and ensures that they’re ready to go on and thrive on any farm. Although they have regular customers coming to the farm, they do take bulls to sales if they feel they’re ready at the right time, and sales through the market have peaked at 11,000gns, for Newbiemains Neymar, sold at Stirling, last February. There have been a few more five-figure sellers at markets, while prices at home have peaked at £15,000. Last year, they sold 35 bulls, between the farm and sales, to average £6700.

“All our bulls are brought out the same, whether they’re for sale at home or for Stirling or Carlisle. We aim for consistency and want to breed them to a level standard overall,” says Jim.

In their own breeding programme, bulls that have proved successful at Newbiemains include Skerrington Iceman EX95, which was bought privately after Jim saw him as a calf when he was judging at Ayr Show; Annick Klondyke EX94, another private purchase that had won at Stars of the Future; Woodhall Fantastic EX94, bought privately from Hector McCaskill; and the Roscommon purchase, Moorglen Hillbilly EX91.

Niall says: “All of those bulls bred really well for us. Iceman had great shape, but calved really easily, with a short gestation, while Klondyke was a long, stretchy bull that produced great sons and daughters. We have fantastic females off Fantastic and Hillbilly and we also exported nine bulls to Italy, off those two sires.”

While the Goldies have little faith on the reliability of figures, they do consider the female classification scheme extremely worthwhile, and consequently, they classify all their females.
Jim explains: “The importance of cow families is another element that we’ve brought from the dairy to the beef herd. Our aim has always been to keep them at a certain level, with no bottom end and we feel that we have a really strong female base now, but that’s taken a lot of years and is the result of us being very selective. That’s where classifying comes in – it helps set a standard across the whole breed. To us, that’s far more relevant than the figures on Breedplan.”

The Goldies sell females from home and take a few to the NxtGen sale at Carlisle every year. Two years ago, Newbiemains Ladywag made 9000gns at that sale, while Newbiemains Connie was placed champion and made 8000gns, a few years earlier. Showing helped make Newbiemains a recognisable name in the early days, but the whole team enjoy the social aspect of exhibiting, so it’s something they continue to do. They first won big in 2011, with Darsham Remember Me, which was champion at the Scottish National and the Great Yorkshire and they’ve since won at the Yorkshire with the home-bred Newbiemains Eclypse EX90 and Newbiemains Diamond Jubilee. Last year, the Ex94-classified Newbiemains Icandy, proved a star in the show ring, winning inter-breeds at Stirling, Dumfries and Wigtown, shown with her fourth calf at foot.
Next month, there will be no opportunity to show the two cracking Newbiemains bulls heading to the sale at United Auctions, Stirling (Prague and Packapunch), as Jim will taking starring role himself, as judge. It’s a task he’s looking forward to, and he’s optimistic about the demand for Simmental bulls.

“There are definitely plenty buyers that are willing to pay good money for good bulls; but the quality needs to be there,” he says.

And there’s more for the family to look forward to in 2025, with Niall and Abby’s wedding in the summer and plans to diversify into holiday accommodation, where lucky guests will enjoy the unique and beautiful landscape at Newbiemains, looking across the Solway Firth to Silloth, where the first Simmentals arrived into the UK, in 1970.

 

MICHAEL DURNO AND CAMERON MACIVER PROMOTING SIMMENTALS AND TYPE CLASSIFICATION TO ORKNEY FARMERS

MICHAEL DURNO AND CAMERON MACIVER PROMOTING SIMMENTALS AND TYPE CLASSIFICATION TO ORKNEY FARMERS

In mid January, Simmental breeders Michael Durno (Auchorachan), Cameron Maciver (Coltfield), along with Meurig James, the head cattle classifier of Holstein UK, travelled north to Orkney on the invitation of the Orkney Discussion Society (ODS), to give a presentation at their evening meeting, and to give an on farm demonstration of cattle classifying the following morning. See here Michael Durno’s report:

From left to right: Meurig James (Head Classifier at HUK): BSCS Vice President Michael Durno. (Auchorachan Herd); and Cameron MacIver (Coltfield Simmentals), with a packed Orkney Discussion Society behind them. Picture by Orkney Photographic

In arriving in Orkney we were met by ODS vice chairman Tony Bone, who took us to visit Heatherhouse Farm, Tankerness, owned by Tom Lyth. Tom keeps 100 Luing cows, he breeds half of them pure, and half go to the Simmental to breed Sim/Luing heifers which he says, find a ready demand especially in Aberdeenshire. Tom is also a member of the Simmental Society, running the Brandwood pedigree herd, and has recently purchased two heifers from the Wolfstar herd of Alex and Ross King. He also runs two Simmental bulls, both from Wolfstar as well, including Wolfstar Nobleman, a 17,000gns purchase in Stirling. We were joined on the visit at Heatherhouse by Rob from BBC Radio Orkney, who recorded an interview for broadcast the following day.

The Discussion Society’s meeting in the evening was very well attended, with 82 people in the room and others from outlying areas, and on the smaller islands, tuning in via Zoom.

Michael Durno promoting the attributes of the Simmental breed, and engaging in a question and answer session. Picture by Orkney Photographic

Cameron and myself talked about the various attributes of the Simmental breed, and answered questions from the floor. One discussion point that came up was cow size, which is very important in Orkney, as nearly all cows will be wintered on slats, and cows can quite easily be too big for that system. There was also the alternative point that cows can also get too small to breed a fast growing quality calf.

Meurig James gave an overview of the classification system, and how it can be used by commercial farmers when buying a bull at sales. Ideally when buying a bull to breed replacements you would like to see a potential stock bull’s dam. With classification it can build a picture of the cow, with the scores for the various traits being published on the ABRI database. Meurig also outlined how the system can be utilized to help correct faults that may be present in a herd, such as feet and legs, and which are scored in the classification process. It was a very informative discussion and with considerable positive feedback on the Simmental breed expressed.

Meurig James talking about type classification and why he feels it is a management tool for breeding more profitable long living cows. Picture by Orkney Photographic

 

Tuesday morning saw us chauffeured by chairman of ODS James Cowe, to Oldhall Farm at Stromness, which is farmed by Dennis Isbister and his family. They run cross bred cows using various breeds of bull including Simmentals, and have also recently started keeping some pedigree Simmentals under the Isbister prefix. The two cows used for the classification demonstration, were from Auchorachan and Wolfstar. Meurig gave a practical demonstration of how a cow gets scored, looking at frame, character, conformation, feet and legs, and udders. There was considerable interest from over 40 farmers, who had to be split into two groups to get close enough to view the demonstration.
The Isbister family also had on display last year’s calf crop from their five cow herd, with five outstanding bull calves! The stock bull in the shed was an Omorga bull. Great thanks must go to Isbister family for providing the venue for this event, and also to Alison Ritch, the secretary of ODS for so efficiently organising everything.

A warm welcome and lunch with Alister Donaldson at Redland Farm.

 

We were then transported by the Orkney ‘font of all knowledge’, Mr John Copland, who gave us a very well guided tour along to Alister Donaldson’s farm, Redland, where we had some great Simmental, and Orkney chat, over lunch. Alister also has a team of Simmental bulls, which were bred at Springfield, Grangewood, and Omorga.

Interested breeders at the on farm classification demonstration at Dennis Isbister, Old Hall Farm.

 

Alister then very kindly became tour guide, as we travelled to Swannay Farm where we met with Ryan Morgan. Swanny farm was once one of the largest dairy farms in Orkney, but is now home to 200 beef suckler cows. Ryan is another who is currently adding some pedigree Simmentals, and we saw female animals that were from the Newbiemains, Annick, Auchorachan, and Ranfurly herds, and also the bull Swannay Niknak that was heading to the OBBA Show and Sale of breeding bulls on 29th January at Orkney Auction Mart ( and where he went on to sell for a Simmental centre record of 6000gns).

On farm at Dennis Isbister, Oldhall Farm, Stromness.

 

Alister continued our very well guided tour of the Orkney mainland, and delivered us back to the airport safely on time. A terrific trip and thank you to everyone for the warm hospitality, for showing us some terrific cattle and for the interest shown in both classifying and the Simmental breed.

The 17,000gns Wolfstar Nobleman purchased at Stirling by Tom Lyth, Heatherhouse Farm, Tankerness.

Thank you also for the meeting pictures here supplied by Orkney Photographic