It was using Simmental bulls on their commercial herd and witnessing the benefits of the breed first-hand that encouraged the Stronachs to establish their pedigree herd back in the early 1980s – and in the subsequent years, they’ve continued to keep the commercial aspect at the forefront of their breeding policy.

Stewart Stronach explains: “We noticed a huge difference after we started to use the Simmental – the heifers were growthier and went on to make great cows and the steers had far quicker growth weights. The great appeal of the breed is that you get milky, productive females that also produce fast-growing calves.”

FACTS

• Farming 760 acres in all, with 160 acres of barley grown within that.
• 200-cow Simmental herd includes 160 pedigree females and 40 commercials.
• 300 cross sheep are put to Texel and Charollais sires
• Top pedigree Simmental price to date is 24,000gns for Islavale Heston, in February 2018

Running a closed herd other than bulls, the Stronachs have only ever bought in a few pedigree females, with the first being Maryculter Lucinda, almost 40 years ago. Another fortunate purchase around that time was Drumsleed Amelia, which was flushed to Gretna House Supersonic, producing 18 calves.

Stewart says: “We kept all the heifers from that flush, which provided a real solid foundation for the herd; they made great cows. The health benefits of having a closed herd are really

“We like cows that can look after themselves as well as their calf; a medium sized, commercial type cow is ideal for us.”

Five years ago, the Stronachs bought Ranfurly Confederate at the Dirnanean dispersal, having liked him when he was originally sold at Stirling. He has been popular for semen sales and has also bred exceptionally well in the Islavale herd, with the first crop of sons selling to 24,000gns for Islavale Heston, in February 2018, while another son, Islavale Harvest made 16,000gns.

Two other recent stock bulls that have sired several five-figure priced sons for the herd are Curaheen Giant and Atlow Dixon. Giant was bought at Roscommon in 2016 after Stewart had placed him Junior Champion at the pre-sale show. His first seven calves averaged over £9000, selling to a top of 16,000gns.

Dixon had been placed overall champion at Stirling in February 2014, before the Stronachs bought him for 15,000gns, impressed by his ‘length and style’. His sons have also proved popular, making up to 14,000gns.

“There are a few factors that we consider when buying a bull – the look, the pedigree and its health status are all very important. We then look at the figures and make an informed choice – we wouldn’t buy a bull with particularly bad figures.

“In 2017, we bought Corskie Highlander privately from the Green family and we’re really pleased with how he is breeding. We sold the first son off him last October at 15,000gns and his first crop of heifers are calving at the moment – they’re shaping up to be really nice cows, easy calving with plenty milk.

back-end are brought in just before, in October and kept in all winter on a silage and straw ration. The majority of straw used is home-grown.

Stewart explains: “Our ground is very heavy and the cattle can make a mess of it in the winter, which is why we keep the back-end calvers in. The cows receive a bulling mineral and then a pre-calving mineral.”

Maintaining the quality of the females in the herd is a priority for the Stronachs. They have always been very selective with which ones they breed from, but they now find the Society’s female classification system extremely helpful.

“I think the demand for Simmentals continues to rise because the breed is continually improving – in weight gains and calving ease. They are as milky as ever, but with improved carcases…”

“I think an outside opinion is always useful, for any breeder, and having the classification system increases buyer confidence too. Anyone can say that a bull is out of their best cow, but this helps prove how good the females are,” says Stewart.

Established on the 4th July 1970, with the importation of four Swiss Simmental heifers, the Sacombe herd, based at Watton at Stone, Hertfordshire began. From that day on, the herd has witnessed countless show wins, Perth Bull Sale championships, a Burke Trophy win and a drive to help new members, particularly the younger generation, excel in the breed.

Third generation breeder Bridget Borlase who manages the 350-acre arable and livestock farm recalls how her grandfather, Bert Borlase, was one of the initial breeders who went on a buying mission to Switzerland and selected a number of heifers, one being a cow called Kleeb, purchased for £400. “This was a huge investment at the time, but her progeny went on to sell to America, New Zealand and Australia averaging £4000.”

By the late 1970’s the herd was running up to 80 pedigree cows with progeny being sold across the world for between £4000 and £7000. No stranger to the new European breeds, Bert was already running Charolais, Marchigiana, Chianina and Pinzguar cattle, but a shortage of new genetics meant he was looking in a new direction. “He ran the other breeds until the mid 80’s, but a passion grew for the Simmental due to their ease of management and the other breeds were naturally phased out,” comments Bridget.

Early bulls to leave a mark on the herd included an imported sire Kimberely, as well as a home bred sire, Sacombe Bernard, who went on to stand champion at the Royal Highland Show in 1977. A son of Bernard, Sacombe Edgar, stood Perth champion and went on to sell 100,000 plus straws for Star Machinery founder, the late Bertie Watterson.

Bernard produced amazing daughters including Sacombe Mame who went on to produce notable sires such as the Perth 1990 champion and prolific AI sire, Sacombe Wishful Thinking and Sacombe Shamus, the 1991 Royal Show champion. “Little did we know at the time Mame’s granddaughter Perrywood Wispa, which is registered in my own herd, would be part of the Burke Trophy winning pair in 2012 alongside our stock bull at the time Clonagh World Class, a pinnacle in any pedigree beef breeder’s career,” comments Bridget. 

Having struggled to find suitable stock bulls, 1995 saw Paull and Judy Borlase, now at the helm of the business following the death of Paull’s father, Bert, travel to France to the Paris Show. It was at this event that they were impressed with a cow called Charmonte who took her third consecutive championship title at the event weighing in at 1080kg and giving 11,000kg milk. “We returned to France to the Dijon area to view some farms including the home of Charmonte and were fortunate to buy a daughter of hers starting the next generation of imported females at Sacombe.”

For Bridget the real turning point in terms of bull use for the herd came in 2009 when Clonagh World Class joined the herd. Bred in Ireland by Garrett and Lyndsey Behan, World Class was first spotted as a young calf at a show and was later secured at the couple’s production sale. “He’s certainly been a game changer for us and my favourite to date, stamping females across the herd. You don’t have to read an ear tag to know it’s a World Class daughter,” says Bridget.

Hawaii’s first calf, Sacombe Hawaii’s Jessica, followed in her mother’s footsteps by clinching the junior championship at the Royal Norfolk in 2019, meanwhile Hawaii’s son, Sacombe Kestrel is destined to be an AI sire for Cogent Breeding while Hawaii herself is an integral part of the Sacombe flushing team.

Embryo work certainly forms a vital part of the herd’s business structure as Bridget has embarked on an embryo partnership with breeders in Kazakhstan. “We’re working with producers who have a nucleus herd for their 20,000 head feedlots to produce their own stock bulls and semen business.” This has come from a relationship built up in the country by Bridget’s brother William and his son Ben who run a worldwide farm consultancy and mechanisation business.

In July 2019, a year after Bridget’s father Paull sadly lost his battle with ill health and on what would have been his birthday, Sacombe Dandelion Oma, a descendent of yet another influential Austrian import, was tapped out as Royal Welsh breed champion and later that day the interbreed champion.

Dandelion Oma has since proved her worth outside of the show ring as she is the dam of Sacombe Juggernaut 19, a bull sold recently to Cogent Breeding and she’s also the dam of Sacombe Kite 19, which was sold privately to the Blackford herd.

It’s clear when you speak to Bridget that the passion she has for the Simmental breed clearly runs through her veins. She’s invested her time with the next generation helping the youth development programme, been a council member and judged many regional and national shows, the Stirling Bull Sales and all the major calf shows.

But on top of running the herd as well as keeping an eye on the management of her mother’s farm in Shropshire, she is running a successful meat retail business under the name of Bridget B’s alongside her partner James. Having started with a farm shop in 2005 with a turnover of £20,000 the business now has four retail outlets with a turnover of more than £2 million.

Set in the heart of the magnificent Lake District National Park, overlooking Windermere from the heights of the historic Troutbeck village is Town End Farm, run by Angus Freeman. It is hard to imagine a more picturesque setting for a farm anywhere in the country. Despite the beautiful setting, it is nonetheless a proper hill farm, and the stock it carries has to be able to cope with whatever the weather throws at it.

The family took on the tenancy of the farm in 1971, when Angus’s father, Doug, took on the farm from the National Trust. Doug was still a regular on the farm up until recently, but had taken more of a backseat to the running of the farm when Angus came back to work full time on the farm in 2008, after spending six years working as a mechanic at C.T. Hayton’s, a local tractor dealership and engineering firm.

but feel that the Luings perform better, with wintering being cut from 8 months with the Limousin to a mere 3 months with the Luings.  The cattle come in between Christmas and New Year and are out again by late March. The first heifers were crossed with a Limousin bull which they still had after selling the herd, but Angus felt that the calves weren’t an improvement on the original Luings.  In looking for an alternative, they have been delighted with the Simmental bull, and influenced by the reputation of Simmental – Luings as an ideal cross. Calving is in late February/March, and heifers calve at around 3 years old. Spring calving fits the farms system as the cows can graze, and more importantly, thrive, on the fell during the summer months without any extra intervention.

The Freeman’s sourced a Simmental bull from the Denizes herd of Michael Barlow, Ulnes, Nr Leyland, Lancashire with the herd high health status being extremely important.  Extremely impressed with the quality of the calves and the ease of calving, further Denizes bulls have subsequently been purchased.  “The Sim-Luing cross excels as hardy hill cattle”, Angus says. “With some excellent growth rates and with the hybrid vigour offering a viable alternative to the established continental breeds, they are ideal for upland farms which need hardy cattle able to thrive on the marginal land.” This factors allied to the High Health status that the family have adhered to, make the heifers a very attractive option for herds looking for recipient cattle in pedigree herds and Angus says he can’t breed enough females to meet the demand, with a ready trade selling them all at home. “Sim-Luing heifers have proved themselves to be great mothers and good milkers as well as easy calvers and the pedigree breeders are keen to

Based on the very edge of the fertile Eden Valley in the small hamlet of Blencow, in the shadow of the eastern mountains of the Lake District near Penrith, Cumbria, Irving Pearson farms Manor Farm with his wife Evonne. Irving is following in the footsteps of his great grandparents who took the tenancy of the farm on back in the mists of time and which now runs to 320 acres of productive farmland with about two thirds of this owned, and the rest rented.

The Pearsons run around 100 Texel cross bred ewes, a project that his children, Lilia, 11, and Isaac, 9, are ‘in charge of’, and which has quickly grown from the starting point of a couple of ewes. Being in such a fertile area they also grow around 50 acres of barley, which helps with the winter feed and bedding, and also helps keep the ground fresh and in good heart, reseeding with grass after cropping.

The main focus of the farm however is on their herd of 120 suckler beef cows, a mixture of pure Simmental and British Blue cross Simmental which run with the Simmental bull, producing top quality beef cattle which are all retained and finished on the farm. “We put a few pure Simmentals to the British Blue bull with a view to retain some of the resulting heifers for breeding and there is a market for our surplus heifers too” Irving observes.

“Well fleshed and fast finishing, but the females are great milkers too, an ideal starting point for a modern suckler cow.”

Pre foot and mouth in 2001, the farm was using Limousin sired cattle out of dairy cows, but when the Pearsons re-stocked they re-evaluated the business and decided to look for a beef breed with a bit more carcase and quicker finishing time than they were achieving with the Limousin cross.

Having looked around they settled on the Simmental bull as their main sire, liking them for their carcase, mothering ability, and the fact they were very quiet to handle.

The herd calves in spring mainly to utilise the best of the grass and all the calves, apart from the heifers that they select to retain, are finished on the farm. The calves get a good start and summer well as Irving finds the cows are such good milkers off the grass. Once weaned and housed in the autumn, the bulls are finished on a diet of barley and a 34% protein pellet. With the Simmental breed being well noted for its high growth rate, the bulls are sold at between 12-14 months old direct to slaughter on a deadweight basis, and aiming for a carcase weight of around 400kg. These Simmental sired bulls finish well on this system, fleshing up quickly and meet the specification with ease, mainly hitting the U Grade for maximum profitability. The heifers are grazed around on grass for a second summer and then housed for winter and finished on the same ration as the bulls, selling these at around 20-22 months old, and with them finishing equally as well as the bulls.

“Simmental is a breed fit to face the future with its ability to produce cattle with lower inputs and high growth rates off milk rather than lots of concentrates.”

When buying a fresh stock bull Irving likes to study the catalogue closely and likes to check out the EBVs for calving ease, milkiness as well as growth as he feels the maternal values of the bull is vitally important for the system he uses, and he sees the EBVs as a tool for selection, but as he says “ I have to like the look of the bull too…..no good having a bull with all the correct figures if you don’t like the look of it….It will hopefully be working here a long time so it has to look the part too!” 

Founded in 1971 by Emma’s father, Martin Dowley, the herd is one of the oldest in the country, with three cows purchased initially and a further five added during the 1970s.

“…we need a cow which can thrive on this sort of ground and the mediocre forage it can produce. Simmental cows suit our system well, being great mothers, docile and milky.”

“Since then only homebred females have been retained, with bulls sourced from herds across East Anglia when required,” explains Stephen.

The current plan is to retain 10-15 heifers each year as replacements, with these carefully selected with the aim of continually improving herd quality. And, with the herd closed, health status is maintained at a high level, with the herd accredited for both Johne’s and BVD.

“Surplus heifers are sold for breeding, with the bottom end finished alongside male calves, with these all sold as locally as possible, largely to local wholesaler Bramfield Meats, with cattle slaughtered at H G Blake’s abattoir, Norwich. 

“I’m a big believer in minimising unnecessary travel for stock so we aim to sell as locally as we can. All cattle grade as U and R grades, with a target of 300-350kg carcasses,” adds Stephen.

Currently calving all year round to provide a steady flow of finished cattle throughout the year, the herd is moving more towards an autumn calving block, with heifers calving into the herd at 2.5-3 years old. 

coastal marshes Stephen says they’re the ideal cow for the farm. “They thrive off this type of rough grazing, with the only supplement given to cows over the winter being home produced grass and maize silage and fodder beet.

“…They thrive off this type of rough grazing, with the only supplement given to cows over the winter being home produced grass and maize silage and fodder beet…”

“We finish prime cattle using homegrown barley, starting them on a little feed at about a year old. However, cows have a forage only diet and do well on it, rearing calves on milk alone, with creep feeding ruled out by the restrictions placed on the marshes.

“Cows have access to a straw pad for a dry lying area when outwintering, but that’s as far as creature comforts go for them,” he says.

Herd health management is also kept simple, with pour on treatments used for fluke and worms, with fluke being an ever-present threat as much of the marshland lies just 1m above sea level.

“We also give cows a mineral and trace element bolus in spring to counter any deficiencies, with fly tags also used on both cows and calves throughout the summer months.”

Breeding wise, the herd is currently using three homebred bulls alongside sires from other local herds, including Key Eric and former herd sire Thursford Ant. “We also use a little AI each year, often on heifers as they are around the yard, making AI much easier than for cattle out on the marshes.

“I tend to favour older, proven sires for AI, including Kilbride Farm Newry, Skerrington Legacy, Brinkton Sovereign and Gretna House Supersonic,” explains Stephen. “Because we don’t buy in females, we can afford to use some of the more traditional, widely used sires as our females are clear of those genetics,” he adds.