Having worked with various breeds of cattle in his career, stock manager at Bowley Court Farm, Richard Bell, says the Simmental has stood the test of time for the breed’s superior mothering ability, calving ease and temperament. 

Richard, who manages the 300-cow herd across the 550-acre grass farm alongside stockman Andrew Bennett on behalf of owner C M Mercer, has been with the herd for some 42 years and has witnessed various attributes of many breeds, but feels the Simmental breed delivers on all areas of suckler beef production. 

“We’ve tried all manner of breeds in the past, have witnessed some of the benefits of hybrid vigour too, but overall nothing has really delivered as consistently and with the ability to tick all the boxes as well as the Simmental,” highlights Richard. 

The herd consists of pedigree and purebred Simmental cattle and finishes progeny for ABP with recent sales of 12-13 month old bulls topping at £1550 with 90% hitting U grades and the remaining 10% hitting R grades. “While the Simmental is highly regarded as a maternal breed, these grades are testament to the fact that the breed can hold its own with any of the Continental breeds when it comes to quality beef production.” 

“…recent sales of 12-13 month old bulls topping at £1550 with 90% hitting U grades and the remainder hitting R grades…”

Meanwhile, some 55 heifers are retained each year with the remainder being sold locally as 14/15-month old stores, often to repeat customers. 

With just two staff working the herd, Richard says ease of management is key. “The herd starts calving indoors around the 20th March and finishes at the end of June with calves tagged, dehorned and then turned out for spring grazing,” he explains. 

In the run up to calving, cows are fed 2-3lb of cake as well as fodder beet a day according to their condition, alongside wheat or barley straw until calving. Upon turnout, twins are separated with those calves receiving concentrate all through the summer. “With Simmentals we often get twins and we see about 10%, but due to milk availability the dams are quite capable of rearing them,” he adds.  

Calves are creep fed from the beginning of August depending on grass availability, with bull calves being fed 10lb a day of blend from For Farmers alongside grass silage, while heifers are fed approximately 6lb of blend alongside grass silage. 

Currently the herd runs a total of 13 stock bulls, of which 10 have come from Society sales at Worcester or in the past Bristol and Welshpool, with two being purchased privately and one being homebred. “We usually do a range of semen testing prior to use and we tend to test the oldest, youngest and newest in the stock bull team,” explains Andrew Bennett, who has been working with the herd for the last two years.

Heifers calve at two years of age at the same time as the mature herd. “We prefer to run them as a separate bunch for the first year before joining the main herd,” adds Andrew. 

Cows are routinely vaccinated for BVD, Leptospirosis, Rotavec and Rispoval 4, as well as a preventative vaccine for clostridial disease as they once lost a cow to Blackleg. “We prefer to wean during the last two weeks of October and if grazing allows, cows go back out to grass to dry up until housing at the end of November.” 

Richard admits grazing management is minimum as most of the fields are too steep to plough and many of the lower fields are subject to flooding. “The farm is host to an anaerobic digester with a small amount of arable to help with rotation. Muck from the cattle goes into the digester and the digestate is put back on to the land.

“Simmentals tick so many boxes for us, allowing us to run a closed herd, minimising the health risks associated with bought in replacements, as well as producing high value surplus females for sale alongside prime bulls which achieve good grades too. It would take a lot for us to consider an alternative breed,” Richard concludes.

There is a place for all breeds of beef cattle but when it comes to easy calving, hi-health and good maternal characteristics, there is nothing to beat the Simmental according to one farming family from Inverness. 

The dual-purpose breed has been the backbone of the Young family’s successful commercial beef enterprise at Bunchrew Farm, where the late Allan Young and his wife Karen, moved north from the Central Belt to take on the tenancy of the unit in 1987. 

Having relied upon the Simmental to produce home-bred replacements and easy fleshing progeny for more than 30 years, the family has built up a strong reputation for selling top-quality bulling heifers and yearling store cattle through Dingwall and Highland Marts. 

“Simmental cattle have been with us since the beginning and Allan was always extremely passionate about the breed,” began Karen, who now farms in partnership with son Calum, after the passing of Allan in 2017. 

“Our first interaction with the breed was in the early 1980s when we AI’d a bought in pure Simmental cow to Solway Adonis and got a bull calf which went on to breed a lot of our foundation stock. 

“Since then, the Simmental has continued to suit our system very well and we just can’t see past the breed. The cows are great mothers, have plenty of milk and a good temperament, with the ability to be crossed to any other breed to produce easy fleshing progeny.”

The hi-health, BVD and Johnes accredited herd is split calving, with 100 cows calving throughout March and April, and the remainder calving from September onwards. 

Although having bred pedigrees in years gone by, the family aim to introduce hybrid vigour in the first cross by using the Salers over all heifers. 

The majority of second calved cows going back to the Simmental to breed home-bred replacements which calve down at 2.5 years of age.

All autumn calving cows are bulled to the Simmental, with a selection of cows from both herds bulled to the red Aberdeen-Angus, again to introduce a bit more hybrid vigour. 

“We started using the Aberdeen-Angus three years ago and went for the red option rather than the black so that we would still have the dark red markings on our cows,” explained Karen.

“Although we still keep the odd pure-bred female and in years gone by, have kept a small pedigree herd, we find we are too high up to be running cows entirely pure and need the all-important hybrid vigour.

“We also have high populations of ticks on our ground and because all the stock is home-bred, they are acclimatised at a young age.”

Other terminal sires have been used successfully at Bunchrew, including the British Blue, which produced some cracking heifers for home use and for selling through the ring or privately. 

“Dad built up a good market for the Simmental cross British Blue heifers and often sold the best of them privately to returned buyers who were looking for a bit more shape,” said Calum. 

“As the years have gone on, demand has changed, with producers in our area looking for ¾ Simmental herd replacements with plenty milk and big frames.”

Around 25 replacements are kept on each year and are selected on their mother’s performance, temperament, feet and size.

Both Karen and Calum praised the breed’s longevity, with one of the oldest cows on the farm still producing at 15-years-old. 

Calum said: “Not only do Simmental cows last long but they still leave you a bit of money at the end of the day as one of the most recent cull cows weighed 915kg and sold for £1260.”

The majority of cows are housed inside throughout the winter, with the autumn herd also brought inside for calving for ease of management at harvest time but turned outside as soon as possible.

Calving cameras have been a huge help to Karen and Calum, as has the regular weighing of all calves on a regular basis as part of the Beef Efficiency Scheme. 

Allan always enjoyed a trip to Stirling Bull Sales, where he often came home with stock bulls backed with tremendous bloodlines which went on and worked extremely well in the commercial herd. 

Noted stock bulls have been purchased over the years including 

Simmental heifers with calves at foot from George and Charles Gordon, Lost Farm, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, are well sought after each year at Aberdeen and Northern Marts’ breeding sales held at Thainstone. Over the past 20 years, the father and son duo has been selling strong consignments of well-bred outfits to returned buyers at both the spring and autumn fixtures, producing overall sale averages as high as £2920 and top prices of £3700.

The family farms 1100 acres of land which rises to 948ft above sea level and includes 200 acres hill ground, while 125 acres of spring barley, 40 acres of fodder rape and 11 acres of fodder beet is grown. As well as running a 50-cow suckler herd of mainly Simmental cross females, the family also keeps 1100 breeding ewes which includes mainly Texel cross ewes to produce prime lambs which are sold through Aberdeen and Northern Marts.

Simmentals have been a staple part of the business for some years and Charles believes there is nothing to beat the breed, particularly when it comes to mothering ability. “We find Simmental cross females are ideal functional cows and do a great job of producing quality calves which are easy fleshing and reach a good weight,” said Charles. “They produce plenty of milk and have the ability to be crossed to any breed successfully.” While the family sells all of their calves as yearling stores through Thainstone, they also buy in around 80 bulling heifers through the centre each year for selling back through the sale ring with Limousin calves at foot in the spring and autumn.

The bulk of the heifers are pure Simmentals or Simmental crosses and are bought at 18-24-months-old from noted homes. “I usually start buying in heifers around the end of January and I like to buy ones with big frames and plenty of length,” said Charles.

“Simmental crosses are the most popular suckler breed in Aberdeenshire so there is huge demand for them at Thainstone, particularly darker red and white types which I try to buy more of.”

The heifers are now calved earlier at Lost to get the calves to a good, strong size for sale day, with the first calving from the end of January onwards. “The calves need that extra bit of size and style to sell the unit well so we have found that having older calves works in our favour,” said Charles.

 The Lost consignments at both the April and October sales usually produce some of the highest herd averages, with last year’s 26 outfits sold in the spring averaging £2888 and reaching a top of £3300.

In the autumn, they sold equally well with 19 units cashing it to average £2673 but it was in May, 2014 when they produced their best average yet of £2920 and a top price of £3700 for the champion. “We have the same customers coming back each year which is really pleasing to see,” commented Charles. “These Simmental heifers have the ability to last long and will go on for 10 years or more, producing good quality calves.”

With next week’s sale of 350 head of adult breeding cattle just around the corner, George and Charles are hoping for another great sale at Thainstone. This year’s spring consignment includes 34 outfits, all of which have been individually tested and BVD vaccinated. Calves are also tissue tagged.  “Thainstone is a great centre for selling breeding stock, particularly big framed, milky Simmentals which suit the market,” added Charles, who hopes to have a similar number forward for the sale in October.  “I couldn’t fault the Simmental breed and, in my opinion, there is nothing better than a shed full of Simmental females.”

 Next week’s sale at Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, on Tuesday, April 27, will commence at 10am in the Thainstone Exchange. Buyers must register ahead of the sale and online bidding will be available through the Thainstone Online platform.