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...
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...
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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 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
