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The importance of the show circuit as a ‘shop window’ for breeders to promote top quality cattle has again been highlighted with the news that two high achieving Simmental bulls through the 2024 summer have been sold in respective private deals.
At the 2024 Simmental English National Show, held within the Royal Lancashire Show, the January 2023 born Simply Peter Pan from Robert, Louise, & Margaret Fitton, Moss Hall Farm, Lostock, Bolton, won the Male Championship, Junior Male, and Overall Junior titles in front of the judge Stewart Stronach of the Islavale Herd in Keith, Banffshire. Seeing this stylish bull at first hand was fellow exhibitor Sam Steggles of the Wacton herd, Fieldings, Honingham, and further to family chats, and discussions, a deal was done with him being sold for £11,000 and joining the Wacton team when heading back to Norfolk following the show!
Simply Peter Pan 23 – Male Champion, Junior Male and Overall Junior Champion, English National Show 2024
Commenting, Sam Steggles said: “We hadn’t gone to the show with the view of buying a bull but we saw Simply Peter Pan being unloaded at the Royal Lancashire and just liked him a lot straight away. He’s a modern Simmental bull with length and shape, very clean, is good on his legs, and has a lot of breed character. There’s proven breeding behind him and he’s got very good performance figures. We’re delighted to get him and excited to see his progeny in due course.” Joining the 50 head Wacton herd, the initial aim is to take some semen from the bull before putting him to a handful of cows in the backend, and with him put to more cows come next Spring having settled in.
Full of Northern Irish breeding, Simply Peter Pan is by Ashland Magic and is out of Derrycallaghan Kitkat (ET) who was bought at three months of age from breeders H C Stubbs & A A Burleigh, Ballindarragh. Kitkat herself was Junior Champion at the Simmental Calf Show in 2019 at Borderway Agri Expo, and with her dam Corskie Vesna being a top breeding female with many of her progeny being sold at Stirling bull sales.
For the ten cow Simply herd it was a terrific couple of days with the Simmental English National Show prizes being the ten-cow herd’s highest awards to date, and followed by a private sale to a pedigree herd. Speaking afterwards Rob Fitton said: “In the run up to, and through the show, we said that we thought this bull is the full package of looks, breeding, and performance. His sire was bought for length, colour, and figures, and his dam is a thick set cow. He’s clean with width, end, and no gut, carries a +9 figure for Maternal (Milk), and is +109 for Self-Replacing Index.” Continuing he went on to say: “We’re over the moon that Simply Peter Pan is going to Sam and his noted Wacton pedigree herd. When a pedigree man comes and buys an animal that you have bred it’s just great and there’s a little added bonus as you know that his name will appear on certificates for years to come. We wish the Steggles family every success with him.”
Come the autumn and Rob Fitton will be taking two half-brothers of Simply Peter Pan to the Stirling Simmental Bull Sale in October.
The second private sale has seen Strathisla Pentagon, from Strathisla Farms, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, head south when selling to the Denizes Herd of MA Barlow & Sons, Near Leyland, Lancashire, and this time for £10,000.
Strathisla Pentagon at the Royal Highland Show 2024
This April 2023 born bull stood first in a strong class at the Royal Highland Show when judged by Michael Durno of the Auchorachan Herd, Glenlivet Ballindalloch. With some breeding connectivity, Strathisla Pentagon is by Denizes Logic 20 VG89, and is out of the Dirnanean Grafter 15 EX93 daughter Strathisla Jitterbug’s Haka VG85.
Commenting on this purchase, John Barlow said: “This bull just caught my eye for the tremendous length he had coupled with his power and weight for age. His sire comes from a strong female line that we obviously know very well, and he’s got some tremendous performance figures behind him. We think he’ll be a good fit with daughters of our primary stock bull Corskie Nutmeg, and we’ve already used him on Denizes Hamish heifers.” Corskie Nutmeg was also purchased privately, following last year’s Royal Highland, for £32,000.
With exceptional performance figures, Strathisla Pentagon is in the breed’s top 1% for both Self Replacing and Terminal Production Indexes, the top 1% for 400 & 600 day growth, top 1% for Eye Muscle, and is +9 for Maternal (Milk).
This is the second Denizes Logic 20 bull that the Strathisla herd have sold privately recently and with a further seven sons, the first crop to be offered at sale, heading to Stirling in October. Of Denizes Logic 20 and this private sale, Strathisla Farm’s Adrian Ivory said: “We’re delighted with Denizes Logic 20 and he’s breeding very consistently and to a type. His progeny have length, shape, are easy fleshing, and with great daily live weight gains from birth. We’re really delighted with the sale of Strathisla Pentagon to a noted herd like Denizes.”
