Stabiliser Cattle

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
As you can tell I'm new to this site! but have been a long time observer on BFF. Being as my name has been mentioned and a lot of questions are being asked i thought i would join. Firstly Stabiliser are a registered breed with Defra so they receive full Pedigree compensation for TB. Also as Clive T mentioned all Stabilser heifers are sold Fixed Price this year the price is set at F1's £1000, F2'S 1100 and Pure's at £1250, which although may sound expensive is very much cheaper than a lot of pedigree heifers beng sold at the momemt and all heifers will have a Very High health Status. One of the most important things that all breeders of Stabilisers recognise is that they are a maternal breed and everyone I Know that went into them did so purely to produce their own replacements with the idea to putting a continental bull on them, but due to the growth of the male calfs hardly anyone has bothered to do this. I Still think the future of the breed is to keep them purely as a maternal breed and let people put their bull of choice across them!

Hi James, glad you've joined up :). I've met you a few times at some of the progressive group meetings (Mark Jelley) and was impressed with our trip around JSR farms last year. I posted earlier in the thread that I wasn't convinced of the cost part of the stabiliser concept; I think it only fair that I apologise as I expected the prices to be far higher than you have quoted above. So, leading on from what you have posted there can you talk us through the difference in an F1, F2 and pure? Obviously it is to do with the stage that the crossing has got to in order to produce the "finished" product but it'd be helpful to understand what the difference is. I'm sure you will understand though that after the December meeting I'm also duty bound to look hard at Charolais too ;)
 

James E

New Member
Location
South Shropshire
Hi James, glad you've joined up :). I've met you a few times at some of the progressive group meetings (Mark Jelley) and was impressed with our trip around JSR farms last year. I posted earlier in the thread that I wasn't convinced of the cost part of the stabiliser concept; I think it only fair that I apologise as I expected the prices to be far higher than you have quoted above. So, leading on from what you have posted there can you talk us through the difference in an F1, F2 and pure? Obviously it is to do with the stage that the crossing has got to in order to produce the "finished" product but it'd be helpful to understand what the difference is. I'm sure you will understand though that after the December meeting I'm also duty bound to look hard at Charolais too ;)

Thanks for the welcome! F1 and F2 are simply first and second generation from the original base cow. In my case i started with a lim cross putting a stabiliser bull to them with the progeny being F1's (first cross) the progeny out of them being F2's (3/4)until you get to 15/16 which is classed as a pure. I'm no expert in genetics but I'm pretty sure that's right!
 

Spartacus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancaster
Anyone any idea how much a Stabiliser bulling heifer is going to cost?

And why do I get the feeling it's going to be more than I expect?
Was at the local mart today and watched some stabilizer heifers go thru the ring at £860 at 22 month old, if timing had been right (nearer grass day) I'd have had a go at them. At the moment we run a limx and a few aax dairy and they don't seem the easiest to get in calf year on year any more, not sure if thats the holstien influence coming through or what though.
 

Walterp

Member
Location
Pembrokeshire
Was at the local mart today and watched some stabilizer heifers go thru the ring at £860 at 22 month old, if timing had been right (nearer grass day) I'd have had a go at them. At the moment we run a limx and a few aax dairy and they don't seem the easiest to get in calf year on year any more, not sure if thats the holstien influence coming through or what though.

Realistically, you are never going to be able to buy Stabiliser heifers any cheaper than that, are you?

Yes, I know you may need extra feed, but wasn't that the reason they were being sold in the first place?

Cost of extra feed? Say you;d bought a batch of 6, then assuming grass day is 20th April then you'd budget for 20 bales @ £25 per bale = £500 or £83 per head.

Do you really think they're still going to be available, and only gonna be £83 dearer, come mid April?
 

Gav

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Norfolk
It seems that there is a good demand for Stabiliser heifers at the moment going by the amount of enquiries we've had at work for our surplus ones. We've had them for 3 or 4 years now after moving from Limousin bulls and there is a vast difference in temperment of the cattle, certainly a lot easier to work with and nicely formed animals at 12 months old.
 

Spartacus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancaster
Realistically, you are never going to be able to buy Stabiliser heifers any cheaper than that, are you?
we shall see, if I do buy any I will let you know. I also thought they were a little old for bulling as they wouldnt have been bulled straight away as we calve Jan/Feb/March. I think most reckon stabilisers should be bulled at 14 months to calve at 2 years? these would have been over 32/33 months before first calving at that. Another thing that I wonder having read what James E said is why werent they selling these through the stabiliser company at over a grand? I spoke to the seller and he said they were mainly pure bred with some out of lims.
 
As someone considering going back to cattle after a long break, I'm a little rusty but.

If you keep native breed cattle, premiums from a number of schemes are available. Would Stabilisers be consided native breeds?

I'm very inmpressed by a local herd of black baldies with Belgium Blue used on some of the older cows as a terminal.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
As someone considering going back to cattle after a long break, I'm a little rusty but.

If you keep native breed cattle, premiums from a number of schemes are available. Would Stabilisers be consided native breeds?

I'm very inmpressed by a local herd of black baldies with Belgium Blue used on some of the older cows as a terminal.

Do you mean schemes as in enviromental schemes or abbatoir/supermarket schemes DA?
The stabiliser company have a scheme with Morrisons, though I don't know the details.
 
As someone considering going back to cattle after a long break, I'm a little rusty but.

If you keep native breed cattle, premiums from a number of schemes are available. Would Stabilisers be consided native breeds?

I'm very inmpressed by a local herd of black baldies with Belgium Blue used on some of the older cows as a terminal.
I think they originate from the States so I can't see them being called native. James E should be able to answer in more depth if they qualify for any premium scheme.
 

Hampton

Member
BASIS
Location
Shropshire
Went to James' last year and I was quite impressed.
One of the main things I noticed was how much extensive rough grazing he had. Think this is one of the main reasons he went down the route he did and obviously he is doing a good job. Just don't think the system would suit me as I keep grass tight due to beef and sheep and try to grow as much arable as possible.
 

hillman

Member
Location
Wicklow Ireland
What grades are the males coming into? What's weights as well. , bulls or steers ?
Seen James last year as well fine herd of cows and very docile , still undecided about them do
 
I think people who are thinking if going into stabiliser should think very carefully if they are in a tb area. The reason being that if your down with tb you can't sell 12 month old heifers as replacements for £1000+ Which will have massive effect on profits.

I'm think the cow is good, but know better than a cow that you can create on your own farm for a lot less £££
 

topground

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Somerset.
I think people who are thinking if going into stabiliser should think very carefully if they are in a tb area. The reason being that if your down with tb you can't sell 12 month old heifers as replacements for £1000+ Which will have massive effect on profits.

I'm think the cow is good, but know better than a cow that you can create on your own farm for a lot less £££
Read the original thread!
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 27 15.7%
  • 50-75%

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  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 3 1.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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