Blonde bulls

davieogrutha

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Orkney
They are cracking looking calves you must be very pleased with them!! What you gonna do with them? Have you much pedigree cows?
Cheers. Yeah happy with them. They've done well considering we've had a hellish dry summer. Something we're not used to up here in Orkney. It's certainly affected grass growth. The. Cows have had to do with very little grass. Don't do any creep feeding untill they come in for the winter. So not got any special treatment.
Only have the 4 pedigree cows just now. Started about 5 year ago by buying in a couple heifers from Carlisle. AI'd them with Lochhead Tyson and got 2 heifers which I kept and that's their calves in the pictures. 2nd year was a disaster. One cow aborted then the other cows calf got joint ill, didn't matter what we gave it, it just didn't work so ended up having to put it down. 3rd year we got 2 bulls then this year we have 2 bull calves and 2 heifer calves. Probably keep the 2 heifers on for breeding with. Bulls if they're like anything will try to sell or of need be use on our suckler cows. Would like to get to about 10 pedigree cows some day.
If I can see them in heat I like to AI them, if not I have a Hallfield bull to cover with. He's leaving some very nice X calves. He's not suitable for heifers as I discovered the hard way😳😬
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
Cheers. Yeah happy with them. They've done well considering we've had a hellish dry summer. Something we're not used to up here in Orkney. It's certainly affected grass growth. The. Cows have had to do with very little grass. Don't do any creep feeding untill they come in for the winter. So not got any special treatment.
Only have the 4 pedigree cows just now. Started about 5 year ago by buying in a couple heifers from Carlisle. AI'd them with Lochhead Tyson and got 2 heifers which I kept and that's their calves in the pictures. 2nd year was a disaster. One cow aborted then the other cows calf got joint ill, didn't matter what we gave it, it just didn't work so ended up having to put it down. 3rd year we got 2 bulls then this year we have 2 bull calves and 2 heifer calves. Probably keep the 2 heifers on for breeding with. Bulls if they're like anything will try to sell or of need be use on our suckler cows. Would like to get to about 10 pedigree cows some day.
If I can see them in heat I like to AI them, if not I have a Hallfield bull to cover with. He's leaving some very nice X calves. He's not suitable for heifers as I discovered the hard way😳😬
Well You should be proud of the way they have turned out pure natural!
Thats a pity always happens to the good ones. Would you buy more heifers in? Do you run a big suckler herd?
Nice I do like the Hallfield bulls they never seem to produce a bad one and they always top the sales!!
That’s not good what do you use on your heifers?
I have a few Tyson straws how is he for calving and how did the calf’s turn out?
 

davieogrutha

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Orkney
Well You should be proud of the way they have turned out pure natural!
Thats a pity always happens to the good ones. Would you buy more heifers in? Do you run a big suckler herd?
Nice I do like the Hallfield bulls they never seem to produce a bad one and they always top the sales!!
That’s not good what do you use on your heifers?
I have a few Tyson straws how is he for calving and how did the calf’s turn out?
Try to calf up to 60 cows. Always seems to be a few problems and don't quite get to that. Such is farming!!. Put a lot of x heifers this year to a Saler bull that I've had for a couple of years now. For the pures I AI them. Might see how the Hashtag bull calf turns out might use him on heifers pure & X bread. Ease of calving and material traits was the reason for using him.
Tyson was very good, one calved herself and the other needed slight assistance. Turned out nice peaceable cows. Not many straws of him left in the tank. Should have got more when I got them. Think they are hard to come by now. After speaking to Doncombe blondes thought I'd order up some Faust straws. They recommend him especially for material traits.
Can take a look at the Grutha blondes FB page for photos if you want save cluttering up here with photos.
 

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
That’s a good number. Have you many commercials or just pedigrees now?
well good luck with them hope they throw you a few good bulls! How’s the new stock bull?
I guess you have to be don’t want a bad name for yourself.
Do you know if there are much entry’s for Carlisle in October?
We've currently got 4 commercials (1 AA, 1 Her & 2 Lims), we did cull a load out as they were some of the original cows when we started in beef 15yrs ago. I've also graded up some of the BlondeX cows we'd kept. I have bulled 4 crossbred heifers (1 lim, 1 saler & 2 AA) this time. And I might bull a few more next year. If it was up to me I'd always have a few commercials around as it shows what our bulls can do in that situation. Dad however would happily have a totally pedigree herd.
New stock bull is looking good, expecting his first calves in Feb.

IMG_20210917_114101.jpg


Not actually heard what entries are like yet, guess the catalogue will be out fairly soon.
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
Try to calf up to 60 cows. Always seems to be a few problems and don't quite get to that. Such is farming!!. Put a lot of x heifers this year to a Saler bull that I've had for a couple of years now. For the pures I AI them. Might see how the Hashtag bull calf turns out might use him on heifers pure & X bread. Ease of calving and material traits was the reason for using him.
Tyson was very good, one calved herself and the other needed slight assistance. Turned out nice peaceable cows. Not many straws of him left in the tank. Should have got more when I got them. Think they are hard to come by now. After speaking to Doncombe blondes thought I'd order up some Faust straws. They recommend him especially for material traits.
Can take a look at the Grutha blondes FB page for photos if you want save cluttering up here with photos.
That’s a good number to run Iv around the 340 mark to calve next year once I get them scanned and sort out the cull cows, (290 this year), served 75 heifers this year I must be mad!! How many stock bulls do you run to your 60 head?
Im gonna keep hold of my Tyson straws hoping to get a couple pedigree heifers at the Carlisle sale in October, think it be a waste on X Breds.
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
We've currently got 4 commercials (1 AA, 1 Her & 2 Lims), we did cull a load out as they were some of the original cows when we started in beef 15yrs ago. I've also graded up some of the BlondeX cows we'd kept. I have bulled 4 crossbred heifers (1 lim, 1 saler & 2 AA) this time. And I might bull a few more next year. If it was up to me I'd always have a few commercials around as it shows what our bulls can do in that situation. Dad however would happily have a totally pedigree herd.
New stock bull is looking good, expecting his first calves in Feb.

View attachment 986276

Not actually heard what entries are like yet, guess the catalogue will be out fairly soon.
I guess you run 2 stock bulls if that’s your new chap above? He’s some bull if I do say so hope he breeds as well as he looks!! Do you have many due to him?
I agree as a commercial man I always look at what they can produce on a commercial.
Iv had a look still no catalogue but they are very slow with putting them out!
 

davieogrutha

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Orkney
That’s a good number to run Iv around the 340 mark to calve next year once I get them scanned and sort out the cull cows, (290 this year), served 75 heifers this year I must be mad!! How many stock bulls do you run to your 60 head?
Im gonna keep hold of my Tyson straws hoping to get a couple pedigree heifers at the Carlisle sale in October, think it be a waste on X Breds.
😳 That's a good lot of kye. Be a job keeping on top of all that. Do you have many workers to help out?
Have 3 stock bulls. Probably 1 to many, it's more down to field management. And if anything thing went wrong with one we will still have plenty of cover for the cows.
 

noagain

Member
I guess you run 2 stock bulls if that’s your new chap above? He’s some bull if I do say so hope he breeds as well as he looks!! Do you have many due to him?
I agree as a commercial man I always look at what they can produce on a commercial.
Iv had a look still no catalogue but they are very slow with putting them out!
S.F, I think says 5 bulls
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
Anyone any idea what the trade was like in Carlisle today? I unfortunately couldn’t watch it as ended up with 3 heifers calving this afternoon. Was hoping to get a bid in so was gutted to miss it.
 

davieogrutha

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Orkney
Sorry, I missed it too. Had the bairns at a sheep sale yesterday.
Would be good if the blonde society would do a sales report after a sale. Often wondered how a sale went and how the prices were. Only see the champion and reserve price at times.
Catherine MacGregor puts up on her site after sterling bull sales who buys and the price if it's sold through the ring. Apart from being nosey, it's fine to see how folk are developing their herds.
 

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
I didn't go up either tbh. And I've not heard how the sale went.
The Society generally do a report once they get one back from the auctioneers. As yet I'm yet to see anything on the H&H Facebook about any of their sales on Friday.
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
Sorry, I missed it too. Had the bairns at a sheep sale yesterday.
Would be good if the blonde society would do a sales report after a sale. Often wondered how a sale went and how the prices were. Only see the champion and reserve price at times.
Catherine MacGregor puts up on her site after sterling bull sales who buys and the price if it's sold through the ring. Apart from being nosey, it's fine to see how folk are developing their herds.
I’m guessing it wasn’t big prices as there was only 3 entered which is a shame as I would of traveled down if more entered and was after a couple heifers too but I’m sure the quality was there. I know I find they don’t update there website much I tend to follow that as I don’t do social media.
Im with you there I like to see the prices and who purchased for nosey ness. The Hallfield herd always seem to deliver the goods there I’d love to see his herd must be something else!!
 

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
The Hallfield herd is a very impressive, consistent herd. I was fortunate enough to judge the North East herds competition a couple of years ago and so got a good look around. I awarded them best large herd and overall champion herd. Unfortunately we were extremely pressed for time, otherwise we could easily have spent all day there!
Definitely worth a trip to see. And James does occasionally sell heifers privately.
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
The Hallfield herd is a very impressive, consistent herd. I was fortunate enough to judge the North East herds competition a couple of years ago and so got a good look around. I awarded them best large herd and overall champion herd. Unfortunately we were extremely pressed for time, otherwise we could easily have spent all day there!
Definitely worth a trip to see. And James does occasionally sell heifers privately.
I can imagine the herd is in a league of its own. He must run go good few pedigree cows going by the turnout he has every bull sale. Have you any of his cattle on your place?
I shall look into it thank you!
 

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
I can imagine the herd is in a league of its own. He must run go good few pedigree cows going by the turnout he has every bull sale. Have you any of his cattle on your place?
I shall look into it thank you!
I think when we were there he ran approx 30 spring calvers and 20 autumn calvers, all pedigree.
No we've never bought any direct off James. Our current stock bull, Silverwood Len, is out of a Ainsley bred cow though. So I won't be going there for a stock bull until he's bred far enough away from Ainsley. Be interesting to see any bulls out of his Jaigo daughters.
 

FarmerDanny1989

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scotland
I think when we were there he ran approx 30 spring calvers and 20 autumn calvers, all pedigree.
No we've never bought any direct off James. Our current stock bull, Silverwood Len, is out of a Ainsley bred cow though. So I won't be going there for a stock bull until he's bred far enough away from Ainsley. Be interesting to see any bulls out of his Jaigo daughters.
I’d imagine there wouldn’t be a bad one around the place either!
Are you not able to breed your own stock bulls or you prefer buying in for fresh lines?
Is Jaigo some bull?
 

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
I’d imagine there wouldn’t be a bad one around the place either!
Are you not able to breed your own stock bulls or you prefer buying in for fresh lines?
Is Jaigo some bull?
We did use a homebred stock bull last yr, and he has left us with some very nice calves. But we had to be very careful on what we could use him on. Personally I would rather keep buying in a stock bull and keep bringing in outcross genetics. I've seen too many herds that have bred themselves into a corner by over using a bull!
Yeah Jaigo is a fair bull, he won the national online photo competition last yr.
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Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
Looking for semen from blonde bulls Whitefield Leader, Druk Lance, Blackwater Jockey and a bull I would like to know if semen has been collected from or will be is Hallfield Plato bought for £12000 recently??
Iv A.I’d 22 cows mainly blue X/Lim X to Hallfield Fanfare Iv high hopes for these.
Hallfield Plato semen being launched at Agri Expo on Friday. Sounds like the bull himself will be on the stand.
FB_IMG_1635174817200.jpg
 

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