Stabilisers
- Thread starter Oliveau
- Start date
M-J-G
Member
It was suggested that the breed was new and that was perhaps a reason for them not to be recognized by store buyers.
Other breeds certainly weren't classed as new after quarter of a century.
I suggested that it was more that they were uncommon.
Last time I checked, 25 years was 25 years regardless of what breed you had.
Last edited:
- Location
- Fife
Stabilizer are like highlander sheep. Composite self replacing maternal.
But still many suckler cattle are dairy cross.
- Location
- Devon
Take your point but I suggest it takes rather longer to get people to reconsider their maternal side than their terminal bull.
M-J-G
Member
Again I'm not so sure, Simmental is a maternal animal kept mainly for replacements but they were a pretty well established and recognized after 25 years in the country and a lot of them were trading as stores by then.
M-J-G
Member
Are highlanders that common?
I still speak to some who aren't even aware of them, I myself have never seen one in the flesh.
There are still a lot of mules around as well, and folks not opting for closed flocks.
With cattle health being focused on a lot since the later 90s the dairy x has gotten an awful lot less common as a suckler with many moving over to closed herds for quite some time now.
- Location
- Fife
No, they aren't common. That was my point.
Mules have lost a lot of market share. And as people become more aware of sheep iceberg diseases I think closed flocks will become more common.
M-J-G
Member
Either that or test and cull will come into play, up this way quite a lot of mule buyers are forcing more blackie guys into scanning, and quite a lot of those buying Blackie ewe lamb replacements are only buying from tested flocks.
Personally I'll avoid buying sheep or cattle if possible, too many are happy to sell stock that are off lines that they won't keep themselves.
ringi
Member
How many hill farmers are able to have the double secure fencing (with no bridleway gates) that are required for the sheep health schemes?
shields kaiser
Member
This might shed some light on a few of the questions above, especially on the genetics of the Stabiliser composite
Toplines and Tales: 86 - Characters in Livestock - Lee Leachman on Apple Podcasts
Show Toplines and Tales, Ep 86 - Characters in Livestock - Lee Leachman - Jun 23, 2022
podcasts.apple.com
Fair play to him, I see he's still going at it strong on Facebook.Or tony booth
Enry
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
tradition
M-J-G
Member
Just because they are recorded for conversion doesn't mean that other unrecorded cattle aren't better.
Recording doesn't automatically make a thing better, my singing is proof of that.
HundyMundy
Member
Rayburn Aberdeen angus are doing their own feed efficiency recording. Don’t know a lot about it. But there is a difference between bulls so probably something that should be taken into consideration.
M-J-G
Member
I know someone who bought a top end efficiency bull from them and one with a lower end score at the same time, and they have been pretty much the opposite to how they were supposed to be when turned out on a hill farm.
Since I used to work in that sector, I went and probed a bit deeper and I found out that pretty much all efficiency work is done on housed cattle, and there's not really anything to tie that to how they convert on a variety of grassland situations.
Feed conversion used to be done a lot in the 70s and 80s, and is a common thing in Europe with the continental breeds
- Location
- North Somerset.
Weighing feed consumed by individual housed animals identified by EID tag.
Not sure how that could be done in the context of the grazing platform.
- Location
- Fife
Also, muscle is denser in weight than fat, but requires less calories to gain. I'd worry these trials would be favouring fast growing hard fleshing animals with high mature weights and low fat cover.
Not really what I'd be looking for in a maternal line.
ringi
Member
That can be solved by also using other EBV.
But I can't think how its possible to tell the difference between grazing livestock that need less food and grazing stock that is good at taking more food then the other livestock.
At grass your dlwg will give you the most efficient converters.
ringi
Member
Only when all livestock can graze more then they wish to, as otherwise dlwg may indicate pushing another cow away from the best grazing.
Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published
Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...