Adding a new breed to a suckler herd

Whitepeak

Member
Livestock Farmer
We are currently running Angus & Hereford bulls with cows and heifers and I’m in the past we’ve also ran a limousin as well. Looking to re introduce an easy calving limousin in the near future but also looking for another breed (tired stabiliser and it wasn’t great). Looking for a breed with good temperament, easy calving, will produce good breeders and produce calves with good growth rates. Cows are a mix of breeds mainly LimX also have quite a few Angus, Simmental and Salers. All suggestions welcome
Looks like I'm a bit late to the party, but hey I thought I'd best give my input!

If you've considered Lim, and reading the comments, Bazadaise, then have you considered a Blonde?

They cross very well over native/sim bred cows in our experience (no experience with Salers yet, got one due in the next mth or so), generally easy born and grow well producing shapey calfs. Ours are bred for good temperament to.

Will you be finishing the progeny yourself or sell as stores? Either way we find they are usually in the top prices in our local markets.

Plenty more discussion and chat on the 'Blonde Bulls' thread
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Looks like I'm a bit late to the party, but hey I thought I'd best give my input!

If you've considered Lim, and reading the comments, Bazadaise, then have you considered a Blonde?

They cross very well over native/sim bred cows in our experience (no experience with Salers yet, got one due in the next mth or so), generally easy born and grow well producing shapey calfs. Ours are bred for good temperament to.

Will you be finishing the progeny yourself or sell as stores? Either way we find they are usually in the top prices in our local markets.

Plenty more discussion and chat on the 'Blonde Bulls' thread
Plus one for Blonde if you don’t want another Lim. 👍👍
 

Grahamc94

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Scotland
Looks like I'm a bit late to the party, but hey I thought I'd best give my input!

If you've considered Lim, and reading the comments, Bazadaise, then have you considered a Blonde?

They cross very well over native/sim bred cows in our experience (no experience with Salers yet, got one due in the next mth or so), generally easy born and grow well producing shapey calfs. Ours are bred for good temperament to.

Will you be finishing the progeny yourself or sell as stores? Either way we find they are usually in the top prices in our local markets.

Plenty more discussion and chat on the 'Blonde Bulls' thread
We have a neighbour with blonde’s. A breed that’s never really taken off here.
 

Farmer Roy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
NSW, Newstralya
Eh?! What’s that? Never heard of a Nguni before?!
If you open the Facebook page & read the comments, there is an explanation.
Basically, small framed South African, bred from Indian & Euro ancestry

becoming popular here for the grass fed market

“The Nguni is a cattle breed indigenous to Southern Africa. A hybrid of different Indian and later European cattle breeds, they were introduced by Bantu-speaking tribes to Southern Africa during their migration from the North of the continent. The cattle breed is medium-sized and adapted to grazing on the highveld”
 

Hampton

Member
BASIS
Location
Shropshire
Not a recommendation as such Graham, but if I were to go back into sucklers, a relatively new (to me) breed that I'd be seriously looking into and considering using would be a Bazadaise.

There's a lady on here whom I can't for the life of me remember her (user)name, breeds them and her quality stock is what caught my attention to the breed.

I must admit though, that I haven't had any first hand experience of the breed.
@choochter
Been promising myself if buy some heifers off her for years.

just for reference, I think Bazadaise is a small region in Aquitaine.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
ah...Ruby country? (mutual respect)
No don't see many of them and if I do they don't make much.
Limmy, blue, angus, hford round here.
As Sam said best to sell what folk around want to buy.
That said I can't really understand why there are not more SD's around perhaps living is to good, it would be for Devons.
 

Grahamc94

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Scotland
No don't see many of them and if I do they don't make much.
Limmy, blue, angus, hford round here.
As Sam said best to sell what folk around want to buy.
That said I can't really understand why there are not more SD's around perhaps living is to good, it would be for Devons.
For a while Charolais were the in demand breed around here, but over the last few years there seems to have been a change, Charolais are still popular but Angus seem to becoming popular again, there’s an article in this weeks farmers journal about it. We like the angus and have worked with them since going into breeding in 2014 but we need to breed good heifers with a bit of stretch about them to help with expansion because buying them is getting costly
 

Cowslip

Member
Mixed Farmer
I would be happy to show any one around my herd im not in a south devon prominent area but I am planning on having an open day to promote them at some point in the calendar this year, thinking of September before the calves are weaned off so that people can see how well they do their calves on rough grazing and how well they cross wit different breeds.
 

egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
No don't see many of them and if I do they don't make much.
Limmy, blue, angus, hford round here.
As Sam said best to sell what folk around want to buy.
That said I can't really understand why there are not more SD's around perhaps living is to good, it would be for Devons.
That one of the differences twixt them.
If the going is good, Rubies will run to fat.
But there's no such thing as 'too good' for a SD....they just get bigger, faster, then some more 'bigger'.
It doesn't manifest at Chateau Egbert, but their potential is endless.

I was once asked to host a visit from a group of breeders from the depths of Cornwall. I asked their sec -none other than Bill Harper- if they really wanted to come here?
He said 'yup...they need to see that a South Devon cow doesn't need to weigh 950kgs'
 

Wolds Beef

Member
@Grahamc94 I also am late to the Party!! But I am going to suggest a Lincoln Red. You do not say where you are in wee bernies kingdom!!. There are some very good herds of the said breed in Scotland, Auchmacoy, Balcaskie, St Fort. The Lincoln is known for its docility, easy calving, and for it's growth rates. They will cope with any conditions and are to be found from Cornwall to Orkney.
All herds welcome visitors and are mostly High Health. Have a look before you dismisss them and talk to some breeders.
WB
 
After college I worked on farm calving 100 south Devon cows, some of them obviously carried 1 muscle gene and so did the bulls as had 8-10 calves that came out with double copy with more muscle than a blue ,knocked a few cows about with prolapses , and think we lost one calf through a hard calving . Had a couple born with the big muscley tongues too which took a week to suck cow properly. The calves looked unbelievable at 4-5 months, but weren’t much bigger at 12 months and never grew to much at all .
I remember 30 odd years ago going to look at several herds in the SW ( it was the time of the breed society centenary). One breeder in particular had gone down the route of double muscling, but the penalty seemed to be that the resulting progeny were smaller.
 
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egbert

Member
Livestock Farmer
I remember 30 odd years ago going to look at several nerds in the SW ( it was the time of the breed society centenary). One breeder in particular had gone down the route of double muscling, but the penalty seemed to be that the resulting progeny were smaller.
looked at a few nerds m'self
 

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