Is there still demand for pedigree blondes?

[Davy_g]

Yeah , this is the thing , every big cattle producing area seems to have it's own favourite. Like you say , you guys like the Lim and Blue , up here the Charolais has been top dog for the last few years with the Simmental cow going across a lot of them.

If a breed can't find an area to be popular in , then it seems to struggle to get a grip. How about over in NI @Davy_g ? The Blonde was quite popular with you guys if I remember?

Very popular with a lot of Blonde breeders over here. We are mostly pretty small herds and the best bulls are sold at Carlisle or privately out of NI. The small NI commercial farmer with 10 cows can not justify 4 or 5K for a bull.

Way too much shite being kept and we all know shite breeds shite. Sorry for my appalling language but its true. Smaller, early maturing and easy fleshed wide cows are the way forward. If we can retain milk, docility, length and ease of calving then we will be onto a winner... Easy ehh.

 

[M-J-G]

With so few commercial farmers adding their data to the signet database the few pedigree farmers who did weight and scan (as we used to) found that the figures bared no resemblance to the cattle. Accuracy was very low and it was all a terrible waste of time and money. The only hope you had was to sell a bull to another pedigree breeder who weight recorded to cross index your herd a bit. It everyone does it, accuracy and reliability go up, with so few doing it the data pools are just remote islands and are worthless. Needless to say I don't officially weight record, I do weigh calves and young stock which is part of my selection process for picking heifers to keep.

You've summed up the main issues with most beef cattle breeds in the UK, I like the term "remote Islands" it's very fitting!!!

 

[CharcoalWally]

Funny you should say that Martin , I've been thinking about Davy's "remote islands" remark today at work , and I don't think I've ever heard it put better.

 

[Davy_g]

My friend has a cracking herd of blondes n does very well selling his bulls, the cows are all peas in a pod and a credit to his hard work... he does very well in the fat trade aswell ... probably one of the top 5 herds in the country for pedigree breeding,

Whats your friends prefix Juke? (Im just nosey!)

 

[Davy_g]

This is a cow we've shown this time. What's everyone's thoughts?

She looks a serious cow if the width is there all the way up the back, long and appears to be correct on the legs and feet. Nice fleshing too.
I would like to see a calf on her. Only small question might be her topline - might be they way she is standing but her superior length will predispose her to a slight dip -granted dip is unfair.

Hows it going anyway? Not a roaring trade at Carlisle I hear. Back end sales can be hard work....

 

[Davy_g]

The variation partly comes down to the breeds heritage. The breed is an amalgamation of 3 strains of cattle from south west France which were combined in the mid 20th century to create the blonde d'aquitaine. The problem arises in this country now in that no 2 breeders are breeding for the same thing, some are going for massive arses, some for taller narrower more maternal types, some trying to improve fleshing etc. There doesn't seem to be a universal idea of what the ideal blonde should be, I'll have different ideas to @Davy_g . You could say that's a good thing as there should be a blonde for everyone, but it can just lead to inconsistency and put buyers off as, unless they know the bloodlines, they won't know what they're getting.

Consistency is a massive thing, I seen a lot of variation out there whilst judging the commercial blonde herds in NI.
I would like to see council push a 'type' they are wanting us to breed with a 5 year plan of where they see the breed going and how they will get it there.

Your also right, I have people who want a 'blonde' bull, but when I dig a little about their cows and their market I realise one of mine is not for them and I wont sell them one. Turns out they go and buy one from the next breeder and he clearly has just sold them a bull to price rather than what the chap needs. A purchaser really has to do their homework to ensure they buy the blonde that fits their breeding programme/market.

 

[juke]

Whats your friends prefix Juke? (Im just nosey!)

Hallfield , he had a good Irish bull once called noble, did them alot of good

 

[Davy_g]

Hallfield , he had a good Irish bull once called noble, did them alot of good

Thanks Juke, Ballygowan Noble, my old man bred him, one of three 'real' bulls we have ever produced. Noble fairly left his stamp on James's herd. He was milky but too big framed for todays market - some serious cows still out there out of Noble.

Dare I say it he was Northern Irish - different country but that's a different discussion.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Hallfield

He knows how to breed a good blonde!

 

[M-J-G]

Thanks Juke, Ballygowan Noble, my old man bred him, one of three 'real' bulls we have ever produced. Noble fairly left his stamp on James's herd. He was milky but too big framed for todays market - some serious cows still out there out of Noble.

Dare I say it he was Northern Irish - different country but that's a different discussion.

When we come over to this side of the water, we're all just a "Paddy" whether you're from the north or the south, cattle are the same.
I used to just be know as and called Irish Martin in the local pub, nobody cared what my passport said, so I just went along with it.

 

[juke]

Thanks Juke, Ballygowan Noble, my old man bred him, one of three 'real' bulls we have ever produced. Noble fairly left his stamp on James's herd. He was milky but too big framed for todays market - some serious cows still out there out of Noble.

Dare I say it he was Northern Irish - different country but that's a different discussion.

Noble has definitely been a credit to you Davy, and to the good work he did for James, I'm sure he will still have straws kicking around from him aswell.. for anyone wanting to see a herd of real quality blondes it's the place to see them

 

[juke]

He knows how to breed a good blonde!

He knows how to breed a good blonde!

He had a good teacher, his grandfather n uncles have been damn good cattle breeders with different continentals.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

He had a good teacher, his grandfather n uncles have been damn good cattle breeders with different continentals.

He'd be the only one I'd buy a blonde bull off

 

[Davy_g]

He'd be the only one I'd buy a blonde bull off

That's a shame, the genetics he has came from elsewhere.

 

[Davy_g]

When we come over to this side of the water, we're all just a "Paddy" whether you're from the north or the south, cattle are the same.
I used to just be know as and called Irish Martin in the local pub, nobody cared what my passport said, so I just went along with it.

Ture, with working offshore, I reply calling the Scottish folk English. They soon get the message, its a different country.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

That's a shame, the genetics he has came from elsewhere.

A bit like every other pedigree breeder then....

 

[Davy_g]

A bit like every other pedigree breeder then....

Quite, including me.

 

[Whitepeak]

She looks a serious cow if the width is there all the way up the back, long and appears to be correct on the legs and feet. Nice fleshing too.
I would like to see a calf on her. Only small question might be her topline - might be they way she is standing but her superior length will predispose her to a slight dip -granted dip is unfair.

Hows it going anyway? Not a roaring trade at Carlisle I hear. Back end sales can be hard work....

She has decent width, I'll try and dig out a rear end photo sometime. We've not noticed much dip to her back, she wouldn't stand properly for the photo and is arching her neck a bit which might exaggerate any dip. And yes she has a cracking heifer calf at foot, dad couldn't hold both for the photo haha. Photo was taken in July and she'd been calved since the end of January and settled incalf for January again. We don't think she's a big cow (not that we want them any bigger), she was the smallest in her class at the three counties show, but she was 875kg in May!
We didn't make it to Carlisle last week, dad was on your side of the water at my brothers. But we've heard it wasn't great, only one bull sold I think. Champion didn't make its reserve. But we've said for a while the October sale is never as good. I've not heard anything about the calf show they were meant to have there.

 

[Whitepeak]

Hallfield , he had a good Irish bull once called noble, did them alot of good

I'm not overly taken with Hallfield cattle, but then again I'm mainly basing my opinion on the bulls he takes to Carlisle. We don't rate the Ainsley sons on their front legs, they toe out too much for us. Only cows we've seen, except for Lucy's at shows, were 2 cows he had at the AgriExpo a few years back and they weren't great on their feet.
Although I'd love to visit, and am open to being converted.

 

[Davy_g]

She has decent width, I'll try and dig out a rear end photo sometime. We've not noticed much dip to her back, she wouldn't stand properly for the photo and is arching her neck a bit which might exaggerate any dip. And yes she has a cracking heifer calf at foot, dad couldn't hold both for the photo haha. Photo was taken in July and she'd been calved since the end of January and settled incalf for January again. We don't think she's a big cow (not that we want them any bigger), she was the smallest in her class at the three counties show, but she was 875kg in May!
We didn't make it to Carlisle last week, dad was on your side of the water at my brothers. But we've heard it wasn't great, only one bull sold I think. Champion didn't make its reserve. But we've said for a while the October sale is never as good. I've not heard anything about the calf show they were meant to have there.

Let me know if she has a bull calf in Jan. What is she in calf to?