Sussex cattle

[FarmerDanny1989]

I’m looking for a few new stock bulls and Iv came across the Sussex breed to which I like the look of, but i know nothing about the breed. Are these cattle good to finish or sell at stores? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Woolless]

@Frank-the-Wool

I quite like the look of them as well, maybe as a part of a native suckler cow composite, but I think the stores would be tough to sell up here.

 

[Formatted]

There isn't a premium market, something like Angus or Hereford where there is a premium is better surely? If that doesn't matter, I have some lovely Red Devon bulls I can sell you.

 

[pgk]

Will always buy any at right price as stores, do well on the hls grassland and rarely need any hard feed to finish. Bought one last weekend, only one in sale to go along with Hereford and Longhorn stores bought to keep Fils grass down for summer. Could do with another 80 to be honest.

 

[Wooly]

Great breed.....but then I might be biased as I have a few hundred of them.

They live and thrive off very poor grazing. Don't need to be fed concentrates, docile, and manageable. Similar to nearly every British native breed.

The Queen has the biggest herd at Windsor and she has already taken some up to Balmoral.

How many do you want !?!

 

[Farmer Fin]

True traditional are small and can be hard to finish. A lot had lim over them then bred back for pedigree for a better shape and size.

 

[serf]

Do the calves look the part that are crossed with a lim , do they sell well as stores , any one got a pic of the offspring from Sussex cow x lim bull , thought Sussex were a smallish cow , the milk and temperament are appealing with the cows .

 

[Woolless]

True traditional are small and can be hard to finish. A lot had lim over them then bred back for pedigree for a better shape and size.

I'm surprised that the traditional types can be hard to finish. I can imagine they wouldn't win any medals for DLWG on an intensive diet but wouldn't have thought that finish/fat cover would be an issue?

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Down here where @Wooly and I live we don't have all this food that many of you seem to have. Our cattle and sheep have to eke out a living on the windswept marshes and the poor land that borders them.
Sussex cattle are a very well kept secret and are also on the NBAR list (National Breeds At Risk). The may be a little slow in finishing but that is more to do with them only eating grass or low quality forage. We sell heifers to local Butchers from 18 months and will do 320 to 340kg.
Steers at 2 years old on a similar diet will do 360 to 380. If they were fed that stuff out of a bag they would I am sure do more.

Cows are easy calving and we have to keep them on very ordinary hay, that way they calve easily or they can get too fat if on silage.
Good local market for them and the more modern types have a little Limousin blood in them.

Great breed easy to manage but like everything down here you need patience. My Father always said that Patience is Cheaper than a Bag!

 

[Wooly]

A few pics of our cattle ....... and what they look like on very little grass.

 

[serf]

A few pics of our cattle ....... and what they look like on very little grass.

Do you sell as stores or finished, have calves in pic had any creep ?

 

[Wooly]

Do you sell as stores or finished, have calves in pic had any creep ?

All females are sold for breeding heifers, except for a very few.

I sell some steers as stores to a neighbouring farmer at 12-15 months old, that eventually end up in a local butchers shop at 23-25 months old. A perfect carcass size for the butcher at 315-350Kg.
I finish several and box beef them.

We do try and not feed anything concentrates. I did abit this year on one herd due to the severe drought we had and serious lack of forage. Luckily our cattle can live off large quantities of straw.

Our organic herd are forage fed only and are zero concentrate fed.

 

[Grace]

A few pics of our cattle ....... and what they look like on very little grass.

I have recently started a job working with Sussex cattle. They are so incredibly quiet! I love the bull/steer? In the middle photo! Is that a pure Sussex or crossed?

 

[marco]

Can you get them polled?

 

[unlacedgecko]

A few pics of our cattle ....... and what they look like on very little grass.

Damn fine cattle. I see now why they do so well in South Africa.

 

[serf]

I have recently started a job working with Sussex cattle. They are so incredibly quiet! I love the bull/steer? In the middle photo! Is that a pure Sussex or crossed?

They do look good cattle , how are you finding the ones you work with for milk , do they have plenty ?

 

[Grace]

Can you get them polled?

Yes... we are wanting a the whole herd polled in the future... only had to dehorn 2 out of 20 calves so far!

 

[Grace]

They do look good cattle , how are you finding the ones you work with for milk , do they have plenty ?

Yes plenty of milk!!

 

[Wooly]

I have recently started a job working with Sussex cattle. They are so incredibly quiet! I love the bull/steer? In the middle photo! Is that a pure Sussex or crossed?

It was a pedigree Sussex......... but don't get many coming out like that. I should have left its nuts on.

Can you get them polled?

I have got a homozygous polled Sussex bull. The only trouble is the odd heifer has grown small stumps on their head after a couple of years. Better just to have a traditional bull and disbud the horns rather than have ugly stumps !

I have a
Damn fine cattle. I see now why they do so well in South Africa.

There are big herds in Africa. They were taken there in the 1960's as the Africans found that Sussex cattle didn't have eye problems caised by the Tetsy fly. Something to do with the dark colour of the Sussex cattles head, whereas the Hereford, with their white faces had eye problems.

Big herds in Australia as well.

 

[Matt77]

Great cattle, when I first started working with them, the phrase “finish on fresh air” was chucked about, which I ignored, it’s now a phrase I use! Easy to work with, (when they don’t have horns!) nice temperament even when calving, we have a few sucklers and buy in stores too, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.