Livestock Legends: Pick of the best suckler cow entries
Farmers Weekly has received a flurry of suckler cows for the series. Here’s a selection of the best.
This 17-year-old suckler cow, owned by Tom Gray and his nephew William, of Balquharrage Farm, Lennoxtown, has reared 22 calves.
She has had eight single calves as well as seven sets of twins in a row. Twenty of the calves have been bred via Genus AI and she has been put in calf again.
Tom says: “She has definitely earned her keep and we put her longevity down to being a little bit pampered in her old age.”
Sammy turned 19 on 1 May this year and is still going strong, mothering her 16th calf, says her owner Neil Brown, Torphins, Aberdeenshire.
This Simmental-cross was bought as a calf at Thainstone Mart, Inverurie, and was reared on the bucket.
Sammy has had 11 bull calves and five heifer calves (including one set of twins) and has also fostered a number of other calves.
Mr Brown says: “She is such a placid and gentle cow that she will let any calf in the field suckle, which means she is often found with two or three suckling her.
“Nothing seems to phase her and she has a very calming influence on the rest of the herd, often being used as the decoy or companion when other cows need to be brought in for AI or other procedures.
Blossom is a 15-year-old pure-bred Meuse Rhine Issel dual-purpose cow.
From 2003 to 2015 she has reared 14 calves, with twins born in 2005.
Her owners, David and Helena Ellis, Bursea Farm, York, say she is quite a character and is just one of the old girls on the farm, with their oldest cow born pre-1996.
This British Blue-cross cow has been put forward as a Livestock Legend by her owner Paul Yates, Champion Farm, Quarndon, Derby.
He believes she is worthy of this title as she is 13 years old and has had eight bull calves and three heifer calves and has never needed any assistance in suckling her calves.
Livestock Legends
Do you have an animal in your herd or flock that is outstanding in terms of its performance?
Farmers Weekly’s livestock team is keen to hear from farmers about the star-performing animals on their farms – whatever the species or key performance indicator (KPI) used.
Maybe it’s a dairy cow that is a particularly efficient producer of milk or a ram that produces lambs with good growth rates. It could be a pig that has had a high number of piglets weaned in her lifetime or a suckler cow that has produced an unusual number of calves.
If you have a high-performing Livestock Legend you wish to share with us then send a picture and a short description to the livestock team at fwlivestock@rbi.co.uk or call us on 020 8652 4935.
View the Livestock Legends gallery
Next time: We feature some of our sheep and dairy entries. Get yours in now fwlivestock@rbi.co.uk