NI estate secures top cattle award
Beef Shorthorn Societys vice chairman, Mark Holmes, winner Bryan Wilson and SAC beef specialist Ian Pritchard
WINNER of the Morrisons Beef Shorthorn Suckler Herd of the Year Award is Antrim Estate, Glenarm, Ballymena, managed by Bryan Wilson, who was praised for his attention to detail management and maximising the marketing of Beef Shorthorn produce from the unit’s 100 cow organic herd.
The runners up are Iain Malcolm, Coilechat, Callander; Robert and Lesley Mitchell, Denholm, Hawick and N B Taylor and Son, Milburn, Penrith.
The finalists were judged according to technical and financial management, genetics, herd health, marketing and particularly on the performance and impact of Beef Shorthorn within the suckler herd. The winner received £500 cash, while each of the four finalists were awarded a £250 voucher towards the purchase of a Beef Shorthorn bull at a society sale.
Judge, SAC beef specialist Ian Pritchard, commented: “Costings from the devolved levy bodies continue to show suckler herds struggling to make money, therefore my judging criteria had to demonstrate that herds were adopting policies which were likely to realise profit.
“Each of the finalists herds recorded calf rearing percentages that were well above national figures, they exhibited good fertility with cows being easy fleshed, hardy, kind in nature and they were long lived – the traits needed in a modern suckler cow. However Antrim Estate just had the edge. Its enthusiastic herd manager, Bryan Wilson was paying close attention to detail to achieve both high physical and financial performance – the herd is within the top 10% of CAFRE Beef Benchmarking costings. The estate has also developed a flourishing beef marketing enterprise which exclusively features Beef Shorthorn. To meet with increasing demand, additional cattle were being sourced from local farms.”
Beef Shorthorn Society president, Charles Horrell commented: “Once again thanks to Morrisons for sponsoring this award which has received even more entries this year, a trend which reflects the enthusiasm for Beef Shorthorn among commercial beef producers with modern suckler herds. We are aware that an increasing number of producers are exploiting the breed’s key traits including foraging ability, hardiness, fertility, milkiness, longevity and docility and blending the genetics to produce cattle that complement their environment and make for functional suckler cow replacements, the bedrock of a sustainable and profitable enterprise.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
