Ranfurly Rolo sells privately to Islavale herd in Scotland

The £22,000 deal which includes the retention of semen, represents a new record for the Dungannon-based herd, founded by David Hazelton more than 50 years ago. He is the 24th Ranfurly bull to join a pedigree herd in the last ten years.

Sired by Banwy T-Rex, the thirteen-month-old bull is the first calf bred from the Curaheen Bandit daughter, Ranfurly Weikel 45 th VG87.

Tested free of myostatin genes, he boasts a yearling weight of 842kgs, coupled with impressive Breedplan performance figures. Ranfurly Rolo is in the breed’s top 1% for terminal production index (TPI) +124, self-replacing index (SRI) +146, and milk +14; and top 5% for eye muscle area +6.1.

The Ranfurly herd has been built on strong cow families, coupled with the use of well-proven AI sires such as Hillcrest Champion, Raceview King, Team Celtic and Samark Superman. Currently the 17-cow herd includes 7 cows classified Excellent, 8 VG and two first-calf heifers awaiting classification.

Proven and successful cow families include Weikel, Diana, Kleeb, Beauty and Stella. The Weikel family, founded in 2003 with the impromptu purchase of South Park King Kong Weikel 2nd , is without doubt the most successful female line at Ranfurly.

Rolo’s maternal great grandam, South Park King Kong Weikel 2 nd EX93 was a successful show winner, brood cow and embryo donor. She has produced numerous Simmental and interbreed champions, both male and female. Her son, Ranfurly Formula One was supreme Stirling champion in 2015 and sold for 15,000gns. Her legacy has lived on through the generations at Ranfurly and within other pedigree herds.

Rolo is the second Ranfurly bull to join the Islavale herd. Ranfurly Confederate EX94 has produced sons to a top of 24,000gns. To date, Confederate has 562 progeny registered in 87 herds within the British Simmental Cattle Society herd book. He was the society’s most popular sire in 2019 and 2020.

The 200-cow Islavale herd purchased Ranfurly Beauty 13 th for 7,000gns at the Ranfurly herd’s 3 rd joint production sale in 2020. She has produced four heifer calves.

Commenting on the private deal, Stewart Stronach said: “We are delighted to have acquired another stock bull from the Ranfurly herd. Our most significant investment in Simmental bloodlines to date, Ranfurly Rolo is our type of bull, boasting fantastic breed character and presence. He is the complete package, wide from his plates right through to his shoulder, long and clean with a leg in every corner.

“Ranfurly Rolo really catches the eye and his pedigree is filled with excellent female lines. The herd has really come to the fore over the last few years, breeding our type of cattle.

“We are hoping that Rolo does as well for us as our last Ranfurly stock bull, Confederate, whose first crop of Islavale calves included two bulls sold at Stirling to pedigree herds for 24,000gns and 16,000gns.”

Stewart Stronach concluded: “We believe Ranfurly Rolo is the foundation for the next chapter or our pedigree Simmental herd, and we thank the Hazelton family for allowing us to purchase him directly off-farm.

“The bull is currently at the AI Services (NI) Ltd bull stud for semen collection and will be exported to Scotland in due course.”