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Glenisla Beef Shorthorns
Charles keeps “Lazy Man’s Cows” that are Cheap to Keep
by Jennifer MacKenzie
Beef Shorthorns are key to the low-input system on a Wiltshire farm which supplies local butchers with quality traditional breed meat.
Charles Horton and his wife Margaret opted for traditional breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs when they took Nell Farm, Hannington, near Swindon on the upper reaches of the Thames back in hand five years ago.
“At the time, local butchers were complaining that they could not get a consistent supply of traditional and rare breed meat. We looked at various breeds and it was the Beef Shorthorn, the Llanwenog sheep and Large Black pigs that came to the fore,” said Charles. “We can grow plenty of grass here and both breeds do well on grass with minimal feed requirements.”
The area was traditionally a dairying and ironically, before the 1960s the family ran three Dairy Shorthorn herds.
The Hortons were fortunate to buy John Purves’s Blinkbonny herd in Peebleshire - this comprised 28 cows with calves, a dozen bulling heifers and a Glenisla bred bull. The females were hardy, living at 1,000ft above sea level with heifers calving at two years old. These added to the original dozen cows bought in Chelford as well as from Douglas McMillan’s Colnvalley herd and John Dunlop’s Tarrant dispersal. The original small number of suckler cows were crossed with the Shorthorn bull.
Now the Hannington herd numbers 40 spring calvers and 15 autumn calvers with another 15 heifers calving in the autumn of 2008. Current stock bulls are Glenbrae Roan Banner, Glenisla Thunder and young bull Tarrant Alfred.
The cattle, as well as the sheep, are finished on grass and silage in the winter. Steers are finished at two years old weighing 650 to 700kg live. A typical bigger framed animal had a carcase weight of 357kg and classified O+4L. Generally they kill out at around 50 per cent.
Most females are kept for breeding although with high prices for finished beef Charles reckons he has to get a minimum of £1,000 a head for them for breeding sales to be worthwhile.
“I sell all the finished livestock privately at a premium for traditional breed meat and at an equivalent pence per kilo for continental cattle.
“Although there is not as much yield of meat as a continental cross-bred animal, the Shorthorns are producing what the family butcher wants,” said Charles.
The operation uses minimal food miles with the cattle, sheep and pigs, bought in as weaners, being slaughtered at Mutch Meats in Witney and sold to two butchers in Cirencester and one in Lechlade – all within a 10 miles from the farm. One of the butchers supplied is Tony Cutler who runs Cutler and Bayliss in Lechlade and who specialises in traditional breeds of meat.
“Shorthorn beef is a good, traditional butcher’s animal with a bit of fat and a good shape which is nice to work with.”
“The customers love it because of its eating qualities and also because it is local. The steaks are particularly popular,” he said.
The aim is to have the majority of the herd calving in the spring to keep the need for creep feeding to a minimum with heifers calving at 2½ years old.
Calving starts from April 10 and the spring born calves are weaned at housing in mid November. Housing is necessary at Nell Farm as the ground is heavy and wet.
The Hortons have a principally arable farm running to 400 acres near Basingstoke in Hampshire as well as the 300 Grassland acres at Nell and 650 acres, again, mainly arable, at Poulton, near Cirencester where there are 80 acres of dry grassland suitable for out wintering the dry cows and the sheep.
“We intend to stick with the pure-bred Shorthorn. The breed is increasing in popularity nationally but we must continue to get the message out that
these cattle can live off grass and fresh air all the year round,” said Charles.
“There is a very low labour requirement – in fact I have been running the cattle and sheep on my own with some part time help until now we are increasing the sheep numbers.
“They are so easy to handle and quiet. When we had other continental crosses we used to spend a lot of time running around after them and mending fences.
“The Shorthorn cows also calve without any assistance and they are wonderful mothers allowing calves to cross suckle. They are a lazy man’s cow! Ours are at grass all summer and only get silage in the winter. They are cheap to keep.
“If you are able to outwinter them, a Shorthorn cross suckler cow put to a beef terminal sire makes an ideal beef enterprise which can also save on buildings.
“Continental cross sucklers are costing so much to keep. We had a pen of 15 Simmental cows and they ate as much silage as a pen of 30 Shorthorn cows. “ Feeding a suckler cow concentrates seems to be throwing away money.
Give the Shorthorns some decent grass and they will grow well.”
Charles believes that the Shorthorn has potential for growth in the hill areas of Wales as well as in parts of the south west such as on Exmoor and Dartmoor.
The early spring calvers calve inside and are turned out when they are mothered up. They are ear-tagged, castrated and de-horned if necessary.
The autumn calvers calve outside in September and October and they are housed from mid October. This group receives no supplementary feed but the calves are given creep.