United Kingdom-Suckler Herds.
The highest possible standards - in terms of selection, rearing and management - are at the heart of a specialist beef-heifer rearing enterprise under way at Mark Towers’ Colt Park in south Cumbria. But the biggest winners from this copy-book venture are those suckler herd owners who use this system to source their purpose-bred herd replacements.
The Towers family’s well known Aldingham Holstein herd was dispersed in 2004. Now the buildings on this coastal holding, west of Ulverston, are full of beef-bred heifers of outstanding quality - all hand-picked to be reared under a strict management regime, calved and sold with calves at foot, to buyers who acknowledge the true value of improving the standard of UK suckler females.
About 150 carefully chosen beef-bred heifers, about 12-16 months old, are bought each year from leading auction marts in Cumbria - starting in March and running into summer - to provide the annual throughput of the business. I was determined this would be a regimented system from the start and one totally underpinned by quality, both in the heifers and their calves - but it’s been a big learning experience, too, says Mr Towers.
Only top quality three-quarter-bred continental beef heifers are bought-in. They must be Limousin, based with some British Blue for extra shape, and quite often they have a dash of Blonde. We’re using several Continental cross-bred bulls containing some British Blue in the breeding and each one with the conformation superiority you would expect in a superior pedigree sire. But conformation traits for easy calving are a priority - I need live calves.
And every heifer, depending on the component breeds of its parentage, is individually assessed before it’s bulled and put to a sire that will compliment its breeding and conformation.
All the purchased young heifers - to be served the following spring/summer - are housed in October. I don’t want them to lose one day’s growth, even though I could probably leave them out for another three weeks on the kind of land we’ve got here. Avoiding any growth check is absolutely critical. For the markets we’re aiming at, size is king in terms of conformation and power, he says.
At housing the young heifers are weighed, clipped (heads, tails and backs) and dosed. They are wintered in cubicles on a mix of top quality silage, maize silage and alkalage. It’s an ad-lib ration, but troughs are always licked clean overnight. The alkalage is considered vital to ensure the correct pH level in the gut.
The 150 heifers are turned out to grass in April, but only after they’ve been individually assessed and moved.
