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Our
Beef Shorthorn Herd
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NEWS: April 2007: Carlisle
Sale Listings. |
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The
Hallsford herd of Beef Shorthorns was established in 1999 when
we moved to Cumbria. |
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Why
Beef Shorthorns? |
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There
were a number of reasons why we chose Beef Shorthorns, but principally
we felt that the animal ideally suited the environment and the
system of farming we wished to adopt. |
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- Low input, Quality Output. |
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- Easy Calving. Fertile. |
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- Lovely temperament, Easy handling. |
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- Hardy, Sound and Long Lived. |
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- A number of Markets for the Finished Product |
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We strongly felt and still do, that in the current farming
climate we needed a farming
system that was Low Input based (Less susceptible to input
prices changes) and had the opportunity to develop quality
outputs where a premium could be sought in niche and developing,
not commodity, markets. Those markets are: |
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A good pedigree market. |
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Distinct Brand, Farm Retail Meat Sales. (Internet, Farmers
Markets, Food Fairs) |
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We
are also now delighted that Marks and Spencer have included
Shorthorn Beef in their specialty range of meat products. Shorthorn
is increasingly being recognised as a Quality Beef Brand. |
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Breeding
Stock
- We have 30 suckler cows. The foundation cows were largely
from Glenisla and Dunsyre/Loch Awe. These were put to
Chapelton Norseman and his progeny now make up about two
thirds of the herd. Chapelton Warrior (a WHR Sonny embryo
transfer) was bought in 2005. His tremendous width and
faster growth rates are now being seen in our yearling
heifers and young bulls. Earlier this year we acquired
Blelack Dustbuster, the product of an impressive Canadian
cow and Buffalo Lake Dustbuster, Champion at Edmonton
Farmfair. We look forward to his progeny in 2008.
We try to breed animals with a
large balanced frame, plenty of milk from a sensible bag and with good growth rates in our
environment.
We put significant emphasis on
genetics, and our bull purchases are based as much on
genetic evidence as visual. We run a closed herd ie. no
females are purchased, for disease reasons.
TH Status. All genetic
lines have been tested. The herd is TH Free. This can be
confirmed on the Shorthorn website.
Health Status. The
herd's health status is monitored by BioBest. Year 1 showed
that we were BVD and Johnes free. Year 2 blood have just
been taken and a summary of the results will be published
here shortly.
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We
starting to build a database of animals on the farm. Each animal has
an individual record with photographic and statistical
information together with our comments.
Hopefully it will give you a guide to our progress and breeding
programme. Stock listings. |
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Andrew
& Helen Tomkins - Hallsford
Farm, Hethersgill, Carlisle, Cumbria.
CA6 6JD Tel:
01228 577329
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