Features

Beeston Hall Farm is not the easiest unit to farm even without the limitations imposed by its owner Yorkshire Water. But it is home to a successful Salers-based suckler beef system. When West Yorkshire farmers Stephen and Rachel Hallos took part in a focus farm project, they did it with some trepidation. Instead it has […]

Harri Prichard’s experience of filming Salers for Cefn Gwlad Sioned and I recently had the pleasure of working with Dai Jones and the team from Cefn Gwlad, taking part in the making of a programme for S4C about Salers cattle. We spent an enjoyable few days filming and got to experience just how much hard

Farmers are increasingly turning to the Salers breed for herd replacements. Famous for their ease of calving, placid nature and good overall conformation, demand for good Salers X females is strong. While pedigree Salers have long been highly sought after, more and more farmers are realising the value of Salers as part of a commercial

Salers and Charolais provide the basis for an integrated approach to the production of pedigree cattle targeted at the commercial suckler beef producer, developed by Rigel Pedigree – a family farming business based near Yarm, North Yorkshire. While the Pye family have collected a string of show awards, backed up by leading prices at breed

As a breeder of commercial heifer replacements, Scottish Borders farmer Rob Livesey knows how important it is to have a good calving average. So he is delighted that the pedigree and commercial herds at his farm in Melrose have been named the most fertile cattle in Scotland, according to Scottish Agricultural Colleges’ figures; an accolade that

Driving down variable costs on any unit, is never an easy task, but you can cut them back a fair whack on a beef unit by altering the breeding policy to introduce an element of Salers blood. That’s what has been achieved at Edston Farm, part of Benson Wemyss Farms, just outside Peebles, now managed

Farmers often think of sale prices to judge the profit from a breed. The sales price is something concrete, directly obvious, however behind the sale of an animal there are costs. The real profits consist of several elements (the product, premia, costs…). The profit margin is the best technical and economic comparison of breeds. The

Some beef farmers have not changed their businesses a jot since the political reform of the sector. Others have, or are, modifying them a bit, while a few are making seismic, revolutionary transformations, John Owen, who farms 110 Autumn and Spring calving suckler cows, and finishes the progeny at Monachty Bach farm, Pennant Aberaeron, Ceredigion