A Simmental bull has achieved a record weight gain of 3.33kg a day on an upland farm in Co Durham – and according to breeder Neil Hunter it’s an impressive level of performance that demonstrates the true beefing qualities of the modern Simmental.

Neil Hunter

"Commercial beef producers should take a long hard look at today’s Simmental and see just what it’s capable of. "Breeders are producing a very different type of Simmental bull compared with 10 years ago and it’s beef finishers who’ll benefit most from these genetics. The end result is faster growing, heavier cattle leaving bigger margins," says Neil Hunter who runs the Derwentwood herd with his wife Alison at Woodlands Hall Farm, Knitsley near Consett.

The record breaking weight gain has been achieved by a spring 2002-born bull calf by Drumsleed Kelso – the current herd sire bought at Perth in February 2001 for 5800gns. Kelso had a 400-day weight of just under 800kg.

The bull – Derwentwood Nighthawk - was weighed in January 2003 at nine-months old. His average daily gain during the period from his previous weighing in October 2002 was 3.33kg. Two others in the same group gained 2.75kg a day during the same period.

"In October we felt we weren’t feeding them enough to enable them to express their true genetic potential. When we stepped up intakes of our ration of oats and coarse calf mixture – nothing fancy – they really moved up a gear. "While there may have been a degree of compensatory growth it’s important to remember that you’re still dealing with a ruminant which has achieved a feed conversion rate of 3.5-4 : 1 which is certainly impressive. "I just couldn’t believe it," says Neil Hunter.

Derwentwood Nighthawk – bound for the next Perth bull sale in October – has a current Beef Value of 34 putting him in the breed’s top 10% on performance. Another bull in the same group – Derwentwood Nero – has a Beef Value of 32 and third bull, Derwentwood Nirvana, has a Beef Value of 35. All three are out of dams by different sires.

Current daily weight gain for these bulls as they approach one year old is around 1.8kg.

Derwentwood Nighthawk has recorded a liveweight gain of 3.33 kgs/day

The Derwentwood herd has been performance recorded for over 10 years. Neil Hunter says more buyers are keen to see figures to support their visual assessment when selecting bulls. Looks are still number one but there’s a new generation of younger men who recognise the value of figures. It’s something that can only become even more relevant to sire selection in the future.

" While Scottish beef producers acknowledge the potential of the modern Simmental – proved by last February’s Perth average of £3637 where Scottish buyers dominated the trade – Mr Hunter says beef farmers south of the border would have some very pleasant surprises if they started to look more closely at the level of weight gain and performance now being achieved."

The breed still has an important role to play as the sire of suckler-cross females but great effort has been put into the Simmental in recent years to identify the genetics that can produce sires with improved beefing qualities and yet still retain their maternal traits.

"We’re now aiming for length and fleshing with width and heavy muscling in the hindquarter. And we’ve proved, by our performance recording, that even when you push for these extreme beefing characteristics you can still retain the breed’s desired female traits."

He’s confident that commercial producers needing to maximise returns from finished cattle will find it difficult to ignore the high levels of performance now widespread among Simmental bulls.

"And as more beef cattle are sold deadweight more finishers will become less influenced by colour. Colour prejudice should not be allowed to undermine profitability and Simmental sired prime cattle will prove that."

The Hunters bought Woodlands Hall Farm in 1989. Three good cow families have emerged from the herd’s foundation females tracing back to sires including Lodge Nicholas and Scottish Herod. A bull by Dirnanean Nugget left his mark in the early days and was followed by Beeline Allstar – the Hunter’s first Perth purchase in October 1991 and sired by the 14,000gns Blackford Trident.

Other successful sires have included Balmanno Beefeater, a past junior champion at the Royal Highland Show and bought as a five-year-old after working in the Hockenhull herd of leading Cheshire breeder Hugo Arnold.

Brinkton Wizard, 1993 Royal Show senior champion, was also used for a season and produced the Hunter’s first Perth winner with Derwentwood Hadrian which stood senior champion in February 1999. Another influential sire used in the herd was Carnkern Brigadier who was maternal half-brother to the well known bull Carnkern Titan.

The 322-acre Woodlands Hall Farm, which also caries 460 North of England Mule ewes, runs 35 pedigree Simmental cows. The herd is managed commercially with cows in-wintered in straw yards and calving March-May and November- January.

Calves are offered creep feed from the start: "When you’re dealing with pedigree animals and trying to exploit genetic potential for growth it’s important that calves hit the ground running," says Neil Hunter.

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