KERRY SUCKLER FARMER SELLS BULLS FOR EXPORT

Dingle, Suckler Farmer Joseph O’Siochríu is now seeing the dividends from making the decision three years ago to upgrade his Suckler Herd. By purchasing a Simmental bulls and using proven AI Simmental he has now moved his herd to three quarter bred Simmental herd. Reasons for choosing Simmentals according to Joseph are, “Simmental had the ability to maintain milk when moving past half bred and excellent docility. Having animals that you can work with is a big plus.

“ He was delighted this September when he sold his weanling bulls at home for export. This batch of weanling bulls weighed on average 430 kgs and are gone for finishing to Italy. On his weanling bulls going to Italy Joseph says that, “it annoys me sometimes to hear that certain breeds are not suitable for export. My weanlings were all Simmental and are now in Italy. In fact the exporter also wanted to purchase my heifer calves but I am keeping some as replacements and the rest were sold early in the year to local suckler farmers to upgrade their herds. “ Joseph is very pleased with the weight gain of his weanlings, “I had heard about the high performance of Simmental but it is not until you actually have to breed that you can really appreciate the superior growth rate”.

Overall Joseph is very pleased with his decision to move to Simmental and if the next few years are like this one “bulls gone to Italy and not enough heifers to meet demands” he can see no reason but to stay with the Simmental breed.