Low cost, low risk system runs smoothly on breed loyalty

While other breeds have been tried and tested for the suckler herd at Cornhills, Kirkwhelpington, near Morpeth, Mr Thornton has stuck with the breed he first took notice of when he was at university in the mid-Seventies.

"My father brought home a calf to foster to a cow and said it was a Limousin. At the time, our suckler herd was predominantly Hereford X and Angus X Friesian, crossing them with Hereford bulls, which we also bred," he said. "The calf was outstanding for growth and this was noticeable every time we looked at the bunch of cattle. From that young calf, we bought our first Limousin bull in Carlisle in 1975 at the autumn sale, paying 560gns for Wintershall Jonathon, which was 14 months old.

"That young bull would be a big influence on the future of Limousin cattle in this particular area of Northumberland. His first crop of calves was outstanding and even those selling cattle at the sale we took them to when they were 11-12 months old wanted to see what prices they made."

Richard Thornton is the fifth generation of his family to farm at Cornhills in the last 160 years. He and his wife, Lorna, are helped by one man during the winter and their sons when they are at home - Christopher, who is studying fish farming at college, and James and William who are still at school.

The 540-acre, all-grass farm is between 750ft and 850ft above sea level - winters tend to be early and springs late. The suckler herd numbers 130 cows, of which 120 are Limousin crosses or three-quarter-bred.

The farm also carries a flock of 500 breeding ewes of various types, with lambs sold for breeding or store, and it includes pedigree Suffolks and pure-bred Texels.

"We try to run a fairly low-cost, low-risk system - by low-risk I mean we try to avoid calf mortality either through calving difficulties or disease. If we have to calve a cow because the calf is too big, it has to be brought inside where infection might be lurking," said Richard Thornton, a former Northumberland NFU county chairman.

"Nor do we go for a high input system because, the more money you put into the animals, the more you have to get back.

"One of the advantages of the Limousin breed is that it's a good all-rounder. Not only are Limousins suitable for finishing but the heifers also make excellent suckler replacements. We're keeping more and more of our own breeding within the herd, prompted in the last 18 months by health risks not only from foot-and-mouth disease but more so from TB.

Heifer calves from the fourth and fifth calvers are being kept as three-quarter-bred replacements and now about a quarter of the herd is home-bred and three-quarters Limousin. Choosing from older cows allows an assessment to be made of the dam's maternal worth before selecting her daughter.

Mr Thornton finds that, while the three-quarter bred heifers are probably not as milky as their dairy cross counterparts, once they have got to their third or fourth calf they can compete.

Heifers are sold as suckled calves if not required for breeding or for temperament or if they are extreme beefy types. Replacements are selected and the surplus is sold either as bulling heifers or with calves at foot.

Until now, seven-eighths heifers have not been kept as replacements, but two heifers from particularly good female lines, whose mother and grandmother are still in the herd, have been retained and put to the bull. The results will be viewed with interest, as Mr Thornton prefers not to keep the extreme beefy type of females.

Cornhills grows plenty of grass to make clamp silage during the last week in June, at an average 66 D value at 30 per cent dry matter, for the suckler herd, and hay for the sheep,.

Making more fodder to finish cattle is not considered, with the good prices brought by the suckled calves which attract many regular buyers each year. "We aim to try to get our cattle for sale in good condition but not too forward. The man who buys them has to see them improving for him, not going backwards. Then he is happy," said Mr Thornton.

During last year's foot-and-mouth crisis there was little difficulty in finding buyers for cattle from Cornhills.

Most of the cattle are sold through Hexham mart where, in the autumn in particular, Mr Thornton says there is one of the best shows of Limousin cattle in the country and he keeps his best autumn-born calves for this sale, which attracts buyers from all over the country.

This spring, while not many heifers have been sold, 27 steers, many privately and the rest through the ring, averaged £506 or 138p a kg at 11 months. Mr Thornton was slightly disappointed with them because last year's movement restrictions meant grass had been in short supply.

Red heifers sold as stores this spring averaged £450.

In pre-BSE days in 1995, Mr Thornton sold a batch of 42 steers through Rothbury mart to average £672.73, with one pen of four averaging £800 and another 190p.

Between 60 and 65 cows calve in May, with the remainder calving in September and October, with the aim of calving most of the herd in these two periods. Both batches calve outside. Heifers are served between 20 and 22 months old to calve at around 2 years old.

While the herd's oldest three-quarter-bred cows at present are sixth calvers, they have lasted well, not looking their age, and their udders have kept in good order, unlike some other breeds. "I am very pleased at how the Limousin bulls and the cows last. In 27 years of having Limousin bulls we have used only 14 bulls, and that includes two we bought this spring," said Mr Thornton.

Feed inputs are kept to the minimum to encourage growth with a balanced diet of forage and a supplement. Even so, the last batch of September/October-born steers averaged 365kg at ten months, averaging 1kg a day for calves born at 40kg. Calves are weighed every 50 to 60 days to check they are gaining the optimum 1kg a day.

All cattle are housed during the winter. Autumn calvers are put to the bull in mid-November and housed three weeks later. They are turned out by mid-May, while the spring calvers go out to grass during the last week in April.

Housed calves receive creep feed at up to 0.75kg a day of concentrate mix and silage. Concentrates at a rate of 2kg a day are then fed only during the six weeks before they are sold. The cows receive a minimum of concentrates, mainly as a vehicle for magnesium and mineral supplements in periods when they are susceptible to staggers. Once housed and settled, they are fed silage sprinkled with minerals.

"Limousin cows seem to do well on that system which keeps them working but not too fat. Their fertility record is good with above 90pc of the autumn calvers calving in six weeks and as many as 80pc calving within 21 days and 5pc geld.

"Well-bred cattle do very well on a natural system," said Mr Thornton. "The great thing about a Limousin X is that, even under difficult conditions, it never runs away to gut and hair.

"There are other breeds which have bigger back ends and higher growth rates, but they have risks involved with calving and have higher feed requirements. It's finding the balance - do you want cattle that are extreme or do you want them to look after themselves? We want the latter."

When selecting his Limousin bulls, Mr Thornton uses a combination of performance figures, a stockman's eye and what he can afford, based on the current value of ten store cattle aged nine to ten months old.

Current stock bulls are Lumbylaw Lord, a son of Hercules, which had a beef value of LM28 and good milk figures, and another Lumbylaw bull by Rake Terrence. Two bulls bought at the Limousin society's May Carlisle sale were Ringway Rebel, by Manitou, with a good calving index, and Pennys Rocky at LM30.