THE most recent tests at a Wensleydale bull testing station are said to have shown the superb performance which can be obtained from Limousin stock under different feeding reg-imes.

Despite the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, there has been a good complement of bulls at Mr Richard Bradley's Limtest, at Finghall, near Leyburn.

Limtest is the UK's only performance testing station, backed by the British Limousin Cattle Society, which measures each intake of bulls' ability to convert feed to liveweight gain.

The fifth test was run using the grainbeet system which has been used very successfully at Limtest over the last two years.

It is a very competitively priced moist feed comprising of five parts brewers grains to one part sugar beet pulp.

Feed intakes were again high - on average 30kg per day - ensuring good growth rates.

The performance mirrored the previous tests with the bulls averaging 1.78 kg/day with an average adjusted feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 5.19.

"At Limtest we listen to comments from breeders and a common theme has been that the bulls had shown great performance," said Mr Bradley.

"But we are also looking to improve the bulls' condition at the end of the test to maximise their opportunities at the point of sale.

"Therefore on test six we fed the bulls what some would say was a more conventional ration."

I'Ansons of Masham formulated a ration to allow the bulls to show their potential but the ration also had to be cost effective.

The bulls were fed 80pc of their Beefeater nut plus 20pc micronised flaked maize, which gives a 14.1pc protein and 11.7 ME ration.

The ration was collected ex-mill to keep costs down.

The bulls' performance over the four-month test was excellent, with growth rates of 1.8kg/day and an adjusted FCR of 4.88 (80pc dry matter).

Foot-and-mouth restrictions prevented muscle scanning the two crops of bulls which would have shown the bulls on the nuts and flaked maize ration with higher results, emphasising much better conformation.

Bulls which go through the Limtest system are monitored for IBR and BVD before and during the tests, hopefully enhancing the bulls' value.

"The foot-and-mouth crisis has dealt a severe blow to our industry and as we all come to terms with it, and those sadly that lost stock start to restock their farms, there is without doubt an opportunity to re-stock with health-tested stock," said Mr Bradley.

"All farmers who do re-stock are being advised wherever possible to ensure they know the health status of the stock before purchase and to monitor the future herd health with one of the nationally available health schemes.

"The health of your stock can have a much greater impact on future performance and profitability than all other factors put together."