Demand increases for naturally polled stock

It might be a trait not taken too seriously by breeders in Britain or to some extent even in its native France – but elsewhere in the world demand is increasing for Charolais cattle carrying the homozygosity genetic factor. Within the UK, dedicated producers of such naturally polled stock are few and far between. Indeed, a once separate herd book and breed society now carries breed within a breed status. But some committed breeders are not prepared to let the obvious in-built advantages and cost saving benefits of what their cattle carry pass by unnoticed – as a ground breaking export deal bears testimony.

Later this year fully hornless Charolais calves will start dropping in some of the top pedigree herds in Norway – all got by semen from a highly rated, nearly three-year-old Welsh Border-bred bull with a proven homozygous status. Under a deal brokered by the Norwegian Charolais Society via the Internet, 100-plus straws have been supplied from the pedigree Pentervin Polled Charolais herd Herbert and Yetta Littlehales and their son, David, run on their beef and sheep farm in the hills above Bentlawnt, close to where Montgomeryshire meets Shropshire.

The privately struck sale marks the family’s first venture into the export market and further orders from other countries are a distinct possibility, together with some growing interest from commercial cattle farmers in the UK looking more seriously at cutting out the need for dehorning.

“We have been breeding for the homozygosity factor ever since we started the pedigree Charolais herd back in the 1980s with what then were some pure bred, though somewhat wild, cattle we bought at a North Wales herd dispersal sale,” says David Littlehales. Some of our cows still go back to those initial purchases but there are also females with bloodlines from the breed’s top herds."

“The exported semen, in fact, is from the home bred, April 2003-born Pentervin Universe – a son of Langridge Bounder and out of the home bred Niki of Pentervin, who is a daughter of Jacinthe of Pen-y-parc bred by Avril Evans, at Raglan, and going back to the legendary Tattenhall Impeccable. A Bailea polled bull served us very well over many years, too,” says Mr Littlehales.

“Frankly we have never seen the need for horned cattle and more and more people are now beginning to share our views. We certainly never have a problem selling young bulls, and once tried we find that buyers come back again. Heterozygous animals tend to be recessive, whereas every calf that a homozygous bull throws will be polled. Naturally polled Charolais more than hold their own in Canada and the USA. Norway is now following suit – but as to why the UK lags behind is something of a mystery. We are finding that the people who have had a homozygous bull from us in the past would be very unlikely to go back to using a horned bull. Commercial producers tell us they are making worthwhile savings in both time and effort by not having to dehorn stock and there is no risk of any check in performance, either. Who knows, too, whether in the future animal welfare campaigners will get round to questioning the practice, just as they have with the tail docking issue? So why breed for something that is not needed? We have never seen the point and it seems other breeds are adopting this thinking, too,” said Mr Littlehales.

“All bulls used in Norway have to be approved by both the equivalent of its Ministry of Agriculture and the country’s breed society council before being inspected at the semen collection centre. We did this via UK Semen Services, in Devon, because of the need for isolation and the fact it can take some time to get all the required veterinary certificates in place."

“Universe has exceptional shape for a polled bull, his BLUP figure for ease of calving is within the breed’s top 1 per cent, his calves are very vigorous and ideal for dairy herds looking to produce export quality types."

“There is also interest in the bull coming from Australia, as well as North America and Brazil, and we are confident he is capable of putting a lot of shape into their cows. His sire was the highest ranking easy calving Polled Charolais bull in his day and the breed’s first ever polled sire to stand at AI. His dam has bred three full homozygous bulls in all and has three daughters still in the herd.”

The family has been at Pentervin Farm since the mid-1940s, but what originally was around 20 acres has today turned into a two unit 850-acre operation, with 300 acres being owned. The land runs from the 920 feet mark to over 1,250 feet.

The main cattle rearing facilities are situated at the family’s second holding three miles away on what was a green field site five years ago but now has an extensive range of modern buildings with loose housing and barrier feeding. As well as the pedigree herd there are 100 commercial cows which are double suckled with their own and bought-in, carefully selected Continental calves – Charolais-sired whenever possible.

At one time the cows were all Welsh Black-Friesian crosses but the trend of late has been to Belgian Blue-Friesians put, of course, to Polled Charolais bulls. All heifers are finished and sold through the live market, with steers going as stores to regular lowland buyers equipped with the experience of the breeding and management that lies behind the family’s stock.

“From a business point of view one of our biggest worries is that our bulls last too long – indeed some are 10 and 11-years-old and still working well on purchasers’ farms,” says Mr Littlehales.

“Everything we produce is grown slowly, with the pedigree and commercial cows being run together. They are not pampered in any way and will let any calf suckle. Calving is all year round, stock being housed on silage usually in October with calves getting up to 4lbs of creep feed per day until weaning. Pure bred calves stay with the commercial crosses until 12 months old, getting no more than 2.5kg of wheat and maize gluten a day. Bulls are normally sold to waiting buyers straight off the farm and as far as growth rates go we can easily achieve 800kg at 500 days without any chasing. Because our bulls are maturing while they are growing, as opposed to being force fed, is perhaps why they are able to work for so long. We like to sell them at 18-months-old but some have gone younger under pressure from buyers.”

The sheep enterprise runs to 1,750 ewes made up of Welsh, Cheviot and crossbreds, along with 100 pure Beltex and Bleu du Maines. Both pedigree flocks also carry the Pentervin prefix.

Finished crossbred lambs are born outdoors in April and no concentrates are fed, the ewes only having access to big bale hay in feeders.

“Every animal on the farm is required to keep us,” said Mr Littlehales. “We do not keep them!”

Source ref: Farmers Guardian