Red Angus
Irish Angus Cattle Society
The first Aberdeen Angus herdbook, published in 1862 in Scotland. Both reds and blacks were entered, and this practice is continuing to this very day. The Aberdeen Angus was introduced into America in the 1870s and soon attained high popularity. The first American herd books, published in 1886 and 1888 respectively, made no record as to the color of individual animals - but in 1890, of the 2,700 animal’s registered that year, records show that 22 of them were red.
Today Red Angus are seeing unparelleled popularity all over the world. In fact, the growing swing towards the reds is seeing a huge increase in the sales of both breeding stock and semen. This had led to the Red Angus becoming a leading beef breed in the US for semen exports. Also, numbers of Red Angus in the US have tripled from the mid 1990’s. In Canada, the number of red cattle registered has overtaken the number of black cattle, while in South Africa 70% of the Angus are red, with just 30% being black.
At Bunna Agri we use Red Angus bulls on heifers for ease of calving and short gestation. Bulls must have good carcass traits and be positive for daughter milk to increase the maternal traits in the herd. Sires used include ZLL, AA4315 and AA4303.
Irish Angus Cattle Society
The first Aberdeen Angus herdbook, published in 1862 in Scotland. Both reds and blacks were entered, and this practice is continuing to this very day. The Aberdeen Angus was introduced into America in the 1870s and soon attained high popularity. The first American herd books, published in 1886 and 1888 respectively, made no record as to the color of individual animals - but in 1890, of the 2,700 animal’s registered that year, records show that 22 of them were red.
Today Red Angus are seeing unparelleled popularity all over the world. In fact, the growing swing towards the reds is seeing a huge increase in the sales of both breeding stock and semen. This had led to the Red Angus becoming a leading beef breed in the US for semen exports. Also, numbers of Red Angus in the US have tripled from the mid 1990’s. In Canada, the number of red cattle registered has overtaken the number of black cattle, while in South Africa 70% of the Angus are red, with just 30% being black.
At Bunna Agri we use Red Angus bulls on heifers for ease of calving and short gestation. Bulls must have good carcass traits and be positive for daughter milk to increase the maternal traits in the herd. Sires used include ZLL, AA4315 and AA4303.
|
Belgian Blue
Irish Belgian Blue Cattle Society Belgian Blue as a Terminal Sire Superior conformation – R and U grade carcases from FR x BB are easily achieved. They put muscle on the large Friesian/Holstein frames. E and U grade carcases achieved from continental suckler cows. Short gestation - The BB has the shortest gestation length of all continental breeds, 275- 285 days. Average gestation length is 281 days. Short GL is vital for compact calving. Easy calving – The BB calf only develops the superior muscle after calving , not in the womb. The fine bone and short gestation length leads to easy calving. Docility – The superior docility of the BB crosses relative to other continental breeds is a major attraction, as labour gets scarcer and part time farming increases. At Bunna Limousin we use Terminal Belgian Blue Sires on a number of our cows to breed export and show quality Belgian Blue weanlings. Sires used over the years include JOK, EDJ, RWS and STQ |
Simmental
Irish Simmental Cattle Society The Simmental has historically been used for dairy and beef, and as draught animals. They are particularly renowned for the rapid growth of their young, if given sufficient feed. Simmentals provide more combined weaning gain (growth) and milk yield than any other breed. The traditional colouration of the Simmental has been described variously as "red and white spotted" or "gold and white", although there is no specific standard colouration, and the dominant shade varies from a pale yellow-gold all the way to very dark red (the latter being particularly popular in the United States). The face is normally white, and this characteristic is usually passed to crossbred calves. The white face is genetically distinct from the white head of the Hereford. A number of our cows are bred to Simmental Bulls in order to promote Hybrid Vigor in the herd. Sires used over the years include HKG, HTY, IS4 and FBX |
