Looking back, easy calving was the main reason we chose Salers. But we now know so much more. They do indeed calve as easily as it says on the tin. Five years on we still don't know what a calving jack looks like and the ropes have never been out of the bag. The calves get up quickly and look for their mother's udder and they are such good mothers, so serene and gentle, with plenty of milk. And because they calve so easily they breed well into their teen years. Our oldest cow is now 16 and has just calved again. Also because they are milky mothers, they wean heavy calves, welcome at store and breeding sales alike. Our heifers are easy to sell as herd replacements both to pedigree and commercial herds - we know that Salers cows cross well with terminal sires, Charolais, Aberdeen Angus and limousin being a popular choices. Our bulls sell well into commercial herds because of their easy calving genetics.
Yes, we have learned such a lot. These big gentle beasts have taught us so much. They are turning a profit for us and we don't regret choosing the Salers breed for one second.
Yes, we have learned such a lot. These big gentle beasts have taught us so much. They are turning a profit for us and we don't regret choosing the Salers breed for one second.
Callander Salers
Our Cattle:
Let us show you a Salers and she'll show you what "easy" calving is!
Back in 2005 as "New Entrants", we had completely fallen through the Single Farm Payment net. One of the ways the farm could earn a bit of money was to turn it over to agri-environmental schemes but this meant we needed rather special cattle to graze tough wetland rush and thrive on the poorer nutritional grasses of "species rich" pasture etc.
Above all else we needed cows that would calve entirely themselves - we had never looked after cattle before and at that point it's fair to say we were terrified!!
Above all else we needed cows that would calve entirely themselves - we had never looked after cattle before and at that point it's fair to say we were terrified!!
We work with an old traditional farm steading - there's no money for fancy sheds here, so all our cattle including the bull must live outside. We move them to wooded areas for shelter during winter. Calves are brought in for weaning when 9 months old. We try to keep everything as natural as possible feeding home grown silage and hay plus a good powdered mineral to the cows. The calves are supplemented with a little creep feed. Our Salers cattle are well handled and quiet. We have heard that when the breed first came into the country, they had a reputation for being wild but from our own experience and talking to other Salers breeders this is no longer true. Let's face it if complete beginners, like ourselves, with no outside help can manage Salers cattle, even halter training them and taking them to pedigree sales, Salers cattle can't be wild. I tell a lie here - we have had a lot of invaluable support getting the hang of managing our herd from our vets and we can't thank them enough.
Perhaps this is what we do best!
This is a typical Mains of Callander bred pedigree heifer, already in calf at 19 months - reared outside naturally with minimal hard feed. Hopefully she will live a long and healthy life.
Sadly it's impossible to sell bulls at pedigree sales unless they are fed + + for growth but this is fundamentally wrong for their adult health.
Concerned about this we discussed this issue with our vet and we have come to a compromise. "Overfeeding" is most damaging before 12 months of age and so we refuse to push our young bulls before this age. If they are a bit smaller than others at sales we make no apology for this. We also keep bulls exercised outside on our front hillside field as much as possible.
This is a typical Mains of Callander bred pedigree heifer, already in calf at 19 months - reared outside naturally with minimal hard feed. Hopefully she will live a long and healthy life.
Sadly it's impossible to sell bulls at pedigree sales unless they are fed + + for growth but this is fundamentally wrong for their adult health.
Concerned about this we discussed this issue with our vet and we have come to a compromise. "Overfeeding" is most damaging before 12 months of age and so we refuse to push our young bulls before this age. If they are a bit smaller than others at sales we make no apology for this. We also keep bulls exercised outside on our front hillside field as much as possible.
Polled Salers (no horns) is important to us -
Many of our foundation cows and heifers were purchased in calf from Bryan Walling. In 1984, Bryan was the first breeder to bring Salers cattle into Britain from France and he has really pioneered the breed in this country. In France horned cattle are preferred but Bryan worked hard to fix the polled gene (no horns) in his herd.
Quite a few of our foundation stock were therefore polled so it made sense to build on this by using polled bulls. Dealing with horn buds in baby calves has proved to be a job our workload could do without and a welfare issue we would rather not put our calves through. Polled animals are still fairly unusual in the Salers herd.
Many of our foundation cows and heifers were purchased in calf from Bryan Walling. In 1984, Bryan was the first breeder to bring Salers cattle into Britain from France and he has really pioneered the breed in this country. In France horned cattle are preferred but Bryan worked hard to fix the polled gene (no horns) in his herd.
Quite a few of our foundation stock were therefore polled so it made sense to build on this by using polled bulls. Dealing with horn buds in baby calves has proved to be a job our workload could do without and a welfare issue we would rather not put our calves through. Polled animals are still fairly unusual in the Salers herd.
Heifer calf - typical polled head
Updated 20/6/11
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Wintering cattle emerging out of the trees!
Typical heifer
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