Limousins are the ultimate versatile breed at Longhirst

Farming in the picturesque rural countryside of Morpeth, David and Audrey Jordon alongside son, Matthew, run a total of 1100 acres which is home to their pedigree Limousin herd of 80 breeding females and 20 replacement heifers – established in 2000 by David and his father, Bill.

"We were originally running a commercial herd with some suckler cattle, however, my father took off to Hexham Mart one day and returned home with a couple of pure-bred Limousin cows," commented David

"It wasn't long before my father and I got 'the bug' and with the aim of increasing herd numbers quickly, we concentrated on buying in cattle with good beef value. It was a predominantly commercial herd at the time and if we had the odd good bull we took it to Carlisle, and that was how the pedigree herd was founded," he explained.

"We didn’t have the money to invest in lots of good foundation cow families so we’ve really had to breed from the bottom and work our way up. We have been lucky to have fallen upon the cow families that have worked for us, rather than buying a 20,000gns cow at a sale and expecting it to perform."

As well as the cattle enterprise, the family also farm 900 acres of arable comprising wheat, barley, oilseed rape and some beans, as well as 200 acres of silage and grazing for the cattle.

With Limousin-sired cattle dominating prime sales on a weekly basis and proving to be the most popular choice for butchers, Matthew believes that there’s no better terminal sire on the market.

"The Limousin is so diverse as a breed and if you get the right bloodlines, you can have a really easy fleshing animal for what the commercial man wants. Going forward, sustainability is a massive topic of conversation and supermarkets will want to look at a breed and ask what they can achieve," he stated.

"With the right bloodlines, cattle are spending less time on the ground, producing less methane and can be finished at 14-16-months-old. For us, they are the all-purpose breed and although we want to be producing cattle with a good carcass, we also need to look after the maternal traits of the breed too.

"We want to continue to achieve that fine balance between breeding cattle with shape and muscle but not loosing the vital attributes of milkiness, ease of calving and maternal qualities which the Limousin is renowned for. Once you have females that are big in size with a good pelvis and plenty of milk, you can pretty much use whatever bull you want to – get the female right and the rest will follow," he added.

With the female side of the enterprise proving one of the most important aspects at Longhirst, some of the best breeding cows include Longhirst Fifi, which produced the reserve senior champion bull, Longhirst Jerome, at Carlisle in 2016.

"Longhirst Dora was another consistent breeder and left us a lot of quality daughters that had plenty of milk. I would also add that two of the first cows purchased for the Longhirst herd, which derived from Middledale, were some of the best we've seen, having left really nice calves behind them that go on and perform," said David.

"Another notable female for us would be Longhirst Happydays. She breeds width into every calf she produces and she can be crossed to any bull and continue to leave tremendous progeny," added Audrey.

It's a similar story with stock bulls at Longhirst too, with the Jordon family having high expectations when it comes to buying in new bloodlines for their herd.

"The most important aspect for us when buying a bull is the cow family behind it. If the bull's dam or grand-dam has been a consistent breeder, then we tend to be drawn to them more, especially when we are focussing on breeding quality replacement females of our own," said Matthew.

"One of the very best bulls we have invested in over the years would be Spittalton Gigolo, purchased for £8500 at Carlisle. In regards to his daughters, they were fantastic and really were the cornerstone of everything we try to achieve here. You'll struggle to find a female at Longhirst which doesn't have some Gigolo genetics in her.

"Another notable bull would be Ronick One, which we would say was the first bull improver when it came to the females, as well as the 10,000gns Goldies Musketeer, which has bred growth and power into the herd," he added.

Current stock bulls at Longhirst which the Jordon family are excited to use include Ampertaine Racer, which will have his first crop of calves on the ground in two months time, two imported bulls from Northern Ireland, namely Claragh Supersonic and Deerpark Superstar.

"We are also using Maraiscote Odante as a stock bull at the moment and he is doing a great job for us. We liked the look of him and he was bought at Harrison and Hetherington's online Covid-19 sale held in May, 2020. His first sons are heading to Carlisle this year," David commented.

Cattle are housed indoors during the winter months on straw, before being released outside from April onwards depending on the quantity of grass and quality of the weather. 

In order to produce a more uniform group of calves, the Jordon's have set the bulling period to 10 weeks with the herd split into two calving groups – spring and autumn calvers – consisting of 55 calvers in the spring block with 25 calving down in autumn.

"We have a large amount of arable work to do in late summer and autumn and although we would like to calf as many as we could in September and October in order to have more stock to sell at the May sales, we just don't have the time for that. Spring is still the most natural time to calve cows and the calves seem to thrive, so we are quite happy with our current system," stated Matthew. 

Bulls head out to the back end calvers at the beginning of February, with the spring calvers introduced to the bull in the first week of June. Heifers are paired with an easy calving bull to ensure that no calving problems are experienced at the other end.

"We think really carefully about cows which don't hold to the bull. Unless that specific cow that has done well for us in the past, then we tend toget rid of them. In regards to the heifers, we feel it is vital to get that first calf out naturally and onto the ground without any issues, so we focus on easy calving genetics," said David.

As well as hold rate, the Jordon's are also culling for calving difficulties, locomotion and temperament to name a few. 

"We are strict when it comes to the heifers, usually giving them two chances and if they don't hold or we don’t like calves then we cull them," he added.

Ensuring that the herd are performing to the best of their ability also comes down quality feeding and for the Jordon's, Harbro are proving the most reliable and efficient.

"Our feed consultant is Jill Hunter and she sets up a dry cow ration for us, as well as a cow and calf ration, heifer growing ration, bull grower, bull conditioner, creep mix and finisher. Jill regularly checks in with us to ensure we are happy with the feed ration, and tweaks it to suit our herd's specific requirements at that point in time. We have also managed to reduce feed costs to some extent as we use a lot of our own barley, oats and beans within the mixtures meaning that we only need to buy in a little bit of soya and straight liquids," explained Matthew.

Once cows have calved down, they are moved straight onto the Harbro cow and calf ration. Weaning for the spring calves takes place at seven-months-old, whist the autumn calving group are left on their mothers a little longer and removed at eight-months-old. Following weaning, all cows are moved onto the Harbro dry cow ration right through to calving again.

"We are good to our cows and don’t like to hunger thembefore calving. It’s a balance between having cattle like skin and bone resulting in poor milk quantity and quality but not too fit that we endure calving difficulties either," Matthew commented.

At weaning, heifer and bull calves are split, with the Jordon's then selecting which of the bulls will be retained for breeding, as well as which heifers will make up their replacement herd.

Breeding bulls are kept on a basic creep feed before they are moved onto the bull grower ration. Then, about 10 weeks before heading to a show or sale,they arefed a bull conditioner ration which comprises less protein to ensure better cover over the bulls.

Around 20 replacement heifers are kept annually and fed a heifer growing ration. 

"We select our heifers based off their dam's performance, but we also look for health issues within the cow family, correct legs, a good pelvis, length width," said Audrey.

"In regards to the bulls, they have got to be functional and have a lot of length to them as we don't tend to breed short animals. All breeding bulls have to have a good top that doesn't slope away over the plates and temperament is amassive contribution to our decision making. We also like that bit of style about them too," Matthew added.

Outwith breeding stock, the remainder of the calves are moved onto a finishing ration before being sent off to Darlington Mart, where last year's fat heifers cashed in at £1670 for 17 sold and the 15 cast cows averaged £1874.

With Longhirst bulls being sold privately, as well as through Carlisle, Darlington and Stirling in May, February and October, respectively, the 21 bulls sold last year levelled at £5110.

"We were really happy with how our sales went last year and it really is a testament to the stock we are trying to produce as we have only ever had one bull that has not been able to work, out of the many we have sold – which is what it's all about," David stated.

In an ever changing industry and competitive market, the Jordon's believe that the Limousin still retains the strongest foothold when it comes to producing cattle that can meet the requirements of all producers.

"Going forward within the breed, maternal quality is what we need to concentrate on, as well as easy fleshing and easy calving traits. We are bigfans of shape and muscle but not at the decrement of the mothering qualities.," Matthew explained.

"With that in mind, wehave to cater to our customers and their requirements but at the same time, the Limousin breed is meant to be fine boned and you've got to get the females correct"

Looking to the future of their own herd, Matthew concluded: "It's important that we retain our current customer base and continue to provide the kind of cattle that they are looking for. The honesty and integrity of our herd is hugely important to us and we'll always look after our customers if there is ever a problem with our stock.

"In terms of the type of Limousin we are looking to breed, we are aiming to retain those maternal traits that the breed is well known for. We don’t have the money to spend on the most expensive animal at every sale so, for us, we are on a steady trajectory and it's about slowly and gradually improving the cows that we have at Longhirst."