Although established in 1986, it is the last decade of bull sales in Carlisle that has cemented the Ampertaine Limousin herd as one of the best throughout the UK and Ireland. Founded through the purchase of an empty cow some 33 years ago by William McKay and his wife Jean, the herd now amounts to over 120 cows.

Based in Maghera, Co Derry, the farm now sees management taken care of by son James, who, over the years, has developed original lines into some of the most sought-after in the breed.

“We ran a commercial herd alongside the original purchases, but in 2002 we sold off a batch of commercial heifers and replaced them with pedigrees. We didn’t pay a lot of money; they were mostly Cloughhead Lord and they did well,” says James (pictured).

In 2007, the family made the decision to head across the water with a bull. This trip paid dividends and since that day has become common practise three times a year.

“We first went to Carlisle 10 years ago in February 2007. Before this, we would’ve sold bulls privately at home. The first bull we took was Ampertaine Abracadabra. He claimed reserve overall champion and went on to make 29,000gns. Since then, we haven’t missed any of the main sales, attending the February, May and October ones each year.”

This marked the start of Ampertaine bulls becoming one of the most used throughout the Limousin world, with high flyers from the herd selling to many of the top herds in the UK each year.

In many cases, these bulls go on to have semen collected, further enhancing the influence the herd has throughout Ireland and the UK.

While the herd continually receives in excess of 10,000gns at the sales, some of the toppers and better-known names include Ampertaine Commander at 20,000gns, Ampertaine Jefferson at 20,000gns, Ampertaine Hotshot at 28,000gns, Ampertaine Abracadabra at 29,000gns, Ampertaine Elgin at 32,000gns, Ampertaine Foreman at 38,000gns and, in October 2015, the herd set its record at 45,000gns for Ampertaine Jamboree.

Gigolo success

Jamboree was sired by homebred bull Ampertaine Gigolo, who also that day sired the sale topper and world record priced Limousin bull Trueman Jagger, who sold for 140,000gns. At that sale, Gigolo’s first three calves born all won their classes, took the supreme and reserve championships and averaged £71,400.

“We sold a half share of Gigolo for £30,000 at home. There was a lot of boys interested in him, so he was going to make a good price in Carlisle. Then Teus Dekker from Holland, who had bought a good few heifers off us; well, he was mad about the bull and we got the chance to sell half of him and sell the semen jointly between us, and it’s definitely the best thing we ever done.

“After the 140,000gns bull, there was a couple of thousand straws sold over the next few months. It’s slowed down slightly now, but is still steady. Anyone who would’ve bought last year bought again this year, so that can only be positive.”

It’s only the best of the best which go to Carlisle

In total, about 20 of the herd’s bulls would go to the Carlisle sales throughout the year and two years ago, the herd also held its first draft sale for females. Thirty-three select heifers went across for this sale over the last two years.

“It’s only the best of the best which go to Carlisle. The rest of the bulls are sold at home to commercial farmers. We then generally sell between 20 and 25 heifers each year privately.

“We will be having a draft again this year in May similar to the ones we had in June 2015 and 2016. We topped at 12,500gns the first year with an average of around 4,200gns for 21. Last year, we sold another 12 to average slightly less and this year we’re hoping to bring 20 across.”

Breeding herd

While the herd continues to gain traction year on year, the female half of the herd continues to be run as commercially as possible. Throughout the winter, cows are kept in cubicles and fed only grass silage for the majority of the time, with the exception of 1kg of ration pre-service.

The herd’s breeding policy is based solely on AI, with calving taking place throughout the year to be able to have bulls constantly ready for work.

“Ideally, the best time to calve is the spring, but if I’d a pile of bulls ready in October it wouldn’t suit us. October is your worst sale. Well, if you’ve a real good breeder’s bull he’ll always make money, but the normal commercial breeder’s bull, the men aren’t there in October to buy them.

“So we just try to calf all the time and have a steady amount of cattle leaving the yard every month and have steady cashflow.

I don’t want a big show cow lying up there doing nothing

“We want to just keep improving quality a wee bit going forward. I want just a real good shapey milky cow that will work on slats and cubicles and can be run commercially and earn money.

“I don’t want a big show cow lying up there doing nothing. I want a small-born calf that gradually gets better, that’s not too good too quick. We find if they’re too good too quick they go off as they get older.

“The biggest thing everyone asks when they come here is about easy calving – it’s number one. There’s a lot of part-time farmers out there and a man will give in a bit for quality to get easy calving. No matter how good a bull is, if he gives trouble, I will not use him. Bulls we are using this year are Ampertaine Gigolo, Ampertaine Jamboree, Ampertaine Foreman and Plumbtree Fantastic for the heifers. In the past few years, we used a nice bit of Elgin as there was no Sympa in him, so he could be used on a good share of the herd.”

Flushing

While the Ampertaine herd sees a number of very strong cow families throughout, many of which have bred numerous five-figure bulls, James would rather see a cow working than out of production for flushing. He also sees issues down the line from flushing your best lines.

“There is a cow which formed the Sharon family. A lot of daughters out of her bred really well. There’s one that bred Foreman at 38,000gns, another bred Commander at 20,000gns and a lot around the 10,000 to 15,000 mark. She’s very consistent.

“A lot of people think I should be flushing more, but I always think a lot of those cow’s daughters are a lot better than they are. We do a wee bit of flushing, but I’d nearly just prefer a few extra cows and keep them working and cycling every year. This keeps the numbers up. I feel if we didn’t have the numbers, we’d be doing more, but at the minute we’re good.

“Thing about it is we’re AI-ing with a pile of different bulls and every cow’s a wee bit different, and every bull calf is unique. Whereas if you’ve a particular cow you flush, it’s all the one line coming through that will come to an end because there’s that much of it about it’s nothing unique.

“Whereas if you’ve a bull out of something completely different, that’s where the big money will be.”