Father and son duo, Joe and Richard Fortune have been named national pedigree winners of the inaugural FBD €uro-Star €200 competition. The Co Wexford Salers breeders picked up the award at the ICBF and Sheep Ireland genetics conference which took place in Athlone during the week. To be crowned national champions, the herd, which trades under the Knottown prefix, outscored nine fellow pedigree competitors during an on-farm judging process after being shortlisted from a selection of 100 pedigree breeders nationwide.

Farm system

The Fortunes are farming 120 purebred Salers cows on 220ac of grassland and 50ac of cereals just outside Wexford town. The Fortunes got into Salers cattle a number of years ago while seeking a cow type that was capable of calving a sizable Charolais X calf. Since then, the herd has gone from strength to strength, with the subsequent formation of the Knottown purebred Salers herd.

While a 120-cow pedigree herd suggests an enormous volume of breeding animals will be sold off the farm each year, Richard explained the actual number of pedigree bulls sold is much smaller than one might think: “Each year we would probably sell only five or six pedigree bulls. We only register about 10 or 12.” He added: “To be honest, there are fewer than 200 Salers bulls sold in the country annually so we obviously couldn’t expect to be selling 50 plus. It means we are only selling stock bulls with very high genetic merit.”

With 120 purebred Salers cows on the farm and fewer than 10 purebred bulls being sold, Richard outlined that a commercial element is also run in tandem with the pedigree system: “We have the cows split into two groups. You could call it an A team and a B team,” he said. “We breed the best group of cows to a Salers bull which will obviously give us a batch of purebred Salers calves and the second group of cows are mated to a Charolais bull.”

Following on from this, Richard explained what happens with the progeny: “Of the purebred calves, all the females will be registered purebred. These will either be kept on-farm for our own replacements or sold off-farm. From the bull calves, we register about 10 or 12 and the rest are sold in a bull beef system.” All of the Salers X Charolais progeny are sold commercially, the bulls in an under 16-month bull beef system.

Breeding

From speaking to both Joe and Richard, it is easy to see the passion that they have for breeding and genetics. Even a brief look at the herd’s figures (Table 1) shows the remarkable attention to detail that has been paid to genetics throughout the years.

Firstly, on pedigree bull selection, Richard said: “I won’t register any bull that was over 45kg in weight at birth. I think there is always a danger that certain traits begin to slip within a breed. By ensuring only sires that were easily calved enter the breeding system, it is the best way of keeping calving difficulty within the Salers breed down.”

Furthermore, the high level of data recording that takes place on the farm, means that the Fortunes have a wealth of information on each animal which allows them to specifically pick a breeding bull to suit a farmer’s needs.

Perhaps a true testament to the successes of the herd comes in the fact that Knottown Roy (SA4604), a bull bred by the Fortunes made it on to this winter’s Gene Ireland programme. Son of Beguin, Knottown, Roy has the highest replacement index of the new Gene Ireland bulls at €275 and a figure of 14.50kg for daughter milk and -5.05 days for calving interval. He is also five-star within his breed for carcase weight and carcase conformation, with figures of 20kg and 1.29, respectively.

On the BDGP, Richard said: “We have been using it from the start and constantly recording information so it is really paying off now for our replacement indices. We find the indices generally match the animal on this farm.” Currently, the Fortunes are using a combination of AI and stock bulls for breeding.

Going forward

Going forward, the plan is to continue to focus on easy calving and calving ability when selecting sires and replacements for keeping and for sale. The plan will also be to continue to build up a customer base for breeding bulls and replacement heifers. Since no stock are brought to shows and no advertising is done, Richard and Joe rely on building up a good name for high-quality stock, something that has stood them in good stead up until now and something that has resulted in a high number of repeat customers coming back for more. “We will concentrate on the things we can change ourselves within the farm gate and hopefully we will get rewarded for that.”

Judges comments: Pearse Kelly, Teagasc; Niall Kilrane, ICBF; Matthew Halpin, Irish Farmers Journal

The Fortunes are a great example of a family farm in the truest sense of the word. This is a pedigree herd run very much on commercial principles. It clearly demonstrates the profit-making potential that lies-within the beef industry first and foremost, but it also shows a clear attempt to only use the best of the best for the continuation of the breed. The Fortunes’ system is one that provides an interesting template that other pedigree breeders might look to follow.