The Aberdeen Angus bull Threeburnford Leander is relatively new to the Cogent stud but is already creating a stir. He has been chosen by Waitrose beef supplier Dovecote Park as the Aberdeen Angus bull to be used on their calf scheme, so Philip Halhead made a visit to find out more about the scheme and the processing of the highest retail quality Angus beef.
Leander was selected for Cogent by Philip Halhead who spotted the huge potential in his pedigree and EBV data before he made the trip to the Perth Bull sale. His sire Rawburn Transformer is a top 1% sire with excellent growth rates. Leander is one of the best Transformer sons, following in his footsteps as a top 1% Aberdeen Angus sires with tremendous growth figures - Leander also has the highest self replacement index of the breed.
Philip Halhead was recently shown round Dovecote Park by Simon Ingle, their Calf Scheme Co-ordinator – it was a visit that really hit home the need for consistent quality carcases to meet the stringent demands from Dovecote Park customers. Walking through the packing plant it was obvious that great care is taken to produce quality Aberdeen Angus beef, packed to the specifications demanded by retail customers.
It was also obvious that Dovecote Park are looking long term, considering the changing needs of the farmer and the retail customer and working hard to provide a joined up, forward thinking strategy that is very innovative.
As with any supplier to the retail trade, consistency of product is essential. At Dovecote Park there is strong emphasis on nutritional and health management as well as data monitoring. This is very exciting for Dovecote Park and Cogent - it means there are standard benchmarks at each stage to monitor the success of Threeburnford Leander.
Finding quality Aberdeen Angus bulls that matched their requirements has been difficult, but when Philip introduced them to Threeburnford Leander they were quite excited. Leander is a medium framed long bull that looks like fitting the Dovecote Park production system very well. The initial order for 1000 straws has already been sent to Dovecote Park and the first Leander calves are expected shortly. Simon Ingle is very optimistic and has already placed a second order for semen. Finished cattle should be ready by the end of next year and should be in supermarkets in time for Christmas 09.
Simon Ingle joined Dovecote Park to instigate their Calf Scheme. He has been working with dairy farmers who supply milk to Waitrose and now has 25 farmers who are members of the Calf Scheme. As Simon explains “We have had a good relationship with Waitrose (our customers) for over a decade and are looking long term at how to make sure we have a very integrated scheme where we can improve the quality of the beef we supply. The calf scheme is less than a year old but is quite innovative and progressing well. We work with our farmers to ensure they use the best genetics possible and to encourage them we provide the Aberdeen Angus semen for AI. We are committed to buying all their calves so it gives us some input and a degree of control over quality which is better for the farmers as they have an improved product to sell and we have a better calf to send to our rearers.”
Dovecote Park certainly takes a long term relationship view with their farmers as Simon elaborated: “the scheme makes good business sense for us and our dairy farmers. We have already introduced our farmers to sexed Holstein semen and they are already reaping the financial benefits. We also provide free beef semen and free collection of calves, reducing the number of dairy bull calves and improving the quality of the calves collected will naturally lead to better calf prices. It is important that we continue to educate and encourage our farmers to ensure they have no reason to send dairy bull calves abroad.
Reflecting on his visit Philip Halhead said “Visiting Dovecote Park was an eye opener – they are very innovative and forward thinking and are working with farmers who have the same outlook. The initial data on Threeburnford Leander is very promising and we are all hoping that his killing out results will be second to none.
The next 18 months will be a very exciting time as we see his progeny coming through the rearing and finishing yards. We will be working very closely with Simon and his team to make sure we collate as much data as possible on health, live weight gain, killing out percentage and carcase grade. This will help us keep a joined up link with our customers too.”
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