Farming Eye

What was the trueman hf like?

Is it not a bit rich that Christine Williams from Wilodge is faced with the dilemma of having to judge Wilodge sired progeny. Surely the exhibitors should know better or are they that desperate for rosettes??

• Jonathan Long

  Reply
  May 16, 2012 at 6:33 pm

  BL – as you’ll appreciate with Wilodge breeding being so well spread throughout the breed it would probably be hard to find a show without a beast with some Wilodge breeding in it. And, don’t forget Christine had no idea what the breeding of any beast was when she judged them, she may have had an idea from how some of them looked, but that wouldn’t make it a nailed on certainty. It’s the same situation faced by many judges week in week out really….

  • unaccustomed

    June 14, 2012 at 11:47 pm

    Jonathan, was considering purchasing a few purebred limousin females and would be interested to hear your thoughts on some of the better bloodlines that would be desirable in female foundation stock.

  • Jonathan Long

    June 18, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    Unaccustomed. To be honest it would really depend on what sort of stock you’re wanting to breed. There are plenty of good lines about that are delivering the goods for a lot of herds, however, as in every breed there is no one perfect bloodline that delivers everything. For a starting point I’d suggest looking for females from strong breeding families on both sides and ensure they come from milky female lines. If you’re looking for consistency then some of the old favourites are without a doubt the better bets, the likes of Sympa, Broadmeadows Cannon, Ronick Gains and Greensons Gigolo have all left good females in many herds and of course Nenuphar, Mas Du Clo and Vantastic are always popular. Key to getting the right type of female in my mind is to keep them feminine, lose that femininity and you’ll struggle to breed the next generation of dams for your herd which is all important for the future. If you want to breed for the future then I’d say you need to look to some of the taller types rather than the shorter stockier types currently finding favour. Chasing the biggest back end is all well and good but I think the beef market is going to shift to a different type in the next few years with length and stretch being paramount.