IN A country known for its native beef breeds, the market demand for performance recorded composite Stabiliser cattle in Scotland is seeing considerable growth.

This breed of cattle, imported from the US, is a composite breed of Red and Black Angus, Gelbvieh and Simmental, cross bred to produce, what supporters call, the perfect suckler cow. Displaying high quality in traits such as easy calving, increased longevity, high fertility and low maintenance costs, demand for these genetics is growing amongst commercial farmers who wish to increase their profits and reduce maintenance costs.

The Stabiliser Cattle Company (SCC) was formed in 1996 by five beef producers in East Yorkshire focused on improving the economic efficiency of suckler cows and the production of high quality beef from forage-based systems. The four-breed composite consists of 50% native and 50% continental (American) genetics leading to the best mix of performance traits and hybrid vigour. The first Stabiliser calves were born in the UK in 1999, 52 to be exact from 100 imported embryos, and almost 20 years on there are now 10,000 cows within 110 herds UK wide, with 14 of those herds hailing from Scotland.

The widespread use of continental terminal sire breeds in the UK as replacement suckler cows has led to a reduction in efficiency in those cattle, often resulting in high replacement costs, increased calf mortality and calving difficulties, reduced longevity and slower re-breeding. The competitive advantage of breeding Stabiliser cattle derives from the use of a selection system where the best breeding traits are chosen to maintain and build an economically efficient cow herd which requires less feeding and maintenance costs. Breeding cattle which are too large, such as highly muscled continentals, reduces profitability and instead the SCC aim to breed moderate size cows.

SWCC business development director Richard Fuller said that Stabiliser cattle were the answer for farmers who are struggling to run a profitable suckler herd without subsidies: “We offer a disciplined breeding programme which creates a genetic package for the perfect suckler cow, an optimum balance between animal performance, income and cost to maximise profit.

“The answer is to have forage efficient, productive, easy to manage cows which put on enough condition in the summer to save on winter feeding costs.”

Stabiliser genetics first came about in the 1970’s in America when the USDA Clay Centre did some experiments designed to find the best crossing systems for beef production. The Leachman family, originally from New York State, moved to Montana with their herd of red Angus and were independently crossbreeding with a number of different breeds to make good commercial cows, and found the Clay Centre research gave them a strong pointer to continue their work. The advantages of the hybrid breed were soon noted and by the mid 80’s these hybrid bulls were in high demand on the US market.

This month, Lee Leachman travelled to Scotland to partake in several farm visits and meetings to share his knowledge and experience in Stabiliser cattle with UK farmers.

Leachman is currently the United States third biggest bull producer, breeding 1700 bulls this year alone through a network of 35 cooperating herds with 8500 cattle. He also keeps a herd of 500 elite breeding cows of which 70% are Stabilisers with the rest Red Angus, Angus and Charolais. His Stabiliser breeding programme makes use of a profitability index called $Profit which gives an economic value to all the important suckler cow traits to allow the most profitable animals to be identified and used in the breeding programme. At a Stabiliser farm visit in Arbroath on September 18, he delivered his thoughts on how best the UK can improve its economic potential in the beef market.

“In order for UK producers to gain a competitive advantage they must efficiently produce a high-eating quality product for the UK market as they are not going to become a global producer competing against the likes of Brazilian prices,” he said

He also reflected on the demand placed in the UK for lean steak with little fat comparing it with more marbled beef produced in the US: “In America prominence is given to highly marbled steak because of its enhanced and consistent eating qualities and this has driven up the value of this meat. People aren’t going to go out for dinner and pay a good price for unpredictable quality.”

Leachman went on to comment on some of the genetic traits which are driving profits in Stabiliser cattle herds such the ability to breed replacements and reproduce quickly with ease, allowing them to be bred back quickly. He also commented on the use of smaller breeding cows which leads to lower birth weight of around 35kg which not only makes birthing easier, but has led to lower feed intake and less land needed for grazing which is one of the biggest costs facing farmers. These moderately sized cattle have increased longevity, allowing them to produce on average 10 calves in their lifetime, and can survive outside year-round on a mostly forage based diet.

With only 14 herds currently breeding Stabilisers in Scotland, and just 40 Scottish farmers using Stabiliser genetics, Leachman explained why he felt there might be slower take-up North of the border: “Scotland is very traditional with its strong purebreds. This composite breed is less expected in a region where stores prices drive breeding decisions.

"Native cattle in Scotland have good maternal traits, however they lack muscularity which is what often satisfies the market. This is why Stabiliser could do so much for Scottish suckler herd profitability.”

Leachman’s talk rounded up a busy afternoon spent visiting Robin Norrie’s 140 Stabiliser cattle herd at his arable and beef farm at Denhead of Arbirlot near Arborath. Around 60 guests came to witness the progress with his Stabiliser herd which began back in the 1990’s, originally as a maternal line to put to Charolais bulls but more formally with the purchase of a Stabiliser bull in 2006. The family have experienced huge successes with the composite breed and are now self-proclaimed converts, having a closed herd since 2006, breeding their own replacement heifers.

Robin said: “One of the main reasons we went for Stabilisers was to breed replacement heifers with good temperaments. We don’t have time to be handling wild cattle.”

First off on the tour of Robin’s farm visitors were introduced to what he called “the pensioners”, a group of 10 and 11-year-old breeding cows who were bred as part of the original calves from their first Stabiliser bull and have since successfully bred around 10 calves. Noticing some young heifer calves in the field Robin remarked: “These heifers are extremely fertile so we need to be careful to take the bulls out early as the heifers could take a calf less than six months old.”

Since developing his Stabiliser herd Robin has found calving to be much smoother – they haven’t needed to carry out a caesarean in 11 years and in general the herd have improved conception rates.

“Calving begins at the end of March for 10 weeks. 2016 was our best year for calving yet. We only lost two calves but had eight sets of twins."

The family sell their heifers privately between 10 and 12 months old and the bull calves are weaned at around seven months, fattened on hoppers and silage and finished around 13-14 months. The cows are bulled at 15 months, calving at two-years-old and according to the family make excellent sucklers who are very maternal. The gestation period in the Stabilisers is around 276 days which has been a huge factor in leading to easier births due to smaller birth weights. All calves weighed at birth are on average 35kg compared with a deadweight of 380kg when they are finished. They are hoping to increase this to 400kg.

On another of the farm stops we met their five-year-old Givendale bull, sired by Givendale Lorenzo, who has been put to 35 breeding females who all calved within a month. There are four other bulls on the farm, running at times with up to 60 females and have been successful particularly in regard to their tight calving. In the final field, we were welcomed by 21 bulling heifers along with a handful of cows and some first time calvers, mostly pure Stabilisers.

Robin has noticed a great improvement in feed efficiency as he has graded up his cows to pure Stabiliser: “We have increased stocking rates dramatically because Stabiliser cows are such good doers. If we had stuck to our old stocking rates then the cows would have been far too fat. Obviously that’s good news because we can keep more cows on the same grazing area.”

One of the useful features of the Stabiliser breeding programme has been running the herd to pure without losing hybrid vigour and overall the Stabiliser introduction in to the Denhead of Arbirlot herd has been a resounding success.