RENOWNED as a breed for continuously producing big framed, milky females with superior mothering characteristics and a good, docile temperament, it’s little wonder that the Simmental has taken centre-stage at Tombreckachie, Glenlivet, for two decades.
Originally having run a commercial herd which relied heavily upon the Limousin sire, Bert and Eleanor Mackintosh, along with son, Ally, now run a total of 130 Simmental and Simmental cross suckler cows at the 1000-acre unit, situated between Dufftown and Tomintoul, overlooking the Glenlivet Distillery.
“You can’t beat the Simmental for its docile character and mothering ability,” commented Bert, who took on the tenancy of the farm in 1997 from the Crown Estate, having previously farmed on a smaller unit nearby.
“We can now generally keep cows until they are 12-years-old and they still produce decent calves and plenty of milk,” added Bert.
“Although Simmentals generally have a quiet temperament, we still remain very strict on it, so anything that’s remotely fiery is fattened and sent away, likewise with the few cows which cause problems at calving,” commented Ally, who is now based at home full-time having worked part-time at the nearby, Tomnavoulin Distillery.

The Scottish Farmer:

The Mackintosh family first introduced the breed during the late 1990s when they purchased several females from the Arkmill, Whitemire and Milnafua herds at the old Perth Bull Sales. Those foundation females have certainly made their mark having produced some of the top-end cows in the herd.
More so, some of those females were carrying bull calves at the time and produced a few of the first stock bulls used on the herd, including two sons of the Milnafua cow – Livetside Handsome and Livetside Kovu. Her breeding is also behind eight of the females which can still be found in the pedigree herd today.
During those early years in the breed, any bulls which were of breeding worth were kept for home use or sold off farm, until 2005 when the family made their first trip to Perth Bull Sales. There, they stood reserve champion with their best heifer which went on to sell for 1600gns.
Since then, the few Livetside bulls which have been sold through the sale ring have reached a top of 4500gns, while bulls sold off farm have peaked at £5000.
Now, almost 20 years on, with Ally at the helm of the family-run business, and both himself and his parents just as enthusiastic about the breed, the total number of cows has almost doubled to include 26 pedigree cows under the Livetside prefix, with a further 40 bred pure and the remaining, Simmental cross Salers.
Not surprisingly, the majority of cows are bulled to the Simmental, with a Salers used on a small proportion of cows and heifers. Heifers calve at two years of age to the Salers for ease of calving and to breed replacement heifers with additional hybrid vigour to put back to the Simmental.
“You get a good criss-cross with the Salers and we rarely get a problem at calving time. In fact, cows just spit out the calves,” explained Ally.

The Scottish Farmer:

He has has also taken a shine for the French breed, with six pedigree Salers females now at Tombreckachie.
Maintaining a high health herd status and being an entirely closed herd – having not bought in a Simmental female since 2000 – 15-18 replacement heifers are kept annually to help boost numbers and cull out some of the older cows.
A handful of top-quality heifers are sold at Aberdeen and Northern Marts’ BVD accredited sale at Thainstone, where the latest draw saw 10 cash in to average £1200 and reach a top of £1360.
All stots and heifers which aren’t retained for breeding at home are sold through the store ring as yearlings at Thainstone, weighing between 400kg and 450kg, although Ally is quick to point out that many of the store heifers sold there usually go on as breeding heifers for new owners, rather than being finished. In contrast, some pedigree heifers have been sold privately to repeat customers in the past to avoid the herd getting too pure.

The Scottish Farmer:
Store prices to date saw back end calves average £1105 and reach a healthy £1370, while spring-born calves levelled at £1125 and sold to £1200.
Ensuring the commercial scale pays its way, they’re fed on a 50/50 dark grain and home-grown barley mix from the 30 acres of feed barley which is grown each year.
Add to that the fact that both the cross and pedigree cows can survive on a basic mix of straw, silage and draff inside from November to June, and graze throughout the summer on a neighbouring hill unit. They all calve inside mainly for handiness and of course weather depending, bearing in mind that the farm sits between 950ft and 1000ft above sea level.
“We aim to try and keep the cows out for as long as possible because it’s a costly job keeping cows in all winter on straw bedded courts. It’s expensive to haul straw up here so we’re lucky that we have two breeds which can cope with poorer weather and the fact we can grow barley,” said Ally.
Autumn-born calves are kept with the cows for as long as possible before weaning to avoid cases of mastitis, while spring calves are immediately weaned when they come inside in the back end. The later spring-born calves are taken off their mothers when sold in January.
While the Mackintosh family has never spent a fortune on bulls, they always aim to buy something with a good bit of length and shape and stick to good bloodlines.
“There are two types of Simmentals and we like to go with the fleshier type and hope that the cow size carries over,” explains Ally.
That certainly goes to show as the Mackintosh’s latest purchase – Tonrevagh Gallant – bought for €4300 at last year’s Premier Spring Show at Rosscommon, in the Republic of Ireland, where he stood reserve junior champion, bred a tremendous fleshy crop of calves this year.
 Purchased at just 13-months-old, Gallant is a son of Clonagh Tiger Gallant.
At the same sale they purchased the Salers bull, Drumlegagh Kasper, which some of this year’s heifers are in calf to.

The Scottish Farmer:
“After buying Gallant at such a young age it’s definitely an age bracket we will continue to buy at in the future. He wasn’t pushed and was still growing, so we had more control over his condition,” commented Ally.
Another bull which has done well for the commercial herd is the home-bred bull, Livetside Warrior, backed fully by home-bred genetics, being a son of Livetside Pedro. Although he was forward for sale at Stirling Bull Sales in 2010 and came home unsold, it was a blessing in disguise as he produced top-end females and the current junior stock bull for the herd, Livetside Emperor.

The Scottish Farmer:

Likewise to the females, home-bred bulls forward for sale are kept in as natural an order as possible, being easy fed and not pushed. It’s clearly a system that is proving well for the herd as the family comment that their bulls always seem to have a market and often go to repeat customers.
Alongside the running of the suckler herd, Tombreckachie is home to 280 Blackface ewes which are bred pure to produce as many as 30 shearlings each year to be sold between Dingwall, Dalmally and Fort William, with tup lambs to the Perth Society Sale at UA, Stirling, while 160 Blackies go to the Bluefaced Leicester to produce replacements for the 60 Mule flock and Mule ewe lambs which are sold at Huntly, each year. Last year, 70 Mule ewe lambs averaged £104 and to £114.
Blackface ewe lambs are either kept on or sold as gimmers at Huntly in mid-September, while Blackface whether lambs are fattened on the 20 acres of fodder rape and sold through Huntly’s live ring.
The flock of 15 Beltex ewes is also making a penny or two as a growing commercial demand for the breed has resulted in private sales of shearlings over the past five years.
And if that’s not enough to keep busy with, year in year out Ally runs his ‘Shear Knackered’ clipping business, shearing as many as 65,000 ewes in June, July and August.
Now that’s an impressive feat!