That
is still our policy to this day and our
bulls are keenly sought after by regular
commercial buyers.
For
many years the herd only numbered about
12 breeding cows and even in 1970 there
was only 20 cows.
In
1971 the entire world famous Barnoldby
Herd was purchased and 32 breeding females
from both herds were retained and a decision
was taken to increase the size of the
herd to around 70 breeding females. Today
we still have around 30 breeding cows
but 40 -50 purebred calves are born annually
around 20 of these coming from our extensive
Embryo Transfer programme where we continually
aim to multiply the best breeding lines.We
are most grateful for all the help and
advice from OVAFLO which has made this
so successful.
In
recent years we have also introduced new
bloodlines from New Zealand and Canada
in this programme and two of our present
Stock Bulls are from embryo's imported
from New Zealand.
In
1959 the herd started weight recording
and has been fully recorded ever since.
It is in fact the oldest recorded herd
of any breed in the U.K. hence the high
levels of accuracy in our E.B.V's.
We
have scanned our cattle since it was first
introduced some 12- 15 years ago and we
put a lot of stress on our performance
figures.
In
the Annual Sire & Dam summary there
is consistently more Netherton females
in the top list than any other herd. Most
of our females are in the top 5% for Beef
Value with the remainder in the top 25%
this combined with our high accuracy's
offers buyers fairly accurate predictable
performance.
To
us an animal without E.B.V's is like a
can of fruit without a label. You may
think you have got a peach when in fact
you have a lemon.
In
the early years cattle were exported to
Argentine, Uruguay, Canada, USA, Sweden,
South Africa, Rhodesia and Ireland.
Showing
was practised prior to the 1950's when
the introduction of the health schemes
curtailed showing. In 1972 we again started
showing mainly in the weight recorded
classes but in 1978 we started showing
seriously at the major shows with considerable
success.
The
herd has been Supreme Champion at the
Royal Show six times since 1980 and Reserve
Champion twice. At the Royal Highland
we have been Supreme Champion four times
in the same period. Netherton Herd has
won the Show Herd of the Year Award eight
times out of eleven and was runner up
on the other three occasions. At the Perth
Bull Sales, the herd has produced four
Supreme Champions and three Reserve Supreme
Champions as well as quite a number of
Section Champions. Since 1995 we have
held five Matron's Sales where our policy
was to sell all proven females at six
year old. These have been an outstanding
success and giving the herd some of the
highest female averages in the breed.
In 2004 our 80th Anniversary Sale set
no fewer than six new records including
new record price for a Female of 20,000
gns. Previous record equalled twice at
16,000 gns, new record price for a bull
calf of 10,000 gns, previous record for
a maiden heifer equalled at 9,000 gns.
The sale set a new record average for
a reduction sale with 63 lots averaging
£4,495 also a new record gross of
£283,185
for 63 lots. Many of these females have
gone to found new herds and have gone
on to breed show and sale winners in their
new herds.
With
our extensive use of embryo transfer we
are rapidly rebuilding the herd and we
are now selling substantial numbers of
embryo's at home and for export.
Because
of lack of labour and biosecurity we intend
to severely curtail our showing which
since 1990 has produced us 75 Female Championships
at 123 shows competed at. We now intend
to offer all our yearling bulls and proven
cows for sale privately so come quickly
and get your pick.
The
Show record combined with Performance
records of the herd are second to none
proving that show winners only come consistently
if their performance figures are right.
Over
the years we have paid particular attention
to our cow families, which we think, are
the true basis of any successful herd.
We
firmly believe that only Success
Breed's Success.
