Beef AI/Bulls MEGATHREAD

Was anyone in athenry for the limousin sale? Just wondering how'd it go.

I was thinking that but it's hard to know when your not there. Some really nice bulls sold for handy money I thought. I was wondering did the latest icbf thing upset the sale.

That's demented.

He’s a decent bull, easy calved (put him on heifers) calves are good quality and the daughters make good cows

IF the Limousin society and all the other breed societies had a pair of balls between them at the beginning of all this they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now, they blindly adopted the Eurostar system at the start without knowing what they were getting themselves into. The biggest culprits in all this are the IFA as usual, a pile of IFA lads sitting on the ICBF board fast asleep but farmers will keep throwing millions at them every year, you couldn’t make it up, has to be the best example of Stockholm Syndrome i’ve ever seen. I wonder how many pedigree breeders and commercial suckler farmers who are unhappy with their stars are IFA members. NCBC have been an embarrassment in all this also. It’s funny to see their new star bull Powerful Propers figures go through the floor.

There is good enough money in the current SCEP scheme because you only have to calve 50% of the cows you get paid on but this might be the last of these schemes worth joining. There are only 17000 farmers in SCEP. I have my doubts if the next scheme will be worth joining but sure that’s what they’re aiming for.

The minutes of the ICBF meetings where the decisions to make these changes were made should be published so that farmers can see who is fighting their corner and who isn’t, no danger of that happening of course. Why haven’t the IFA board members spoken publicly about what has gone on and why. Whatever credibility ICBF had is gone now, they’re just a bunch of well paid puppets for the anti farming nutters. ICBF are just fiddling the figures to suit the we have to get rid of Sucklers agenda, watching Sean Coughlan trying to defend the new figures was laughable stuff, it’s obvious he doesn’t believe a word of what he’s saying. Saying that farmers would be better to breed replacements off Dexter bulls rather than Charolais bulls is the last straw, they’ve lost the plot completely now.

Bova still have Gamin (ZGM) by the way, for those interested. Only talked to them during the week.

Have one cow in calf to him but nothing yet. The AI guy had the straws so I said I'd try one anyway.

Have you used Montesquieu much, what do you think of him?

Are straws off him available yet? Looking at his breeding he shouldn’t be hard calving but better play it safe with heifers imo. I’d put Knottown Roy or Manclaux on them, a 3/4 bred Saler is a grand animal especially if you get a heifer, plenty of time for the Lim bull the second time and the Charolais after that.