Sunderlandwick Farm Partnership
THE FARM: Own 1650 acres comprising 1400 acres arable (wheat, barley, oilseed rape and beans on a six-year rotation) and 250 acres grazing
THE LIVESTOCK: 65 pedigree South Devon cows, 65 South Devon cross Angus cows, plus 170 followers
Father and son team Robin and Fred Smyth started using the South Devon breed 18 years ago, after Robin took a research trip to the USA.
‘We had Limousin and Charolais cross cows and they were getting too purebred. Repeated crossing with continental bulls was resulting in cows with reduced fertility and milk yield,’ Robin explains. ‘We wanted to create a good milking maternal line as we couldn’t find reliable Hereford cross Friesians because the milk industry had largely moved to Holstein.’
‘After going to the USA and looking at the research we decided to create a nucleus herd of South Devon cows which would make up half of the herd. Retained South Devon heifers and the lower EBV cows would then be put to an Angus bull, and the resulting cross females form the other half of the herd. These then would be put to a Charolais terminal sire, making good use of heterosis and hybrid vigour.’
And they have been happy with their decision. ‘The South Devon cattle are wonderfully quiet, sometimes too quiet – trying to get them to move can be a challenge – they just plant their feet,’ says Fred.
The foundation stock came from all over the country, comprising 30 heifers from the Oxey, Kestle, Grove and Northwick herds.
Robin’s first bull was Grove Claudius 55 from Douglas Scott, followed by two from George & Ann Dart – Woodhayes Illya 10 and Z Woodhayes Ashley 1. The current stock bulls are Welland Valley Hero 7, Lumbylaw Horizon 31 and the homebred Sunderlandwick Maximus 2.
Robin favours the scientific approach to choosing bulls. ‘I always buy bulls with EBVs in the top 5%, with easy calving traits. Polling is desirable as well as zero myostatin.’
In 2010, the opportunity to expand their acreage arose when the farm next door came up for sale. ‘It was 140 acres and it came with a farm shop; although we didn’t want the farm shop we actually ran it for seven years,’ says Robin. ‘We were putting 80 to 90 South Devon and South Devon cross carcasses through the farm shop every year – the eating quality was superb.’
But when they closed the farm shop two years ago to revamp the site Fred set his sights on developing the herd. ‘We’ve been going back to basics, getting the cow shape right – nothing drastic, just steady improvement,’ says Fred.
‘From my point of view the breed shouldn’t get too influenced by terminal sire breeds, particularly the muscling. There should be more emphasis on the female EBVs and the breed needs to be careful on feet, calving ease and calf size – there needs to be emphasis on the maternal traits,’ he adds. ‘We have seen the steady improvement with the quality of our heifers coming on.’
From a commercial perspective, they finish 70 South Devon and South Devon cross calves every year – 50 bulls and 20 heifers for ABP. ‘We keep the bulls entire, selling them at 12–13 months. We expect a minimum 625kg liveweight and 320kg deadweight, with a typical liveweight gain of 1.6kg/day from birth to sale,’ says Fred.
‘The heifers are finished at 18–22 months on a less intensive regime. They are fed a store ration over their first winter, grass in the summer and then finished with the same mix as the bulls.’ The cows calve from March to April. ‘I don’t like to have anything calving after 1 May – it’s a lot easier to manage,’ says Fred. ‘We have a strict culling policy – anything not in calf gets culled, we normally have around 90–95% pregnancy rate and we replace 20 a year.’
They have a closed herd for biosecurity. ‘We pride ourselves on our cattle health with accreditations for Johnes Level 1 since 2016, BVD free since 2004, vaccinated against IBR and Leptospirosis. We are exceptionally fortunate to be in a low risk area for TB,’ says Fred. ‘We take biosecurity very seriously and manage this through membership of the SAC Premium Cattle Herd Health Scheme.’
