[Stereo]

In a few days I will take on just under 50 acres of decent grazing land in South devon. Good grass but mainly sloping and can get wet. I'm looking at foggage techniques and mob grazing for out wintering.  I've also got 5 acres of woodland which may provide some shelter and a feeding area. 

Looking for a breed of cattle that will cope all year around and be easy calving.  Plus, I need to market the beef myself as a premium product.  Obvious one for marketing is Angus. Other options would be Dexter, Hereford, Devon ( ruby and South), Shetland and so on.

I grew up on a beef farm so am no stranger to handling cattle although we did the big continentals which needed loads of housing / cake.

I want something that can convert forage to premium beef with minimum fuss / housing / supplements.  I'm looking to run an extremely low input system.

[Sbom]

Dexter.

Ours live out all year round happily, have no concentrate at all and their small feet make less mess. We just feed silage/hay/straw when grass goes completely.

They cost us next to nothing to rear.

The beef is superb and sells well on our small scale.

Easy to handle and small size not intimidating at all. Great mothers, easy calving and very milky.

[devonlady]

Belted Galloway. Have a coat that is impervious to all weather and fatten on next to nothing. Also good tempered and easy to handle.

[Stereo]

Yes, bellties would be another one. I had kind of settled on Dexter to be honest.  I've seen a few posh chefs on the telly cooking with it so wonder if there might be a decent market for it in the smoke. Main thing I think is true hardiness and easy calving so all I have to do is provide forage and fencing.  I've got a neighbour who does belties I think. Haven't spoke to him for a year or 3 but he had a cutting room as well. 

[SallyintNorth]

As Devon has two superb native breeds, I'd say it would be a great shame not to use one of them!  Both are recognised as producing good beef, both will attract the native breeds premium.  North Devon aka Red Devon / Red Ruby is a very hardy animal, produces marbled beef on grass, mothers are good mums, docile and milky (it used to be a triple-purpose breed), the only concern would be that they may slab on too much fat on good South Devon grassland!  (Mind, Belties would be at least as bad if not worse on that score.)

I have no personal experience of the South Devon but we are starting to see some up here in Cumbria, amongst the Limousin herds.  Bigger pelvises, calmer cows, grow well on less cake, is what people tell me they like about them compared to the Limousins.

If your requirements are 'pure breed, can convert forage to premium beef with minimum fuss / housing / supplements, marketable, hardy / can outwinter' in Devon, then personally I'd be going straight for the gorgeous Red Rubies.

[Rosemary]

I'm with Sally - go with your local breed.

[Stereo]

It's an option but I worry about them being a little heavy on wet ground. I've got a pedigree South Devon breeder next door and they are lovely cattle but I was thinking of a smaller breed really.

[SallyintNorth]

Red Devons are quite a bit smaller than South Devons.  They're chunky, smaller than Angus or Hereford but generally larger than Belties or Dexters.  (Although Belties seem to get extremely round on good ground Personally I'd go for one of the other Galloway colours, not Beltie, but that's a personal preference.)

Maybe try a few of a couple of breeds for the first year and see what you think? 

Red Devons and Galloways are certainly used to wet ground.  We use Red Devon AI on some of our sucklers up here, the offspring are smaller than Angus X and will do well on our moorland ground, running alongside Blue Greys (Whitebred Shorthorn x Galloway.)

Do you get the native breeds premiums for Dexter?  They don't originate in Great Britain although they do in the British Isles...  If you will be selling at market, the premiums will make a difference.  If you are getting the animals butchered and selling meat, then they won't make a difference. 

I used to live in Exmoor and chose to eat Red Devon meat, as do a lot of Devonians  

I'll shut up now, as my bias is very clear! 

Whatever you choose, have fun!  And let us know how you get on!

[Stereo]

I agree, the ruby seems a more versatile animal and it was my first thought. I suspect in terms of meat and marbling, there is not too much between the breeds if you can find the old strains. A lot of 'Angus' cows you see around here are nothing of the sort so I reckon it's important to start off with the right blood lines.

[Carse Goodlifers]

I agree with a lot of what has already been said.
A local breed is an excellent marketing opportunity.

The only other thing I would add is that the 5 acres of woodland is a great addition too.
Bales of straw spread out throughout the trees for feeding and bedding - an excellent addition to the pasture.

Good luck.

[Stereo]

Only problem with the wood is that it's steep in places but the bottom half might be useful. Also been locked up and ignored for years so needs to be brought back into management. A lot of elm in there which tends to sucker, grow a tree and then that tree gets infected and dies off. Also an old pheasant release pen which was never removed so that bit needs considerable tidying. But I'm sure some of it could be a good winter respite for a small number of animals.

[twizzel]

Some neighbours of ours run a few Ruby Devons each year and they are lovely cattle, a lot smaller than South Devons. The meat is lovely, they are easy to handle once bucket trained, whilst they did have housing I seem to remember they spent most of their time outside. They do tend to run to fat easily though but other than that are a lovely breed.

[Ladygrey]

I would go for Red ruby Devons

My friend in wiltshire has them and they stay outdoors all year round, never need to come in, they get some hay in the winter but no other feed, very docile and easy to handle and they are a small ish breed and seem to be not too hard on the land

Also they produce a much better carcass than some smaller breeds such as shetland or dexter plus they have fantastic marbling and superb flavour  also if you have an influx of animals then they are sold in the markets for a good price as they are more in demand than some other smaller breeds

I reckon all breeds can be easy to handle though, the tamest cows I know of are British Frisians and British Blues!

[Stereo]

We had a british fresians years ago called Wally and she was daft as a brush. We used to wrestle with her which she seemed to like until she got bored and then you would be sent flying.  But she was always first up for a cuddle when you went to the field.

[SallyintNorth]

IME British Blues are typically fairly phlegmatic, don't get upset easily.  They've had to breed them that way, in fact it's almost natural selection, because in the early days of the Belgian Blue they had double muscling in many places, not just the back-end.  One of the places they could have excess muscle was the heart, which could cause their hearts to stop.  So they had to be bred with very laid back temperaments or they dropped dead of heart attacks at the drop of a hat!  Nowadays, the British Blue is much less highly muscled and should not be overmuscled around the heart or in the birth canal, but the laid back temperament remains.

Our current soppiest cow is 1/2 Angus 1/2 Friesian.  We have three identical, born within days of each other, which we bought from our local dairy farm and reared on the bucket.  You can't tell them apart except by their behaviour.  The one that walks up to you and ever so gently rests her face against your leg for a fuss is Izzy.   

Our bull would be a great big soppy if we let him.  We don't think it's a good idea for an Aberdeen Angus bull who grazes well-used public footpaths to walk up to people wanting fuss, so we don't encourage him, but he'd be at least as soppy as Izzy if he thought it would get him a shoulder scratch.