Cow families
We consider strong cow families to be the basis of any successful breeding programme, and from the outset it was decided to try and buy some of the outstanding cows in the breed and to build families from them. By luck and, hopefully, some judgement we believe we have gathered together some diverse lines that are of some importance in the breed.
Although all females registered in the British Herd Book (as in the French Herd Book) must carry names beginning with that years' particular letter, we tend to refer to our females by their family name, which is usually the foundation cows' name.
The main foundation cows are listed below:-
Click for larger image
TANHILL TOUJOUR
Bred by Messrs. King Forster
Toujour is one of those cows that you dream of owning! She had a successful show career, winning the Royal Welsh Show on 3 occasions, and her lifetimes' production of bulls averaged over £6,000. Not only that, but her daughters and granddaughters are proving equally productive.
The only downside with Toujour is that she was the most reluctant of embryo donors. Therefore, it has taken us longer than expected to build up her family, and only one female has been sold from her line as yet. Robert Graham of Grahams Limousin twisted our arms to sell her Denver daughter, Hermine, to him for an appropriate price. She promptly bred for him a Jockey daughter that impressed all who saw her on the 2,000 show circuit!
Click for larger image
VAGABONDE
Bred by M Bourbon
Vagabonde was our other purchase from the Tanhill Dispersal Sale. She was a daughter of the great French sire Jeunot, from one of the most important French female lines at M Bourbon's famous herd. She bred for us a Denver son, Grand Prix, who won the Interbreed Young Bull Championship at the Royal Welsh Show, and was subsequently sold to the Scottish MMB for their A.I. stud.
Vagabonde and her daughters dominated our Signet BLUP rankings for years, and her two last daughters, Megan (by Cannon) and Nectar (by Jack) currently lead our printouts.
Click for larger image
OAKLEY MICHELLE
Bred by J R Parry
Michelle was purchased as our choice of the Favori daughters at the first Oakley Sale. She joined our herd when she was 10 years old, but more than justified our investment, being a prolific embryo donor and breeder of several high priced progeny.
Her daughters are very feminine stylish animals, and again, her last daughters - three Ronick Gains Cows - have proved to be amongst her best. In the last couple of years all three have bred a cracking Jockey bull apiece selling from 6,000gns to 10,000gns.
Click for larger image
OLIVE
Bred by M Lachaud
Olive was bought as part of the Derri Herd and has returned her investment several times over. A prolific embryo donor she really became the herds' moneymaker. From her first flush she produced six heifers that were retained in the herd and three bulls, one of which - Consul - was exported to South Africa and subsequently became Supreme Champion at the Pretoria Royal Show. Another bull from the same flush was Cardi, which was sold to Genus for its AI stud and became, arguably, the UK's most successful AI sire. Another son, Hugo, followed into the Genus AI stud in 1993, and Olive continued breeding into her 21st Year.
An Olive grand daughter now ranks as our top cow, Natalie is the dam of Tanner, the Junior Champion at the 2003 Royal Welsh Show, and subsequently sold at Carlisle for 16,000gns to the Clarkton and Spittalton Herds. The following year his full brother, Union won the same class at the Royal Welsh, and then went on to sell for 10,000gns at the Feb '05 Carlisle Sale.
Click for larger image
DRUK NADIA
Bred by the Druk Farming Co.
Nadia came as part of the Derri Herd, having been purchased at the Druk Dispersal Sale as the top priced Maiden Heifer. Principally, her Talent daughter, Evita and her progeny have carried her influence into our herd. Evita is one of our top bull breeders with sales up to 10,500gns and several over 5,000gns.
Click for larger image
HARPIE
Bred by Domaine des Etangs
Harpie was imported in the same consignment as Jockey in 1997 and was joined by her Jockey son, Neutron, at heel. She carries the important Lingot line in her back pedigree, which makes her an exciting prospect to mate to Jockey.
Both her grand dams have the highest qualification in France - Reproductrice Recommande, and she confirms that depth of breeding by her depth of milking and consistency of production.
Since arriving in the Dyfri herd, Harpie has bred 4 Jockey sons on the trot that have grossed £40,000 pounds at sale. They include Neutron and Pascal (see Jockey Progeny) and each has gone to work in eminent herds within the breed.
At last she has started to breed us some females! Two lovely Jockey daughters have been produced - Telynores (Harpist in Welsh) and Undeg will certainly join the herd and establish the Harpie Family.
The Future
Click for larger image
NENETTE
Bred by GAEC Laloi, France
Nenette was purchased in Autumn 2002 to establish another line. She comes from an important family of Show and Breeding cows in France. She was 2nd Paris Show 2002 and was Reserve Female Champion Royal Welsh Show 2003. Now we expect her to breed something good! Her first daughter with us, Venette by Safran looks very promising.