Press Release from the The British Blue Cattle Society

Media Release
The British Blue Cattle Society
Fell View, Blencarn, Penrith, Cumbria. CA10 1TX
Tel~01768 88775  Fax~01768 88779
[email protected]

To:   Livestock Editorial     Date: Sunday, 28th December 2007
From: John Fleming (BBBCS Secretary)    No of pages:  2

25 Years of Technical Development and Credit To British Breeders

2007 was a year to remember in more ways than one for the ‘British Blue Cattle Society’; apart from the problems that the whole of the industry has faced in respect of floods,  Foot and Mouth disease and Blue Tongue restrictions, this was the year that the ‘Blues’ forged their own identity and became 25 years old!! 

The annual May sale at Borderway Mart in Carlisle, saw an international gathering celebrating the Silver anniversary of the first importations of ‘Belgian Blues’ from their home country in 1982.   Guests were drawn from many part of Europe, with good wishes coming from as far away as Austral-Asia and South America.

Over the years the Society’s executive Council has taken technical development very seriously on behalf of it’s members and,  unbeknown to many, has been working closely with Liverpool University, geneticists at Liege University in Belgium and the University of New England in  NSW as part of ‘Breedplan Genetic Evaluation’, the Roslin Institute and the Genesis Faraday Partnership.  In fact one eminent geneticist once commented ‘It has been recognised in research circles that the ‘British Blue’ has accumulated a greater pool of information, either as raw or BLUPed data relating to the bovine than possibly any other breed.  This has been acknowledged as a credit to the responsible, technical focus, of the ‘British Blue’ Society.

Back in 1990, the Society  recognised the changes British breeders had made over the years and started marketing British bred ‘Blues’ as the ‘British Type’, specifically developed to suit the British meat trade and British farming practices.  To coincide with the ‘25th’,  the Society continued this evolution by changing its name to the ‘British Blue Society’ and promoting the ‘Blue’ in the UK as ‘British Blues’, thus distancing the Society from Belgian farming practices, but, I might add, not necessarily Belgian, easy calving, genetics.

Society secretary John Fleming commented
“The stereotype of the ‘Belgian Blue’ as a heavily muscled breed that has difficulty in calving is no longer true of the ‘British Blue’. Of those animals calving with natural intent, independently verified parturition statistics, have been improved to such an extent that they are becoming very close to the bovine norm.  This is a tremendous credit to the tireless work of breeders over the years and the dedication to technical advance, by the Society Executive Council”.  

“In addition serious attention has been given to addressing size, stature, and good mobility.  This has all contributed to ‘British Blues’ being highly sought after in the export markets of the EU and elsewhere in the world”.  John Fleming went on to add that “In recent years ‘British Blue’ genetics have been exported to Chile and Australia.  In both markets virtually all the offspring have been born perfectly naturally out of pedigree cows”

 In fact the secretary of the Australian Belgian Blue Society commented, ‘On my own farm, all our breeding cows have calved naturally in the past 12 months and we have just finished calving our ET calves out of crossbred recipients, all calved naturally, unassisted, with one giving birth to twins.  These calves were all sired by British genetics; this is a sure, testament of the UK. . Long-term, I would envisage our breed to be close to 100% natural calving, hopefully dismissing much stigma attached to the Belgian Blue breed’.

Another first for the British Blues’ in 2007 has been the introduction of the ‘Pedigree Breeding Index’. The power of modern, computerised, genetic evaluation has enabled the Society to identify, from over 30,000 pedigree records, animals that are at the top of the breed for growth and carcase traits, whilst at the same time, being above breed average for calving ease.  This is in addition to the publication of ‘Easy Calving’ trait leader lists, to further assist breeders to achieve natural calving goals for their pedigree herd; linked to these easy calving genetics, in the crossbred sector, national commercial calving surveys, put animals sired by a ‘Blue’ as averaging only 3.3% calving difficulty, measurably better than a number of other continental breeds.  “This is particularly associated with the ability of the ‘Blue’ to calve on time and the associated lower birth weight”, remarked Society Chairman Jim Barber.

Stephen Brough, from Dalston, Cumbria commented: “Whilst humane slaughter is not a welfare issue, the putting down of large numbers of healthy calves in the dairy sector is an ethical one.  ‘British Blue genetics have played a major part in reducing this death toll, estimated at well in excess of 50,000 calves per year.  When used on a Holstein/Friesian the ‘Blue’ is the one beef terminal sire, which will produce a quality beef carcass, out of this extreme dairy type”

It is estimated that, where a beef bull is used in the dairy sector, 75% of semen sold is British Blue; with an estimated 160,000 straws being used during the year.

The ‘British Blue’ originated from the original ‘Double Muscled breed, the Durham Shorthorn, over 200 years ago.  Bearing in mind our origins, one could argue that the ‘Blue’ should be reconsidered as one of our ‘Native Breeds’!! 

‘Double Muscling’ or the Myostatin gene are also found in many other breeds, such as the South Devon, the Highland, Blonde D Aquitaine, Limousin, Aberdeen Angus and Culard Charolais. As can be demonstrated in this wide range of genetics, possessing the Myostatin gene is not necessarily to be associated with difficult births. 

Over the last quarter of a century, the ‘British Blue’ has established itself as a major force in the UK meat trade, being the fourth or fifth most numerous sire registered with BCMS, and where ‘Blue’ cross stores are sought after, at a premium, the length and breadth of the country.  Credit must go to all those British breeders who have radically changed the breed from the original, now much outdated stereotype of the past, to the breed we know today; producing a high yielding, quality carcase, from genetics, famed for its short gestation period and low associated birth weights, backed up by sophisticated genetic evaluation techniques.  The considerable, ethical contribution being made by ‘Blue’ genetics in the dairy sector is a significant factor that cannot be ignored.

Since Bakewell’s time, over 200 years ago, British breeders have been famed for their skill in changing and improving animal genetics to suit our markets and farming systems.  This could not be more true than in the case of the ‘British Blue’ over the last 25 years.

For further information contact
John Fleming.
Secretary,
British Blue Cattle Society. 
01768 88775