There are not many beef producers who can relate the BSE crisis of the 1990s to a lucky break for their business.
The latter years of that decade will haunt the British beef industry for generations to come but Perthshire Simmental breeders Stuart and Steven Knox attribute some of their pedigree herd’s success since then to a chance purchase of a top stock sire which had been destined for the BSE incinerator.
The bull, Brooklyn Endeavour, was bought in 1996 “for just over the burner price” from a pedigree breeder who was changing to Angus cattle at a time when animals more than 30 months of age had to be incinerated and farmers compensated. Looking back on that purchase, Stuart Knox says it was a lucky break. He said: “Endeavour has been a big influence on the herd. He left a real stamp, a mark on the females that we still see to this day.”
There have been other key purchases since then, notably Kilbride Farm Tully, the February 2007 Stirling reserve senior champion, and most recently Keeldrum Eclipse, a half-brother to the AI sire, Keeldrum Clip.
The 25-cow Kyleston Simmental herd has achieved steady prices, with the biggest success to date last February, when Kyleston Geronimo sold for 9,500gn at Stirling Bull Sales. Next week they will have three more Simmental sires for sale at Stirling and there are another four in the pipeline for February.
The father and son farm at North Balloch in the foothills of Glenisla but the Knox family are originally from Ayrshire, where the family business dabbled in Herefords. It was not until 1985, at one of the last bull sales in the old Perth mart, that Stuart bought his first Simmental heifer, Torhill Lady Diana 4th.
“That was around the time when continental bulls were coming in. We were changing breeds and we’d already tried Charolais over our cows but it wasn’t a success so we thought Simmentals were worth a try,” he said.
“We began by wanting to produce bulls for our own use but when we moved from the west to Glenisla it became a hobby.”
Stuart Knox joined the Simmental Society in 1988 and got rid of all his Herefords by the time the family moved to Glenisla, then slowly started building up the pedigree side of the business.
Since Steven came home from college, bull breeding has grown to be much more than a pastime.
However, he has no time to showcase his stock at the summer shows, despite his father being president of Alyth Show and a staunch committee member since 1992.
Steven’s contract shearing business takes him away from the farm for a solid two months in the summer. Along with another four shearers, he cuts a swathe of wool off 45-50,000 sheep, working from the Forth to Stonehaven, and he and his father also do lambings, sheep handlings and relief work for other farmers.
They have also recently expanded their business and in addition to the 240 acres at Alyth they contract-farm land and rent 300 acres below the Lundie Crags.
Both men emphasise that the work off-farm means the focus at North Balloch has to be on easy care, low maintenance stock.
Steven said: “We keep it as natural and easy as possible”.