The Anside herd of Limousins dates back to 1982 when the Irvine family first got into the breed.
The herd, which is run by Stephen and Denise Irvine and their sons Martin, Darren, Adam and David, now stands at 86 breeding females.
Day-to-day running of the enterprise at Braehead Farm, Drummuir, Keith, is done by Stephen and Martin with Denise, Darren, and Martin’s wife, Melissa, always keen to help when they can.
The 240-acre farm is rented from Drummuir Estate where the family also manage 600 sheep on contract for the estate.
They also keep around 250 mules and do machinery contracting and crop work for the estate.
The original herd was founded at Inchnacape Farm, Tomintoul, before moving to Overton Farm, Elchies, Aberlour, for nine years and then to Drummuir in 1995 when the family took on a new tenancy.
Stephen said: “My father had the first Limousin bull in the Tomintoul, Glenlivet area and I liked the look for them from then. The herd was half commercial and half pedigree when I started and at Overton I had 40 cross cows and 12 Limousins.”
The family started phasing out the commercials from 1998 onwards and in the past eight years cow numbers have doubled to what Martin describes as the ideal herd size for the family and the farm.
So why the move to Limousins and what makes them the breed of choice at Drummuir?
“The idea of the Limousin is that it’s easy calving, has good conformation and performance,” said Martin who said sales of pedigree bulls were the family’s bread and butter, however sales had been difficult in the past year.
Breeding selection is based on choosing bulls for performance weight gain and conformation.
The herd is split into two groups for calving – the first-batch calves between the middle of March and the end of May, while the second batch calves from November through to January.
“It suits the sale dates and it suits us,” said Martin.
“The cows are on a simple diet depending on what group they are in. The dry cows are on silage and straw; cows with calves are on silage and draff and calves through to bulls are on a coarse mix. Cows and calves will also get soya and barley, to boost milk, and the most important thing – good minerals.”
Although sceptical about estimated breeding values (EBVs), the family has been involved in performance recording from the start and is already involved in a new figures system – genomic breeding values (GEBVs) – launched by the Limousin Cattle Society at the Stirling Bull Sales in October last year.
The new system requires breeders to get cattle DNA tested, as well as having to input information such as calf birth weight and ease of calving.
The first commercially available cattle with GEBVs will be offered for sale at the spring Stirling Bull Sales which kicks off later this month.
Among the lots on offer at the sales are four bulls from the Anside herd – Anside Joker, Anside Jethro, Anside Jock and Anside Junky.
And the Irvines will be hoping to secure some rosettes with the bulls at the pre-sale show, which will be judged by James Hazard, of Saltby Hath, Skillington, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
“We have never won overall – we have won junior, intermediate and senior,” said Martin who said the family’s best price from the Stirling fixture was 11,000gn for Anside Hawkeye in 2013.
However the best price achieved by the herd so far was 30,000gn at Carlisle for Anside Flint in 2012.
All four Anside bulls on offer are sons of the 22,000gn Derrighy Enfield, which has previously bred sons to 18,000gn.
Martin said: “We bought him (Enfield) for females. He had size and power and he has bred a lot of good bulls for us.”
The family used to sell the bulk of its bulls in October however the majority are now sold in the spring in line with buyers not wanting to keep bulls over the winter.
And to advertise stock ahead of pedigree sales the family regularly takes animals around the show circuit.
At last year’s Grantown Show the family lifted the champion of champions silverware with January-2014 born Gunnerfleet Joplin, which they bought in Carlisle last May.
The same beast also took home the reserve interbreed beef rosettes at the Keith and Turriff shows.
So what does the future hold for Anside Limousins?
Stephen said: “We are going to stop increasing the herd number and start selling maiden heifers. We will be aiming for the Red Ladies Sale in December.”
The family will also be showcasing the first sons of their new stock bull – Powerful Irish – which was bought privately two years ago.
Martin said: “His first sons will be on show this summer, they are very promising and I would say he has brought the herd forward. He is full of muscle and his calves are too.”
He said Irish goes well with Enfield’s daughters.
Stephen said: “The females are big and feminine with a solid turn of hip. We put a real muscly bull into that and hopefully we get a nice mix at the other end.”
* The Stirling Bull Sales takes place at United Auctions in Stirling in two batches.
The first takes place from Sunday, January 31, to Tuesday, February 2, with the second set for Sunday, February 14, to Tuesday, February 16.
Aberdeen-Angus, Limousin, Shorthorn, Luing, British Blue and Hereford cattle will be on offer in week one, while Simmental, Charolais and Salers cattle will be on offer in week two.