BCCS September Newsletter 2022

The Harman Awards 2022
The annual Harman Award presentations once again took
place at the Stirling Bull Sales in February. Introduced in
2009, the Harman Awards recognise herds that have shown
the greatest improvement in Self-Replacing Index over the
previous 12 months. The awards are open to all BREEDPLAN
Performance Recording members who have recorded a
minimum of ten calves in the last year.
The regional winners from Wales, Alwyn and Medwyn
Williams with their Castellmawr herd, secured the highest SRI
improvement of 8.5 points, taking their year-end average up to
45.1. Alwyn established the herd in 1980 in Pwllheli, Gwynedd,
and it is now managed by his son Medwyn.
Ben Harman pictured with Medwyn Williams
The Williams family has a modest farming enterprise, boasting
15 Charolais cows and 15 in-calf Charolais heifers alongside
a 30-head commercial herd and a flock of 120 ewes mostly
consisting of pedigree Texel and Blueface Leicesters. Medwyn
is a strong advocate for the “golden cross” of Charolais and
Salers, having recently bought a batch of Salers heifers with
the intention to run them with a Charolais bull – and vice versa
for his Charolais heifers.
The Castellmawr herd saw the most success in 2015, when
their bull Castellmawr Jacpot won the title of Supreme
Champion at Stirling and sold for 16,000gns to the Carwood
herd. Jacpot’s sire, Goldstar Gentleman, is still breeding very
well for the herd, and Medwyn was keen to secure an equally
well-performing bull to use on Gentleman’s daughters. He said
“It wasn’t an easy job finding a bull we liked with figures which
would improve our herd, and within our budget.”
Eventually, the Williams family chose Caylers Olympus for their
new stock sire, to whom Medwyn attributes their recent SRI
increase: “I saw Caylers Olympus and liked his breeding, and
knew he was bred from one of the top herds in the country.”
With Olympus being in the top 5% of the breed for gestation
length, 400-day, and 600-day weights, Medwyn certainly feels
like he made the right choice of bull, saying “Our figures have
only improved since his calves have been born.”
The majority of Castellmawr bulls are now sold on-farm to
repeat customers, with a few still going to Society sales. Two
of the first crop of calves from Olympus will be heading to the
Welshpool sale in November, and we are excited to see how
they go on to perform.
The Scottish regional winner, with an improvement of 8.4
points and taking the herd’s year-end average to 45.1, is
Murray Lyle with his Loganbar herd. Based in Dunblane,
Perthshire, Murray is sure to be a familiar face to those who
attend the Stirling Bull Sales.
The Lyle family purchased their first Charolais cattle in the
mid-80s, and became members of The British Charolais Cattle
Society in 1988. Since then, the herd steadily grew in both
number and renown, with Murray becoming Chairman of the
society from 2003-2004 and International President in 2007.
At its peak, the Loganbar herd consisted of over 70 pedigree
Charolais cows,
and today Murray
keeps a herd of 20
Charolais, along
with 20 Aberdeen
Angus and 30
Salers.
Murray leapt at
the chance to
performancerecord
his cattle,
joining the old
Signet scheme as
soon as it became
available. He was
also instrumental in
the move to today’s
BREEDPLAN system,
managed by ABRI.
He said “I spent Murray Lyle
a lot of time with
David Benson, back
when he was CEO,
investigating the merits of performance recording schemes
from all over the world. We eventually decided that the ABRI
system was the best fit for our needs as Charolais breeders.”
Murray doesn’t put this year’s SRI increase down to any
one particular factor, stating that he focused on the EBVs of
different traits for different animals rather than Calving Ease
or Indexes alone. He went on to emphasise the importance
of diverse trait selection, saying “I think it’s important that
breeders look at individual traits that they require rather
than just chasing Calving Ease. Calving Ease is certainly worth
considering, but there’s often a trade-off further down the line
if breeders only focus on promoting that one trait. I’ve seen it
myself where cows have excellent Calving Ease figures but still
have a hard time calving due to developing a reduced pelvic
size over the generations.”
Having spent a lot of time dealing with Charolais breed
societies the world over, Murray has had the opportunity to
observe many different methods of rearing his cattle, saying
“I always try to watch and learn from France, who have been
34
- No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet -
September newsletter 22.indd 34 16/09/2022 14:59:17