British Simmental Review 2018

Jose and Tom with
cattle on mountain
Cows on Pico
Looking from Faial
over to Pico Island
My trip to
THE AZORES
Some of the people
Tom has to thank
Dargill Gemma with a heifer
calf by KFDA on Faial Island
Dargill Helen in Sao Jorge
I
was asked by Neil Shand if we would
be prepared to invite some Simmental
breeders from overseas to Dargill for a
farm visit. In October 2016, we welcomed
around 20 visitors from the Azores to the
farm. Fortunately, two of their number
could speak better English than I could
speak Portuguese, so Jenna Pereira and
Maria Simas were able to translate for us.
The aim of their visit was to look at our
stock to see how the British Simmental
differed from their cattle, and to compare
different practices. As the visit went on, it
became clear that some were interested in
buying cattle for export.
In February 2017, 12 heifers and two
young bulls were sent on an epic adventure
to the Azores. The journey took twelve
days by road and sea; we were kept up to
date with photos of their journey along the
way. I kept in touch with Jenna and Maria
on social media; it was interesting to see
news of how the animals were settling in. In
time, Evelyn and I were invited to visit the
Azores to see the progress of the animals
for ourselves. In July 2018, we travelled to
our base on Sao Miguel island and stayed
in Ponta Delgada for two weeks. There are
nine islands in the Azores, so there was
plenty of island hopping to enable me to
see all the cattle.
On Monday morning, I left for Pico, and
stayed in a B & B for the week. I was met
by Jenna, who gave me a tour round the
island, and we then caught up with Maria to
plan our schedule.
Tuesday morning saw a ferry ride to
Faial Island, where we were met by our
guide for the day. Most of the cattle on this
island are tethered and they looked in good
condition. The first two heifers I saw had
calved. Unfortunately Feltra had lost her
calves at birth, but Gemma had a heifer
calf at foot, and I was very impressed. We
then went on to see a heifer from Overhill
House herd, and a young bull from Dargill.
The bull had been used on the cattle as
soon as he arrived, so he had not grown
on in the way I was expecting, but he had
lots of good calves running round. At this
point, I realised that an open mind on the
differences in farming practice in the two
countries was required. I should stress
that they do not feed concentrates to their
cattle as it is so expensive to buy; cattle
are fed on maize silage in the winter, and
kept outside. Before we headed back to
Pico, our guide took us on a trip to see a
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