Home-bred Charolais genetics are producing cattle his target market likes

down on costs. The growth rates I get
are excellent, with net gain between
1.6 and 1.8 kilos per day from birth
and I am very happy with this.
“Summer calvers overwinter
November to April and are kept
inside all the time, calves are also
sold straight off the cows, but this is
obviously more expensive, so we are
planning moving closer to all spring
calving.”
The McCornicks are also finding
significant efficiencies from wintering
their cows outside.
“The in calf commercial and pedigrees
cows are outwintered from November
to February and fed on Kale and
haylage, which I believe makes them
fit not fat – much fitter and more
agile than if they have been inside
all winter, and since we started this
are producing cattle his target market likes, and adding another
important dimension to his business.
“We have a very good market for our cattle with many repeat
buyers. Our buyers in the past have been predominantly from
Aberdeenshire but we are now selling more and more to
finishers from the North of England.
“Bulls are sold both through the Stirling Bull sales where we
have sold bulls to 16k on two occasions in the past year and
direct from the farm, and it is great that more and more are
recognising the traits of the Ricnick herd with a lot of the
Charolais cattle sold through Wallets Mart are off Ricnick bulls
which is great to see. I am producing bulls for the commercial
markets, bulls which I would like to use myself, and I am very
pleased that the lines I began 20 years ago is now appealing
both to the breeders and to the commercial producers.”
regime, our calving intervention has been minimal”
and with reduced costs from not being inside it’s a
win win situation.
The mainly summer calving Charolais herd was true
to the British Charolais’ growing reputation for easy
calving, but the results from the commercial herd
were just as impressive.
“This year spring calving was the best scanning I
have ever had: 108 cows were scanned, 108 were in
calf and there were three sets of twins, so this was
a 103% calving which is amazing and with reduced
bulling period was a great success and testament to
the ease of calving and health of the cows.”
Richard McCornick’s breeding and calving regimes
are producing exactly the efficiencies he is seeking
to make Barnbackle Farm as fit as his cows for a
sustainable future. His home-bred Charolais genetics
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