NHC meeting takes in two herd visits on trip to Devon

National Hereford Club members and friends convened in Devon for their annual meeting, as well as making two herd visits, held across the weekend of Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June. Elected as Club President for the coming year was long-time Hereford breeder and supporter of the National Hereford Show Richard Mann (Spinney Herefords), and remaining in their respective roles as Club Chairman and Vice-Chairman were Tony Bradstock (Free Town) and David Makin (Adzor).

Visitors were then introduced to the Twilight herd of Alex Gifford, who said he was honoured to host members at Whitebear Farm. Originally started in the 1980s by parents Alan and Linda Gifford, the herd began with Original Population Herefords with great success, later moving away from beef production to pursue a dairy farming enterprise. 15 years ago, with great love and admiration for the breed, and fond memories from his childhood being brought up around the Herefords, Alex rented another local farm in his own right, took on the Twilight prefix and started his own herd, with Alan and Linda running the successful herd of Starline polled Herefords alongside.

The family have concentrated on supplying pedigree bulls to dairy operations and commercial beef suckler herds, as well as to other pedigree breeders. Alex says their aim is “to breed smart looking, easy calving and easy doing bulls, with heifers and cow and calf units supplied to other breeders, and we have also supplied starter herds to new breeders across the country.”

Any animals that don't meet the breeding quality are finished for beef. The herd stands at approximately 40 cows, built up over the years from a nucleus of cows originally purchased from the Severnvale, Minton, Westwood, Anhay, Free Town, Breock and Hustyn prefixes, with various sires represented in todays line up of cows, which are predominantly by Westwood Knockout, Freetown Hercules, Haven Kermit and Haven Sherlock. The herd sires currently at work are Borderland Advance 234, being used on the cows, and new young bull Minton Bullseye running with a group of heifers.

Sadly, in mid-February this year, Alex’s father Alan passed away. The majority of Alan and Linda’s herd were sold, and Alex says that the family were grateful for the cattle to have been met with good trade. Alex moved his herd back to Whitebear Farm and now, with great enthusiasm, his step-daughter Ellie has just finished her studies at Duchy College and joined the team full-time to help with the day to day running of the farm, which has been a great asset.

Alex says: “We also run the remaining 25 polled cows and followers for my mum Linda, as well as growing around 100ac of cereals. With everything in place, we intend to keep expanding our numbers of breeding females and are very optimistic for the future; we look forward to being in the breed supplying quality animals for many years. We’ve also really enjoyed being part of the National Hereford Club and would definitely recommend it to all other DH breeders across the country, we’ve been on some great visits to other herds and have made many good contacts and friends over the years.”

GALLERY DAY 1 - THE TWILIGHT HERD, A GIFFORD

The second visit of the trip was by kind invitation of Jack and Gemma Burgess to their Clarence herd, based near Exmoor. As first generation farmers starting from scratch, they began the herd in 2018 with cows from Oakleaf, Hustyn, Trelissick, Laxfield and Hilfield, as well as sires from Free Town and Anhay.

On the pedigree suckler side of the operation, their small but soon to be significantly expanded herd breeds bulls for dairy, suckler and pedigree outfits, but this is just the tip of the iceberg for Jack and Gemma, who have quickly built their rented acreage to approximately 350 acres of low input grazing, including some traditional English meadows.

Rearing a minimum of 150 Hereford X bucket calves right through to fat each year, with all calves bought privately direct from farm and many sired by bulls bred either by Jack himself or Alex Gifford, the whole system is focused on producing top quality beef from a low input system, mob grazing on 24/48/72 hour paddocks. 

Not satisfied with what would already be an ambitious workload for most, Jack also works full time as a firefighter and Gemma runs a shepherds hut on the farm whilst raising their little boy, Jude.

The couple employ a local shepherdess, Georgie, on part time basis, and they have also recently gained a contract with Buitelaar to finish predominantly Hereford and Angus cross bullocks to specification for their native beef scheme. The visiting group of breeders were most impressed with Jack and Gemma’s attention to detail with the management of the calf rearing unit, the breeding herd, and the growing and finishing cattle, with their enthusiasm for the beef industry in their local area clearly apparent.

GALLERY DAY 2 - THE CLARENCE HERD, J BURGESS