A NORTH Yorkshire estate has the most improved Beef Shorthorn herd in the country.

Gerald Turton’s Upsall herd of Upsall, near Thirsk, has recorded the breed’s greatest genetic gain for commercial traits under the Eblex Better Returns Programme.

The Turton family, including Gerald Turton’s son Robin, has farmed the Upsall and Roxby Estate for four generations.

The herd, which is managed by stockman Laurence Fenton, celebrates its centenary this year with a reduction sale of 70 females in September.

Almost 75pc of the 1,000-acre farm is down to arable crops and the rest is permanent pasture for the 80 pedigree Beef Shorthorn cows to graze.

Mr Turton began farming at Upsall in 1959 and has attended the Perth bull sales since the 1960s.

He has always been interested in recording performance and first started weighing animals in the 1970s.

He is now involved in DNA testing, looking at ways to prevent disease.

In the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, livestock were culled right up to the farm boundary – but good fortune saved the herd, which includes some rare bloodlines.

Three British-bred bulls – Loch Awe Lysander, supreme champion at Perth bull sales in 1998, Uppermill Recto, sire of supreme champions at Perth, and homebred Vortrekker, of Upsall – have taken the herd forward over the past decade.

Now semen from Canada and Australia is improving carcase traits such as eye muscle depth. Breeding rights have also been acquired for a fixed period from an Australian bull with outstanding Estimated Breeding Values for these traits.

Mr Turton looks at a combination of EBVs, type and family lines when choosing which females to breed from.

He said: “EBVs are very useful in the selection process; I wouldn’t even bother looking at a bull if he didn’t have figures to back up his looks.

“With them, I feel armed with the best possible information to make the right selections for the herd. I can also give very real assurance to the people who buy cattle from me that they will perform in the future.”

Calving is mostly indoors in spring, with calves turned out as soon as possible. Weaning takes place in late October/early November at housing.

Bulls and heifers are separated when they are weighed at 200 days of age. All are fed a forage diet based on grazed grass in summer and silage in winter.

Females are retained or sold to other breeders through Perth sales or at sales on the farm.

Most of the bull calves are kept entire and sold to pedigree breeders or commercial producers looking for an easy calving breed, or are finished at 17 months of age at 600kg.

Recently, Mr Turton has started to finish some of them as steers, making them eligible for the Yorkshire Beef Shorthorn Scheme.

The scheme pays a premium over market price and has been established under the Farexchange Yorkshire Programme, of which EBLEX is a member.

Some of these are sold through Weetons high-class farm shop in Harrogate, which specialises in meat from traditional breeds. Andrew Loftus, managing director, particularly likes the Beef Shorthorn.

He said: “Cattle of this breed are good grazers and great convertors of grass into meat, which makes the taste a far better experience for the consumer, and adds value to the product.

“The fact that the Beef Shorthorn is the oldest recorded pedigree breed in the world, and originates from Yorkshire, is a story that quickly gains the consumers’ attention and becomes a unique selling point.”

Samuel Boon, Eblex breeding specialist, said EBVs provide a reliable insight into the effect a bull can have on a herd.

“It means producers can make informed purchasing decisions rather than leaving it to chance,” he said.