Hereford bull heads to Poland on export deal

It seems it’s not just the Charolais breed who have had success in getting cattle over to Poland. History was made last week when the first Hereford bull bred in Scotland, and the first from the UK for 41 years, left for Poland.

Romany 1 Cosmonaut, a 22 month old bull from J R B Wilson and Sons, Cowbog, Kelso has at last gone after being bought by Simon Gill, AgroIrlandia, Warsaw, last summer. Although selected seven months ago he has been unable to move owing to FMD and BTV export restrictions.

The plan is that semen from Cosmonaut will be drawn and gifted to farmers who rent dairy cows from AgroIrlandia, with the calves providing a better quality of beef than farmers can currently produce from the sires they are using.

It is hoped to have in excess of three hundred calves on the ground within the first year. Cosmonaut has good performance figures (Terminal Sire Index Value of +27 against a Breed Average of +19) and positive calving ease which is essential for the type of cows with whom he will be mated.