48 LEVEN FIELDS FARM JUN / JUL 2023 • farmers-mart . co . uk
48 LEVEN FIELDS FARM JUN / JUL 2023 • farmers-mart . co . uk
Salers easy calving success sees move
up the cattle breeding league table
Chris Berry talks with Terence Pye of Rigel Salers at Leven Fields , Middleton on Leven
IT is nearly 30 years since Terence and Jane Pye first set foot in the parade rings of the cattle lines at the Great Yorkshire Show , announcing themselves in the pedigree world with their Rigel herd of Salers .
Much has taken place in the world , in farming and in the breed since they established the herd prefix in 1991 and Terence and Jane ’ s commitment to the breed , not just their own herd , has grown ever stronger with Terence having taken up the cudgels many times to promote what he sees as the perfect maternal animal for its easy-calving .
“ We started when my brother Malc had a small farm in Nottinghamshire . He had just 12 acres and Jane and I used to go down and look after the farm when Malc and Gill went on holiday . It turned out that cows and I have a good rapport and they became a passion for me .
“ After a while we decided that the only way we could farm seriously , with a bigger acreage and a greater number of cattle was by working together and finding a bigger farm . Malc now farms up in Scotland .
“ Jane and I had come to the Teesside area for my job and it made sense that when we looked for a farm it was up in the North York Moors or Cleveland Hills . We took what was a 90-acre farm , since expanded to 210-acres at Leven Fields farm at Middleton in Leven in April 1991 , which was when we started the business off formally , producing commercial cattle .
They bought their first Salers in November 1990 and today they have a herd of 70 pedigree Salers . Terence tells of their journey that led them to being wholly pedigree Salers today .
“ Our bread and butter , in those early days was our commercial suckler herd . We had your typical selection of Heinz 57 varieties , basically almost any old cow to start off with and a handful of pedigrees . We started showing our Rigel Salers at the Great Yorkshire Show in 1994 and at every show held there since . Our longstanding stockman Jim Ridley , who has since sadly passed away led our stock and was introduced to The Queen at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2008 .
“ It was when we upgraded to a Salers X herd , with a Charolais bull , by 1997 that we went into pedigree Charolais .
“ The Golden Calf , as it ’ s sometimes called , is achieved by putting a Charolais
12 year old Rigel Opal Poll , with her twin bull calves
bull over a crossbred or pure Salers . We had very good results with that combination and ran our herd that way into the late 90s , but as our pedigree Salers side grew we eventually dispersed all of the Salers X and then dispersed our pedigree Charolais and went pure pedigree Salers from 2018 .
“ We only had a handful of Charolais cows and I sold most of my last Charolais to Salers people . They ’ re in Salers herds working at the moment .
Terence is keen to stress where the Salers strengths lie .
“ I would say they are primarily known for their maternal side . There are people who think of them as a terminal sire , but , and the figures bear me out , they are not , they are an out-and-out female .
“ In terms of my experience with the breed , I always say it does what it says on the tin . It ’ s a breed that absolutely delivers what we were promised right at the beginning in terms of easy calving .
“ I ’ m now very much an ambassador for calving ease within the industry , or trying to be , because I ’ ve come to the
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