The Raceview Simmental herd run by Peter and Marian O’Connell in north Cork has become synonymous with producing top-quality cattle throughout the past quarter of a century.

Founded back in 1988, the herd’s bloodlines have gone from strength to strength, leaving their mark on many of the best cattle both here and in the UK. The first heifer was actually purchased when the duo had no land to their name and now, even though they have 170 cattle, the O’Connells only own six acres themselves.

“We purchased our first animal back in 1989 when we actually had no land; even today we only own six acres. Since then we have expanded to 170 cattle. Twenty-five of these would be natural calving purebreds, with a further 10 to 15 embryo calves making up the yearly pedigree calf crop. The rest of the herd is ex-recipients run as commercials. Recipients from the autumn-born embryo calves will be tried again for a spring calf, giving her a 15-month break until she calves again. The spring-calving recipients will be run with a Simmental bull, with a lot being bought later on in life.”

Since the outset, the herd has been ruthless when it comes to breeding, focusing predominantly on quality. If females fail to make the mark for pedigree breeding, they are slaughtered.

“Every breed gets popular for a while and then every breed becomes self-destructive in patterns of about 10 to 12 years. The reason is simple – when breeds are popular everything that has papers gets sold and bred and when they are unpopular culling rates increase drastically because they can’t be sold. If you continue to cull the bottom end even in good years, you’ll always have top-end animals.

“For a pedigree breeder to succeed, you have to be the biggest critic of your own stock, not being afraid to cull if cattle aren’t up to standard.”

While initially it took the herd a while to taste success, when it came, it came thick and fast and the herd claimed the Simmental of the year competition in the mid 1990s for the final four years before it was abandoned. Peter had no hesitation when asked about his greatest achievement to date, singling out Raceview King as number one.

“King was born in 1999 and remained as our stock bull until he died. I remember one year we attended 18 shows and two bull sales – we claimed champion at each from nine different progeny of King. I don’t know how many he actually sired, but the show and sale records speak for themselves”

“We’re also privileged to have bred the dam or grand dam of all record-priced Simmentals in the country. The tops are Raceview Merle Beauty, who bred Curaheen Tyson, the current record-priced bull at €20,000, and Raceview Misty Jade, who bred Auroch Hillary, the recent record-breaker at €26,000.”

Sales

While the family have achieved great success on the show circuit, winning countless national titles over the years, Peter understands that it’s not possible to have cattle ready for every event all year round, and focuses on certain events.

“It’s all about timing for cattle – you can’t have your cattle looking perfect everywhere. If Tullamore is the one to win for you then feed for that, if Roscommon in November is the one then you might have to take a hit on the rosette colour at Tullamore.

“We’ve always offered worthy heifers for sales and we’ve always got on well. The best we’ve got is €10,200 followed by the €9,000 we got at the premier last week. We’re not located in a bull selling area so our main focus is to breed heifers, top-quality heifers that people want to buy off us. However, one bull that we did breed that’s worth mentioning is Raceview All Star ET. He was bought by Woodhall for €8,000 at the premier in 2010 and his first son sold at Stirling for 6,800gns.

“We have had a number of notable lines throughout the herd and his dam Ballingar Kim is certainly one. She was purchased at a clearance sale in 2001 as a second-calver and at the time had a 15-hour-old King daughter at foot. I remember turning to Marion and saying: ‘We’re bringing this cow home.’ And we did, for €6,000. She was flushed heavily to King and produced numerous champions including Vivian Kim, Vita Kim, Elizia Kim, Princess Kim and also Dripsey Super King standing in AI.

Another female line Peter highlights is Raceview Matilda Stella, a six-time national title winner and also dam of Beauty Matilda and Winty Matilda, who carry five national titles each. Of course, one of the most famous lines at Raceview still stands as the Beauty line, which includes Nicola Beauty, the only Simmental to hold eight national titles, as well as her full-sister Merle Beauty, dam of the €20,000 Curaheen Tyson.

Peter continues to build on the families they have, being ever so mindful how important they are. He said: “Females are the future of every breed.”

The herd continues to use the best AI bulls available including Kilbride Farm Delboy, Dermotstown Delboy as well as still using old favourites such as Hillcrest Champion and Kilbride Farm Newry.

“We try to use proven quality bulls on the herd. It doesn’t always work though. Last year we used a Scottish bull that proved hard to calve so we castrated all the bulls. A big cost, but it would’ve ended up costing us a lot more if they hit the market. While people are continuing to be guided by stars, we will be giving some mind to them, but I’d rather breed first and worry about the stars afterwards.”

Future

“Breeders need to be more mindful of females going forward. We need to focus on delivering good-quality cattle at a young age which are early matured and easily fleshed. Personally I want to keep breeding heifers as good as I can, putting together lines people phone me up looking for. We’re always looking forward, with seven grandchildren there showing an interest, and we’ll nurture that. As we slow down, they’re speeding up. ”