Over a century of breeding
Established in 1919 and moved to a regenerative purely grass fed system in 2018.
History
The Shraden herd was established in 1919 by William Everall, an auctioneer who owned a farm in Shrawardine near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The Herd is now being farmed by the fifth generation of Hereford enthusiasts in Baschurch, Shropshire. The cattle were moved to Moor Farm in 1981, onto 380 acres of arable land and pasture. The Farm is now home to our 80 cow herd of pedigree Hereford cattle and our Farm Shop where we sell Hereford beef exclusively.
Since the shop opened in 2006, the focus of our Herefords has been to produce the best quality finished stock for our shop whilst retaining all of the structural and breed characteristics that we believe are integral to the breed.
Females:
Our seven remaining female families are all decedents of William Everall’s original purchases in 1919, and we believe that having this lineage is key to producing consistent young stock irrespective of the bull put to them.
Our aim is to produce medium sized cows with excellent structure, mobility and the ability to milk a good sized calf to weaning . We like our females to be feminine with good temperament as this is one of the Hereford’s main selling points; quiet and easy to handle cattle.
Bulls:
Bulls are selected for the three L’s; Length, Legs and Loin. We like to select bulls from good milky mothers with consideration on figures as well as physical attributes. Easy muscling is essential for rearing fat stock for slaughter.
Over the years Shraden has had extensive show success, something we are very proud of, but it will always be second to carcass performance.
Health
We take herd health extremely seriously. We are a closed herd with all replacement females being bred and reared on the farm. Only bulls are bought in and these have to be tested to our particular requirements in order to be introduced.
We blood test all breeding females for neospora before calving. Any positives and their offspring are separated from the herd and sent for slaughter.
We test annually for TB. In the herd’s history, we have not had a single reactor.
We are accredited for Jhones.
We vaccinate all cows for BVD and Lepto before calving. Calves are vaccinated for pasturella and influenza in the autumn.
In 2018 we made the move from corn supplemented to regeneratively produced grass fed beef and we saw a radical improvement in the health of the cattle.
Our cattle are strip grazed on a 21 day rotation, moving to a new strip every day. This not only mimics a herd's natural grazing pattern, but is of tremendous benefit to the grass and soil.
The strips are evenly grazed and fertilized by the animals and the whole fields are far more consistent. We don't apply any artificial chemicals to our grazing ground
Cattle are fed clamp silage through the winter.
Grass Fed
CONTACT
Moor Farm
Ruyton Road
Baschurch
Shrewsbury
SY4 2BA
Phone: 01939 260 261
Mobile: 07870 175 305
For information about our Farm Shop & Cafe, please visit our Moor Farm Shop website. Be assured that if you come to see our herd that you will be in for quality beverages!
