Salers In Ireland

Salers (pronounced Sallair) are the native cattle of the Auvergne, an isolated mountainous plateau, the Massif Central, of South Central France. Since altitudes rise from 2,500 to 6,000 ft. the weather is variable and harsh with a high rainfall. Not surprisingly the breed is hardy and the Salers mahogany coloured coat is thick and weather resistant.

Salers are one of the oldest distinct breeds in the world. There is plenty of evidence of early settlement of the area by stock breeder farmers in the Neoloitic era (9,500 to 4,500 years ago) becoming denser in the Bronze Age circa 4,000 years ago

The skin and pigmented membranes are brown and consequently few eye or udder problems occur. A good hair coat which becomes thick and curly in winter gives hardiness and adaptability to cold and heat.

Being one of the oldest and genetically most pure of the European breeds,
the Salers produces a positive effect on the predictability in crossbreeding
programmes in a consistent increase in hybrid vigour.
The French National Institute of Agricultural Research has run trials that
show that Salers cows and heifers are able to draw on their body reserves
when food is scarce to produce sufficient milk for their calf, building them up
again quickly when grazing is plentiful. The same trials show that Salers are
only fully mature at 5 to 6 years of age.

 

Salers have become known as the ultimate suckler cow because of there effortless easy calving. Cutting down on vet fees and less labour for calving surveillance. Being very milky dams they have an excellent live weight gain and carcase conformation. The Salers cow has the largest pelvic area of the major beef breeds resulting in a quick stress-free calving, even to heavily muscled sires.

Using Salers will give you.

 -Easier calving - extra calves per cow over her life time

- Less bad calving - saving on vets bills

- Calves have tremendous "get up and suck"

- Excellent live weight gain per day 

- Breed your own replacement heifers keeping a high health status in your herd.

- Cows live longer giving more calves per cow over her life time, because of stress free calving

- less labour for calving surveillance

- better milking cows - saving on feed

- better grazers and users of rough forage

- excellent carcasse conformation

- marbled meat,

- Docile and easily managed

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