United Kingdom

The inherent strengths of the British Limousin have placed the breed well during the last three decades.

With more than 650,000 passports issued each year by the British Cattle Movement Service to Limousin sired cattle, the breed is comfortably the commercial market leader in Great Britain. A modest value of 500 pounds per head gives an annual Limousin industry value of 325 million pounds per year in the UK. End of year figures for 2001 showed that the 15,000 mark for pedigree registrations with the British Limousin Cattle Society had been broken for the first time. This was approximately 5,000 more than the breed’s nearest competitor in a year when sadly 80 herds were lost to foot and mouth disease. The Limousin breed is poised to move forward and capture yet more of the market share in the coming months and years.

The British Limousin is a product that is in demand. Commercial producers are looking for cattle that offer them performance, problem-free management and of course, profit. They are attracted by the positive trends in calving-ease, fertility, longevity, moderate mature size, growth and milk.

A principle attraction to bull buyers is the breed’s ease of calving, with assistance at calving being rarely required. This is thanks to large pelvic openings in the females, and the light-framed calves which are born 6-7kg lighter whatever breed of terminal sire is used. Pedigree breeders report 93 percent of calvings as being easy. Easy calvings mean a live calf, less labour and a fast recovery for the dam. As a result, she is able to rear the calf more effectively and her fertility is less likely to be impaired. It is not uncommon for Limousin dams to produce natural calves at 15 to 17 years old.

On top of this is the extra value of what the breed’s reputation has been built upon, top grades, high killing out percentage, efficiency and marketing flexibility. It is a unique and complete package of strengths that is attractive and difficult to surpass. Given the carcase attributes of the breed, beef producers have the double option of marketing their heifers through the breeding ring or through the prime ring.

The lightness of frame that aids calving is also the key factor behind the breed’s excellent carcase statistics which, together with the breed’s muscling ensure that the Limousin consistently produces high quality E and U grade carcases (see table). The British Limousin has built a reputation for being The Carcase Breed, able to produce beef with a low proportion of bone and fat. It produces half and three quarter bred carcases with excellent conformation.

A Reading University study into beef production highlighted the fact that three quarter Limousin calves in the sucker herd produced 98 percent of carcases classified U or better. Published Meat and Livestock Commission figures show that Limousin crossbred carcases have the highest percentage of saleable meat at 73.3 percent. It also has the highest proportion of higher priced cuts.

The British Limousin Cattle Society was founded in 1971 and since 1983 its base has been the Limousin Centre on the Royal Showground at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. The BLCS now has more than 2,000 members who breed pedigree cattle. Breed improvement is top of the list for the BLCS and its breeders with the clear aim of producing cattle that consistently surpass the level of performance anticipated by the commercial customer. Further extending its technical and promotional portfolio, and with a built in Limousin producers’ premium, the BLCS linked up with Branded Beef Breeders in September 2001 to form a new beef brand – Lean, Lean, Lean – based on suckler bred progeny sired by a registered pedigree Limousin bull. The 3L scheme allows for further monitoring to be carried out on the breed’s performance. The successful Electronic Identification traceability system identifies bulls and family bloodlines that perform consistently, bringing opportunities of breed improvement and evaluation.

The BLCS issues five generation pedigree certificates to give authentic identification of each animal and the necessary information to select suitable bloodlines. In the year 2000, almost 2,000 bulls were entered to official society sales. Animals entered at official sales are catalogued with pedigree details and recorded performance data. Once at the sales centre they have to pass through an official inspection. The cattle are inspected by a veterinary surgeon and inspectors appointed by the society. The aim is to ensure that bulls and females meet defined breed standards, are of a consistently high quality and are both healthy and free from conformation defects.

Carcase Characteristics of Sucker-Bred Cattle Slaughtered at the same Fat Cover

*Source: Meat and Livestock Commission

Nouvelles de la Grande Bretagne

Les points forts de la race Limousine lui ont permis de bien se classer au cours des trois dernières décennies.

Avec plus de 650 000 passeports émis chaque année pour des bovins issus de père Limousin, par le Service Britannique du Mouvement du Bétail, la race Limousine occupe la position confortable de chef de file du marché du bovin de boucherie en Grande Bretagne.

Les chiffres de la fin de l’année 2001 démontrent que la Société Britannique du Bétail Limousin a dépassé pour la première fois son objectif de 15 000 enregistrements.

Ce qui représente environ 5 000 enregistrements de plus que notre compétiteur le plus proche au cours d’une année qui, malheureusement, a vu 80 troupeaux être totalement décimés par la fièvre aphteuse.

La race Limousine est prête à aller de l’avant pour s’approprier une part encore plus importante du marché au cours des mois et des années à venir.

L’amélioration de la race figure en tête de la liste qu’a dressé la SBBL et ses éleveurs membres, avec l’ objectif précis de constamment produire des bovins dépassant le niveau de performance auquel s’attend le client de l’élevage commercial.

En septembre 2001, la SBBL, désirant augmenter l’étendue de son mandat dans les domaines de la technique et de la promotion et avec une prime se rattachant naturellement à la production d’animaux Limousin, s’est jointe aux Eleveurs de Boeuf de Marque pour développer une nouvelle marque de boeuf "Lean, Lean, Lean " ( trois fois maigre) – dont la base de sélection est formée de progéniture issue de vaches allaitantes et de taureaux Limousins enregistrés. Le projet 3L permet de contrôler davantage la performance de la race. Le succès du système de tracabilité avec l’identification électronique nous permet d’identifier les taureaux et les lignées sanguines aux bonnes performances, ce qui en retour nous fournit l’occasion d’évaluer et d’améliorer la race.

La Société Britannique de Bétail Limousin compte plus de 2 000 membres élevant des bovins enregistrés.