Powerfully built Limousin bull, Ronick Member, has caught the eye of pedigree breeders in Mexico, so much so that 500 straws of semen have now been exported with a repeat order in the autumn in the offing. Ronick Member is owned by JM & SP Cooper of Hill Top Farm, Dacre, Harrogate, North Yorkshire and the semen was sourced through Rob Wills and the British Livestock Genetics Consortium.

Ronick Member

Member is a Ronick Idol son out of Ronick Elma - a Talent daughter - and was bred by Mr R Dick, Mains of Throsk, Stirling. Member was originally sold at Carlisle 1997 for 10,500gns to Drew Adam of the Newhouse Herd and subsequently purchased privately by the Greenwell Herd of JT & J Nattress & Son.

Ronick Member consistently produces temperamentally docile offspring with great muscular skeletal development, superior length and hindquarter development with correct locomotion. He is going to Mexico for pedigree use, to breed stock bulls for the future, and hopefully some of his progeny will be on view at the International Limousin Congress due to be held in Mexico in 4 years time.

Commenting, James Cooper said: “We tried to purchase him when we saw his first crop of calves at Greenwell, but had to wait nearly 3 years to do so! We put him straight into stud when we bought him and the semen rights are jointly owned with the Nattress family. His first 30 Greenwell sons averaged over £5,000 with the highest priced progeny to date being Greenwell Ronick at £18,900.”

The Coopers farm part time and began originally with a small herd of 20 Limousin-cross cows. With only having a small farm, they decided to try to be more of a niche producer and with this in mind started their pedigree herd in 1996 with the purchase of the cow, Stoneleigh Ginger, who was bought with a heifer calf at foot and in calf again. They subsequently purchased some good older cows in calf, gradually replacing the Limousin crosses and now calve around 20 pedigree females per year.

For the last four years, the Coopers have been placed 1st or 2nd in their class in the North East Limousin Breeders’ Club Herd Competition and have enjoyed some show success, most recently with their bull, Sarkley Topknot, who was Breed Champion at the Great Yorkshire in 2004, and Reserve Breed Champion in 2005.

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