A CUMBRIAN-born bull has been selected to shape the future of the Stabiliser cattle breed in the UK.

Selside Viscount, which was bred by A Dixon & Son from Kitcrag, Selside, near Kendal, has been picked as an artificial insemination (AI) bull by the Stabiliser Cattle Company – the organisation responsible for improving and promoting the breed.

The accolade recognises Selside Viscount as one of the best examples of Stabiliser bulls bred in the UK, with the ability to further improve the national herd.

His semen is now being sold into other purebred Stabiliser herds to produce the next generation of prime beef-producing cows.

Well-known beef farmer James Dixon, who manages A Dixon & Son alongside family members, has been involved with Stabiliser cattle for more than 20 years and described Selside Viscount as a ‘fantastic bull’, adding he was delighted he had been chosen for AI.

It is the first of his bulls to be entered into the stud book, which sets in stone his contribution to the breed for future generations to see.

Mr Dixon said: “He’s a big lad and a good looking lad. When breeding bulls, the performance figures are important, but it is important they’re good looking too, and he is.

“It’s great to have a bull with our Selside prefix in the stud book. We’re part of the Stabiliser group and that’s like a family. So, if we produce something good enough to be in the stud book, we should go in it because it helps to improve the breed for everyone. Having the Selside name in the Stud is worth more than anything else and off the back of it we’ve had some calls out of the blue asking about our stock.”

Stabiliser cattle are a composite breed created at the Meat Animal Research Centre in Nebraska, USA, in the 1970s, to be the world’s most efficient suckler cow.

Initial crosses combined native British breeds Aberdeen Angus and Hereford with Simmentals and Gelbvieh, but the breed has been refined over decades by committed breeders and the addition of other genetics.

Stabilisers were first brought to the UK in the late-1990s by a group of East Yorkshire beef farmers led by Richard Fuller who were looking for a more efficient suckler cow than the dairy crosses they were breeding at the time.This led to the founding of the Stabiliser Cattle Company, based in Southburn near Driffield, East Yorkshire.