Exactly 25 years after being established, one of Scotland’s most noted herd of pedigree Limousins, The Maybe Herd, owned by David and Rosemarie Cornthwaite, of Balgray Hill, Lockerbie, in Dumfriesshire is to go under the hammer.

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To be sold by Harrison and Hetherington at Carlisle’s Borderway Mart, on Friday 4^th October, this dispersal sale marks the end of an era for the herd, and the opportunities for others to benefit from its superb genetics. This is a genuine complete dispersal which should appeal to those in search of good quality cattle of all ages.

The sale will include: 63 cows & heifers served and/or suckling, 24 heifers served or maiden,

1 stock bull and 6 young bulls. Also being sold on the day are 9 heifers served or maiden from the Beeches Herd and 3 non-pedigree heifers. From the Impulsive Herd there are 7 maiden heifers.

When the Cornthwaites established their herd in 1994 with 4 heifers purchased from Hartside, Ruffland, Lodge and Sarkley, their sole aim was to produce easy calving, naturally fleshed, functional bulls for their commercial cow enterprise. Nearly all cattle included in the sale can be traced directly back to these 4 heifers.

Commenting Harrison & Hetherington’s Auctioneer James Little said:

“Maybe is a modern herd, suited very much to the modern-day pedigree and commercial beef farmer. Since the herd was founded, the emphasis has always been on functional, efficient, healthy cattle, and I know that these are genuine, honest, hardworking high-quality animals.”

The bulls the Cornthwaites produce have served their commercial herd well, achieving top prices when they used to sell prime cattle, now when sold as stores, they are much sought after in the sale rings. For 7 out of the last 10 years, the Maybe Herd has won the North West Limousin Cattle Breeders Herd Competition, and it has been runner up in the other 3. The home-bred sired calves regularly win the ‘pen of four’ at Harrison and Hetherington’s Continental Suckled Store Sale in spring and autumn at Carlisle.

The philosophy behind the Maybe Herd has been that young animals should not be force-fed, so calves have had access to creep for a very short period pre-sale.  The in-calf cows have been kept in a condition where the Cornthwaites would want to calve them themselves. They have enjoyed considerable success in the show ring, with the current show team already having a number of championships to their names.

David Cornthwaite provides the background to the current sale: “We have decided to disperse the herd to reduce the workload as we head towards retirement. We will be offering for sale some very promising young bulls but retaining a small number ourselves to continue to feed into our commercial herd.

“These cattle have given us much pleasure over the years and made us many friends, and we are confident they will continue to do so for their new owners.”

The Cornthwaites are Members of the SAC Premium Health Scheme. They have a 4-year TB testing (last tested December 2016), are at Johne’s Risk Level 1 (since 2016), are Accredited BVD free (since 2013) and all the cows are vaccinated for BVD and Lepto. They have all been wormed with Vibramec in the last month and the calves will be given Rispoval RS +P13 prior to the sale.

Further details of the sale can be found at: https://harrisonandhetherington.co.uk/whats-on2/  and anyone wishing to view the cattle pre-sale is most welcome, but we request you contact David on 07889680997 beforehand so that he can be available. Further pictures of the herd and sale stock can be seen on Facebook page – D.R. Cornthwaite Livestock.