About Shraden Herefords
We produce premium pedigree Hereford breeding cattle. Established in 1919, our herd is one of the oldest and our focus is on carcass performance.
Shraden Herefords Description
The Shraden herd was established in 1919 by William Everall, an auctioneer who owned a farm in Shrawardine near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The Herd is now being farmed by the fifth generation of Hereford enthusiasts in Baschurch, Shropshire. The cattle were moved to Moor Farm in 1981, onto 380 acres of arable land and pasture. The Farm is now home to our 80 cow herd of pedigree Hereford cattle and our Farm Shop where we sell Hereford beef exclusively.
Since the shop opened in 2006, the focus of our Herefords has been to produce the best quality finished stock for our shop whilst retaining all of the structural and breed characteristics that we believe are integral to the breed.
Females:
Our seven remaining female families are all decedents of William Everall’s original purchases in 1919, and we believe that having this lineage is key to producing consistent young stock irrespective of the bull put to them.
Our aim is to produce medium sized cows with excellent structure, mobility and the ability to milk a good sized calf to weaning . We like our females to be feminine with good temperament as this is one of the Hereford’s main selling points; quiet and easy to handle cattle.
Bulls:
Bulls are selected for the three L’s; Length, Legs and Loin. We like to select bulls from good milky mothers with consideration on figures as well as physical attributes. Easy muscling is essential for rearing fat stock for slaughter.
Over the years Shraden has had extensive show success, something we are very proud of, but it will always be second to carcass performance.
Health:
We take herd health extremely seriously. We are a closed herd with all replacement females being bred and reared on the farm. Only bulls are bought in and these have to be tested to our particular requirements in order to be introduced.
We test annually for TB. In the herd’s history, we have not had a single reactor.
We are accredited for Jhones.
We blood test all breeding females for neospora before calving. Any positives and their offspring are separated from the herd and sent for slaughter.
We vaccinate all cows for BVD and Lepto before calving. Calves are vaccinated for pasturella and influenza in the autumn.