The Roding Herd was established in 1982 with the purchase of three foundation cows, all from well known Swiss and German bloodlines:
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| Cloford Donau by Prinz | Woolston Jesse from the famous sire Geraldo | Blockley Ann, daughter of the much admired Scottish Neff |
To give us maximum choice and the ability to select from the statistics of proven sires, our own bulls are seldom used in the herd. Thus we have maintained our priorities in the traits we wish to sustain in the breed - ease of calving, good locomotion and confirmation.
Most of our calves are halter broken before they're 3 weeks old, giving us ease of handling for all the necessary treatments that occur during their lives.
Excepting recent foot and mouth restrictions, exhibits from the herd were seen every year at The Royal Show and events in the South East, gaining many prizes including a championship at the Essex Show, two reserve championships at the Essex and Newbury Shows plus many first placings.
The first bull entered at a Show And Sale, Roding Nougat at Towcester, was made champion. We had successes at Hereford Sales and had the highest priced bull, Roding Regent, who went to a well known local dairy farmer who, impressed by the bull's performance, subsequently purchased another six bulls from Roding.
Our best bulls were sold at Perth Auction Mart where we achieved Intermediate Champion with Roding Wilton, a son of Blockley Ann, and on two further occasions, were awarded Reserve Champion Female with Roding Villette and Roding Witchery. These went to pedigree herds. All our matriachs have produced winners down the line.
Roding bulls have been sold throughout Britain. The Simmental breed has made a major contribution to the UK beef industry, being a very versatile animal, adapting to many different systems. The cows are good mothers with excellent milking ability and are, undoubtedly, one of the supreme breeds for the suckler herd.
