We can now report that the harvest 2024 is over for us. The yield was super good for the rapeseed, the wheat yielded well and the spring barley was below average. We also have the straw for brushing and wrap for feeding that we need. Thanks to Gregers Jensen and Holger Jensen for harvesting and Mogens Nielsen for pressing straw and John Quist for making wrap.

About a week ago we came out to Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET (Vaillant x Anabelle) in the morning. She went out into the enclosure around the farm, as she was due to have a calf soon. It turned out to be closer than expected, as she had given birth to a calf herself in the morning. Mirabelle and her new heifer calf of 55 kg were then transported to the barn, where the calf had its first sip of milk.
It was Mirabelle’s fourth heifer calf in five calvings and her calving interval is 373 days.
The new calf is by the French bull Heracles (Royal Excelent x Demoiselle). The calf will be numbered 435 and will be called VeryBelle.

We have today sold Bloksdal Uman (Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. x Bloksdal MiLady). He is a full brother to Bloksdal Special Lady, who we have exhibited several times at shows and who, among other things, got 24 points for the local show in Hjørring, Landsskuet (the national show) and Kimbrerskuet in 2022.

He has been sold to Hanne and Ole Hansen from Hovedgaard. They have previously bought a bull from us (Bloksdal Isbjørn II ed.), which they were so happy with, that he is immortalized in a large shoulder tattoo.

We hope that Uman will be at least as good a match, wish you luck and say thank you for the deal.

We have a new calf. Our cow, Bloksdal Opal (Cristal-DK x Bloksdal Hæmatit), who at the Kimbrerskuet 2023 got 23p, won her group and became the show’s fifth best Charolais animal, has given birth to a heifer calf. It was behind her when we came down to the meadow to bring her home. Opal is the mother of Bloksdal Unika, who is by Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. (Vaillant x Anabelle), and which at the just concluded Landsskue 24 won the predicate Denmark’s best Charolais heifer and second best Charolais animal. We therefore think it is a very exciting calf we have received.

The sire of the calf is Bloksdal TurBeau (Neptune JC x Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET). The calf weighed 50 kg, got no. 434 and will be called Bloksdal Violet Flame Opal.

We are now all safe at home from a lovely national show. This year national show was characterized by the very changeable weather, with large rain showers and wind much of the time, but also a little summer weather.
As publish, we participated with three catalog numbers, which all did well.
First animal in the arena on Thursday morning was Bloksdal UltraBelle (Glasgow x Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET). She won her group, got 23 points and words of praise along the way from judge Theo Chezeau from France. The next animal was Bloksdal Unika (Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. x Bloksdal Opal). She also won her group, also got very good characteristics and 23 points. Last animal was Bloksdal Special Lady (Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. x Bloksdal MiLady) with her calf. In a rarely seen group of good young cows, she was third. But also with 23 points and with access to the honorary prize competition.
In this there were a total of 25 animals, with the last eight receiving honorary prizes. Here, Bloksdal UltraBelle and Bloksdal Special Lady finished outside the rankings, while Bloksdal Unika went almost all the way to the top, only surpassed by the later interbreed winner from Neergaard Charolais. She can therefore adorn herself with the title of Denmark’s best Charolais heifer and qualification for the magical 24 points. It is the third year in a row that we are at the forefront of this title. Last year we got second best heifer, while in 2022 we also won the predicate best Charolais heifer of the show.
We at Bloksdal Charolais would like to thank you for a few good days with friends, colleagues and family. Congratulations to everyone on their prizes and placement. Special thanks to VikingDanmark, which has donated our honorary prize.

As a prelude to this year’s national show, this week we had visitors from the Charolais highlands, France.

It is the parents of the well-known breeder and judge Pierre-Yves Sallé, who have Elevage Sallé Charolais, who have visited us. They have driven their motorhome to Denmark. Here they had, among other things, a desire to visit us and our herd. We have previously bought several embryos from them and actually have approx. half of our herd today genes from just them. Here, i.a. the following are mentioned:

• Bloksdal Linux – ET (Burgogne x Une Fleur)
• Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET (Vaillant x Anabelle)
• Bloksdal Matafor -ET (Vaillant x Anabelle)

In addition to us, they were to visit a few other crews in this country and will then end their trip in Denmark by seeing the Landsskuet.

We enjoyed the day with them and look forward to meeting them again at the national show.

In one week we will go to the show again, this time The National Show, Landsskuet in Herning.
This year we have chosen to participate with four animals (three catalog numbers).
First animal a young heifer, Bloksdal UltraBelle (Glasgow x Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET), who is from 13.08.23 and therefore comes into the heifer group from 9-12 months. She is in a group with three other heifers of the same age.
The next animal is also a heifer, Bloksdal Unika (Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. x Bloksdal Opal). She is from 04.04.23 and therefore joins the heifer group from 15-18 months together with two others. If she had been born one day later, she would have joined the group at 12-15 months.
The last animal in the line for us is a young first-calf cow with calf. She is from 02.04.21 and calved on 02.02.24, which makes her the youngest cow in the group, but also the one that calved most recently. It will therefore be interesting how Bloksdal Special Lady (Bloksdal Matador -ET V.B. x Bloksdal MiLady) and her heifer calf Bloksdal Victoire by Lorsini will do against the three other young cows and their calves.
In any case, we are looking forward to some pleasant days with friends and colleagues in Herning.
You can see the entire catalog at the link below:
https://landsskuet.dk/…/Katalog-koedkvaeg-samlet-2024.pdf

True to tradition, we have been to the local show in Hjørring.

We exhibited with three animals this year and they all did well. There were 29 Charolais animals registered for the show.

First animal in the arena on Friday morning was Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET (Vaillant x Anabelle). She was in a group with two other big and good cows, which were also highly praised by judge Mads Bjerregaard. Mirabelle was placed in second place and all cows in the group got 23 points, and later had to participate in the honor prize competition.

Our next animal was Bloksdal Unika (Bloksdal Matador -ET x Bloksdal Opal). Unika was unfortunately alone in her group, but still got a lot of recognition, therefore also got 23 points and therefore also had to later participate in the honorary prize competition.

The last animal was Bloksdal UltraBelle (Glasgow x Bloksdal Mirabelle -ET). She won her group with 23 points and should therefore also have been to the prize competition, but due to the rule in Hjørring about “only” one prize per herd, she was asked not to participate due to logical and space problems, which we think is a shame!

Mirabelle was not placed in the prize competition, while Unika came in overall 4th place and at the same time was second best heifer, which resulted in an honorary prize donated by the beef cattle committee in LandboNord.

We would like to say thank you for a few good days in Hjørring and are now excitedly looking forward to the National Show in Herning on 4-6 July 24.

This week we got the first animals to graze in the meadow. It is always nice to get the animals out and on grass after a long and wet winter.
Parts of the meadows are still too wet for us to let the last animals out. The potential show animals are on grass around the farm, so it thins out in animals in stables.

As usual, we have had a visit from our regular hoof trimming, Fjellerad Hoof Trimming at Palle Christiansen. We do this at least once a year before the animals come to graze. We had several through the box, all of whom did well. Now we are just waiting for some better weather so that we can let some animals out into the meadows.