Crawford Family
Celebrates 30 Years of Limousin Breeding
Thursday, 25th March 2010
The Crawford Family has celebrated 30 years
of breeding pedigree Limousin
cattle with a special reception at Parliament
Buildings, Stormont.
The Duke of Westminster, Major-General Gerald
Cavendish Grosvenor attended
and he commented;
"The Crawford family has
housed bulls with us at Cogent since 2006. Vigot
was with us for a year and Sauvignon was with
us for a year before winning
prize after prize, including the European Limousin
Male Champion, the
European Limousin Carcass Champion and the European
Progeny Champion in
Paris. Innovation is key to our business and
it is through working with
families like the Crawfords that we are able
to be truly innovative.
With Sauvignon the Crawford family has shown
how innovative they can be. He
has been marketed as the first Limousin bull
in the world, as well as the
first beef bull in the world, for firstly female
and then last year,
male-sexed semen.
I am glad to say he currently stands with us
at the Cogent Stud and we look
forward to continuing to work in partnership
with the Crawfords on more
prosperous and innovative ideas in the future."
Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster commended
the export success of the firm
and said
"I commend the commitment to innovation
and success demonstrated by
Crawford Brothers. The company has successfully
diversified from a
traditional farming background into a business
selling cattle products in
global markets and working with Invest NI, has
set its sights on further
growth.
Over 70% of turnover was generated from external
markets last year, and the
company's focus on continuous innovation has
resulted in its products being
sold in 30 different countries and new technology
being introduced across
the wider industry.
For Northern Ireland to prosper the entrepreneurial
spirit of our small
businesses must be developed and their successes
celebrated. The Crawford
Brothers farming and breeding business is a clear
example of how Northern
Ireland firms can compete internationally."
Raymond Crawford commented: "When the ban
was lifted on exporting Northern
Ireland livestock, we immediately seized the
opportunity to capitalise on
our reputation for award winning livestock and
pursue growth in new markets
with innovative, high value products.
Invest NI has helped us to enhance our online,
marketing and design
capabilities to improve competitiveness promote
the business in target
markets. The sales of the bull semen and embryos
from our highly prized
pedigree bulls and heifers are growing year on
year and are now amongst the
most sought after agricultural breeding products
in the world. As we
celebrate our 30th anniversary, we are now planning
to target the South
American and South African markets."
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