By Charl van Rooyen
Free State master cattle breeder Llewellyn Angus has developed a new breed of cattle that meet his standards and align with South Africa’s general preference for red cattle. He named them Wisp Will Reds.
Llewellyn Angus takes nothing for granted. Through careful crossbreeding of some of Southern Africa’s top beef and dual-purpose cattle in various combinations, this farmer from Arlington in the Eastern Free State has developed a breed that meets his standards.
He has named this new breed Wisp Will Reds after his farm, Whispering Willows, and his Simmentaler stud and former Simbra stud with the Wisp Will prefix – a name that has become well known in cattle-breeding circles over many decades.
Llewellyn took this new direction by deregistering all his Simbras between 2020 and 2023 to instead breed his own red beef cattle breed that is fertile and adaptable. He has retained his Simmentaler stud.
The livestock is managed on a semi-intensive system, grazing on planted Smuts finger grass (Digitaria eriantha), poor man’s lucerne (Sericea lespedeza) and natural veld. During winter, their diet is supplemented with additional fodder.
Llewellyn began farming alongside his father, Willie, in 1980 and took over the business six years later. Willie, a former Springbok equestrian and team captain, also served as chairman of the Simmentaler Cattle Breeders’ Society for 14 years. He passed away in 2005. Llewellyn regards his father as his foremost mentor.
Llewellyn has distinguished himself as a stud breeder, earning the title of Livestock Registering Federation’s Southern African Stud Producer of the Year in 2004. In 2017, he received the ARC National Beef Cattle Improvement Herd of the Year award. And in 2020, he became the first cattle farmer in Southern Africa to achieve a five-star Completeness of Performance award from Breedplan for both his Simmentaler and Simbra studs.
He is an international interbreed judge, and has served as chairman of both the Simmentaler/Simbra Cattle Breeders’ Society and the Livestock Registering Federation.
A new direction
Llewellyn began developing a new breed in 2020, selecting registered polled Beefmaster, Droughtmaster, Bovelder, Simbra and Santa Gertrudis bulls to cover mainly deregistered Simbra and Simmentaler cows.
“I focused specifically on phenotype,” he says. “I paired bulls with longer ears to Simmentaler cows, and used bulls with shorter ears with the more Brahman-tipe Simbras. I selected female Simbras with about five-eighths Simmentaler and three-eighths Brahman genetics, matching them with bulls that had a similar Bos indicus composition.”
His Simmentaler bloodline dates back to 1966 and his Simbra bloodline to 1987, when he first established these respective studs.
Llewellyn has always prioritised fertility, calving ease, and medium-framed cattle with above-average growth until weaning age – as did his late father. By the time the female Simbras were deregistered, about two-thirds of them already lacked horns.
Why a new breed?
Llewellyn is often asked why he breeds the Wisp Will Reds instead of continuing with stud breeding. He says over the years he has observed that South African cattle farmers prefer red animals with a smooth coat in summer that are also highly adaptable. Bulls should have a masculine frame, efficient weight gain and good fat coverage, whereas cows should display femininity and a wedge shape.
Polledness – the natural absence of horns – is a major advantage in herd management, as it eliminates the need for dehorning, which can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Polled cattle are also easier to manage in a crush pen.
Llewellyn continues to subject his cattle to performance testing by participating in Veld Bull SA, an organisation led by veterinary scientist Dr Hannes Dreyer from Vrede. Members of this organisation conduct their own bull tests on their farms.
Llewellyn values the Veld Bull SA test’s emphasis on factors such as body condition score (35%) and growth (30%), as well as other important traits like musculature, temperament, smooth coat, testicular circumference, pelvic size, and the Kleiber ratio – an efficiency measurement that helps prevent the selection of overly large-framed animals.
Excellent progress
Llewellyn’s herd of Wisp Will Reds currently comprises about 70% first-generation and 30% second-generation animals. He will continue to use the same bull breeds, as well as carefully selected Wisp Will Red buls with female Simmentalers, Simbras en Wisp Will Reds.
All bulls in the programme are initially tested for myostatin gene variants that are associated with undesirable double muscling, which can negatively affect fertility. To date, no carriers of these mutations have been detected in Llewellyn’s herds.
He places greater emphasis on bulls with positive testicular circumference at one year of age, and conducts reproductive tract assessments on young heifers. The latest fertility research indicates that bulls and heifers that mature early pass this trait on to more than 50% of their offspring.
Llewellyn plans to hold the first Wisp Will Reds auction in July or August 2025, where he will primarily offer three-year-old bulls and select heifers for sale. His wife, Jenet, will be presenting some of her Zarissa Simbra stud bulls.
Enquiries: langus@vodamail.co.za; 082 805 5101; wisp-will.co.za
