(CLOSING DATE – FRIDAY 27th NOVEMBER 2020)

Can you please contact the registrations department to let them know what animals you are planning on entering, this is to make sure all testing is done prior to the sale.

Please ensure all animals are DNA parentage & myostatin tested and your herd health is up to date.

The registrations team can be contacted on 01738 622477 or email Caroline: [email protected]

 Autumn Photography Competition

Cattle and camera’s at the ready – our competition is now OPEN!

• Open to children and adults (no professionals).
• Age groups: (6 – 12 years old), (13 – 17 years old) & (18+).
• We are looking for your very best pics of your herds, farms, and families. They can be funny, serious, artsy or anything in between and of course have Aberdeen-Angus cattle in them – new or old photos are accepted.

All entries should be sent to Amy: [email protected] – the email should contain your photo, name, age and contact details.

Judged by MacGregor Photography

Closing date – Friday 6th November 2020

Great prizes to be won!

Good Luck & Have Fun!

YDP Instagram Takeover: 

We are looking for each of our YDP participants to take over the YDP Instagram page @aberdeenangusydp for a week over the summer and into the autumn months.
If you have an interesting week planned on the farm, or an exciting trip planned, or just your varied life on the farm then please contact us to book your week.

Our members are looking forward to varied, fun and fresh, posts, videos and photos from you.
Email: [email protected] to book your week.

Stock for Sale & Stock Wanted:

If you would like to advertise stock for sale & stock wanted on our website then please send all the relevant information, contact information along with pictures/videos to Amy: [email protected]

Potential buyers can contact members directly.

(Stock for sale is for Aberdeen-Angus members to advertise only. We only publish adverts for pedigree Aberdeen-Angus stock).

News & Notices from CEO, Barrie Turner:

• We seem to be heading for tighter still restrictions at the time of writing as COVD-19 still wreaks havoc in our daily lives still limiting our abilities to return to normal functioning in the office.
• Guidelines still default to working from home if possible and as we continue to do this, the staff at pedigree house are keeping going with it but now after so long its beginning to tell.
• We are managing to keep up with everything as well as we can, and our functionality is impaired by the current restrictions and we are trying to deliver as near to normal a service as possible.
• It is with thanks to the staff for giving up the space at home, on their day in the office carting everything in and back from the office that they need and adjusting to what is becoming a very challenging environment.
• We have been experiencing a bit of difficulty with our IT connectivity for the remote working adding to the frustration but as it would seem that we are going to be working like this for some time to come we have invested further too improve this.
• Thanks to Caroline and Fiona for persevering and under difficult conditions at time getting the UK registrations as up to date as possible for year end.
• I am sorry to have to report that Yvonne Buchanan in the registration has decided to leave the Society after nigh on ten years. We thank her for all her efforts to date her enthusiasm and humour will be missed by us all.
• We will have to reorganise her workload and share it about until we can find a replacement for her which will be no mean feat to achieve, but we wish her well with her future endeavours.
• The last day of our financial year is today and what a strange year it has been on the finances front with our normal budget being decimated in all sorts of ways making the comparison on previous year a bit meaningless.
• Savings in some quarters but heavier spend on others but we have kept running as we have done for many years and will do into the future.
• Great job done by Angela Cumming and Helena Stewart to get everything brought up to date for the year end.
• We will have to revisit the way we handle our business with the Republic of Ireland, but this is difficult to do until decisions are made outside of our control regarding the Brexit regulations.
• We will be holding Committee meetings via Zoom over the next month to culminate in a council meeting in December as normal but again on Zoom Laura will be bringing this together again and thanks to her for her efforts.
• As we head into uncertain times up to Christmas and beyond the AGM at the February bull sales will be under threat and we are also putting in place plans for a contingency for that to happen but perhaps in a different way.
• The DNA module continues to hamper our efforts to efficiently run registrations working with ABRI and Weatherby’s we are now receiving results back on DNA testing on a more regular basis so anyone missing any results please be patient they are on the way.
• The big event of the bull sales came and went in a very different manner this year one with some big differences in the way that was delivered. The lack of atmosphere and usual crowds was most noticeable.
• I will be speaking to UA about the format for February in the light of some comments given directly to me by members in case we are under the same restrictions when we get there to improve viewing possibilities and perhaps have on line bidding available.
• Same clearance rate as last year and an average up of £451.00 and we wish all purchasers the best of luck with their acquisitions.
• Female sale showed that there is still good demand for Aberdeen-Angus pedigree stock which is encouraging with good money being paid for the recognised quality of the consignments from Eastfield and Weeton.
• I thank you all for observing the Covid measures that UA had in place, everyone with two exceptions observed the protocols which was greatly appreciated.
• A Facebook post on the merits of DNA this week caused a little bit of unrest with some adverse comments I have been working on those to try and establish the cause of the concern and alleviate the concerns.
• We had part two of the HR Committee process in the last period, and owing to circumstances we have not had any one to one reviews with the staff, we have these planned in for next month after the flurry on the end of the financial year.
• We have made some progress but recognised difficult progress with the maternal index thanks to Robert Whitcombe Marion Tilson, Finlay Munro and Barbra Webster for picking this up again with ABRI.
• We have received some adverts to put up on stock for sale over the last week or two, please make sure you supply us with pictures of the stock that will help to sell your animals. As per the show photographers take the pictures from the floor level looking up, take a few and pick the best.
• We continue our quest to ensure that we can remain connected with our members who reside in EU member states including the Republic of Ireland after the end of the transition period of Brexit on Jan 1^st 2021.
• The review is very much still under construction and the first deadline for copy is on Monday so a lot to see to over the weekend, thanks to Natalie Cormack for her efforts on this as well as Amy Johnstone and Pinstone for collating the very different 103^rd 
• Over the last eighteen months there have been some changes to the way that we do things and these have to be reflected in our Bye-Laws, these have been updates and put to council for approval which has been done and these will be on the website from Monday.
• As part of our continuation of our relationship with Europe the “Breeding programme” is also appended to the Bye-Laws which is required to keep our status as an approved breed society in a third country.
• The Fees and charges document has also been updated and improved to be made clear to everyone to understand what services are chargeable and which are payable by the membership.
• As an example of a matter that came across my desk this week a call from a commercial man who had purchased a bull from a fat market been given a pedigree certificate with it which was not for the bull that he bought he used the bull for two years and was upset that he couldn’t get a premium at the abattoir and wanted me to do something about it!
• Interesting thing is that he is a continental breeder and has been very pleased with the ease of calving vigorous calves that just get on with it that the Aberdeen Angus has given him, I just advised him to perhaps change his sourcing policy for bulls and the £100.00 premium would be his!
• We have now received the finished presentation on two centuries of Change a very personal view of Willies 80 + years in the breed, any profit made from the sale of these is being donated to the YDP.

The presentation is held on a black and chrome USB stick in a presentation box, signed copies are available. £15 including a generous donation going to the YDP. You can receive yours by ordering through the office by emailing Barrie: [email protected]

• On the history front can anyone shed any light on this? It’s a solid silver Aberdeen-Angus bull walking my usual sources don’t seem to recollect this being commissioned and it belongs to a neighbour of ours here at Pedigree house who has asked the question.

• In the next period we have a lot to accomplish and take many initiatives as well as the regular business of the Society forward reorganisation of the office staffing and workloads.
• I have many priorities and time constraints to deliver in good time projects for the Society priorities this next period is staffing and the Review.
• Followed by committees and council preparation and meetings as well as seeing to the everyday business of the Society.
• The above is just a summary of our activities here at Pedigree house.
• We all hope that yourselves and your families stay safe and well through what is becoming known as the second spike of the pandemic.

News & Notices from Office Manager, Laura Stewart:

The staff are all still working from home and continue as a team to deliver to the best of their ability to the membership. Due to the volume of emails that are being received at present please bear with us and we will reply as soon as we possibly can.

In order to work more efficiently in relation to the large volume of emails that are received, please be aware that the [email protected] email address is being wound down and is no longer monitored regularly. Should you email this address you will receive a standard reply to this effect asking you to email the correct person from the contact us page on the website, so that your enquiry can be dealt with as quickly as possible by the person responsible for the particular task. To make this process more streamlined, we are currently working to update the contact us page with a brief description of the main duties that each member of staff deal with to help you select the most appropriate person to contact.

By contacting the correct person by email in the first instance we hope that you will receive a quicker response to your enquiry and urge you to do this going forward so please embrace this change and let’s make it work and the whole business work smarter going forward.
To be able to contact the staff, please see email addresses below. By emailing us this is our most favoured method of communication

Barrie Turner, CEO (01738 448345) – [email protected]

Laura Stewart, Office Manager (01738 448343) – [email protected]

Angela Cumming, Accounts (01738 448344) – [email protected]

Caroline Ford, Registrations, Sales (01738 448341) – [email protected]

Fiona Flood, Registrations, New member enquiries (01738 448342) – [email protected]

Amy Johnstone, Pedigree Cattle Services, Stock For Sale, Stock Wanted, Website & Social Media Updates (01738 448348) – [email protected]

Barbara Webster, Pedigree Cattle Services (01738 448346) – [email protected]

Helena Stewart, Aberdeen-Angus Accounts & Pedigree Cattle Services (01738 448347) – [email protected]

News & Notices from the Accounts Department:

FINANCIAL YEAR END

If you have any outstanding invoices, prompt payment would be very much appreciated as our financial year end is the 31^st October 2020.  You can pay by cheque, internet banking or credit card.

INTERNET PAYMENTS

When making payment through the internet banking, please ensure that you quote your MEMBERSHIP NUMBER and SURNAME as a refence.  This ensures that your payment is allocated to the correct account.

RECEIVING SOCIETY INVOICES BY EMAIL

In order to try and save on postage costs we would like to send our invoices by email.  If you have not already done so, can you please provide us with your details? Please click on the link below

INVOICES BY EMAIL

News & Notices from the Registrations Department:

The Registrations Department have been working very hard to catch up with the outstanding registrations this week.  Most of your registrations should be processed now.  Please bear with us as we catch up with some other queries which are still outstanding.

Please let us have any entries for upcoming sales – especially for the sale at Stirling in February 2021. Letting us know now gives us plenty time to get any DNA testing underway.

News & Notices from Pedigree Cattle Services:

• We are up to date with weights at the moment but if you would like your weights to be included in the next ABRI run (9th November) please send them in with plenty of time available pre the close off date.
• Email is a must on this so please send to Barbara directly: [email protected]
• If any members have photos of sale animals, and you would like them uploaded onto the website catalogues please send them to either Barbara or Amy.

From us all at the Society have a great weekend and stay safe!