Bi-Weekly Update – Friday 29th January 2021:

IMPORTANT MEMBER NOTICE

 THE ABERDEEN-ANGUS CATTLE SOCIETY

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2020

Due to unforeseen circumstances there will be a delay in issuing the Annual Report this year due to Covid-19 and a delay in the audit process (due to the auditors being on furlough for part of the year and now they have a backlog to catch up on). Rest assured this will be mailed out to the membership as soon as it is practically possible.

The AGM will NOT be taking place as usual in February 2021 at the Stirling Bull Sales due to the Covid-19 restrictions and a delay with the Annual Report.  We envisage this taking place via zoom to protect the health of our membership. As soon as we know more we will let you know.

Upcoming Society Sales…

United Auctions, Stirling February Bull Sales:

Saturday 20^th February to Monday 22^nd February

The sale will be livestreamed along with an online bidding facility

The final programme will be available nearer the time

Please click here to view our online catalogue

Dungannon Sale:

Tuesday 9th February

The sale has an online bidding facility – please contact Dungannon mart on 028 8772 2727 to register for online budding

Please click here to view our online catalogue

ANM Pedigree Bull Sale:

Wednesday 24th February

Please click here to view our online catalogue

Southern Spring Show & Sale of Pedigree & Commercial Aberdeen-Angus Cattle:

Worcester Livestock Market, Nunnery Way, Worcester WR4 0SQ

Saturday 3rd April 2021

Entries close on Friday 19th February 2021 – for entry forms contact Worcester Market: (01905) 769770 or worcester@mccartneys.co.uk

SCHEDULE

Multibreed Pedigree Sale at Melton Mowbray Market – Saturday 27th March 2021:

Multibreed Pedigree Sale of bulls & females

Saturday 27th March 2021

Melton Mowbray Market, Scalford Road, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 1JY

Entry forms are to be completed and sent back to Melton Mowbray Market no later than the 25th February 2021

ENTRY FORM & HERD HEALTH DECLARATION

Please contact Caroline or Fiona in the registrations department to let them know which animals you are putting forward to the sale ASAP this is to ensure animals have a DNA & MYOSTATIN result at time of sale.

SALE ANIMAL PHOTOS:

If anyone has any photos of animals they have going forward to upcoming Society sales, please send them to Amy for advertising on our website and Facebook page – [email protected]

Dowbiggin Aberdeen-Angus Sale: It’s time to talk ANGUS!

YDP Cattle and Land Management Competition 2021:

WHO CAN ENTER – Intermediate (14-18 yrs) and Senior YDP (19-24 yrs) participants.
(Age as of 1st Jan 2021).

WHAT? A competition designed to develop and show case your farming and livestock
management skills.

WHEN? 1st Feb 2021 – 1st April 2021

HOW? You will be given information of your study farm and from this you will need to develop your
farming business to include the Aberdeen-Angus. You will be informed of the acreage of
arable and grassland, land class, altitude, buildings and the farm will be owner occupied.
The enterprise will need run on a profitable basis. All information in CALM Entry Pack.

To apply for your CALM entry pack email [email protected] before the 15th Feb 2021

WHY? Intermediate’s and Senior’s prizes will be divided.

1st £500 travel bursary (TBC)
2nd £250 Travel bursary (TBC)
3rd £100 Travel bursary (TBC)

Plus, embryos and semen from recognized herds.

Finalist will also be invited to present the business models to members of the industry.

This is an amazing opportunity to show case your skills within the beef farming community.

YDP Cattle and Land Management Competition 2021

YDP Marketing and Promotion Competition 2021:

WHO CAN ENTER? Juniors (8-13yrs) YDP participants

WHEN? 1st Feb 2021 -1st April 2021

WHAT? A competition to design a brochure to help promote a herd of cattle or farm.

HOW? Using a piece of A4 paper you are to design a brochure/leaflet to use at shows and sales to
publicise a herd or farm which incorporates Aberdeen-Angus cattle.

WHY?

1st £100 and a YDP Goody Bag (TBC)
2nd £50 and a YDP Goody Bag (TBC)
3rd £25 and a YDP Goody Bag (TBC)

Finalists will receive 100 printed copies of their designs.

Have some fun during the winter months and put your design and creative talents to good use and look forward to using your designs at future events.

If you would like to enter please email [email protected] to register, including your age on 1st Jan 21, mobile contact number and address. We very much look forward to hearing from you soon.

Remember, you don’t have to be an Aberdeen-Angus breeder to compete.

YDP Marketing and Promotion Competition 2021

YDP Instagram Takeover: 

We are looking for each of our YDP participants to take over the YDP Instagram page @aberdeenangusydp.

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).

Staff Update:

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, Shows & Sales, Stock For Sale, Stock Wanted, Website & Social Media (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 CEO, Barrie Turner:

• First thing to say is where on earth did January go?
• The new year has brought more not less chaos through Covid-19 and the services that we were building up a bit again towards normality have been stepped back in line with guidelines.
• The office manning has reverted to a “only when unavoidable” situation and continues and will continue for some time to come unfortunately.
• The positives from this in terms of working in conditions which are that the team is disjointed continue to be challenging but please be assured that we are doing all that we can to maintain membership services as near top normal as conditions allow.
• I am receiving calls and emails from members that have sometimes not heard back from our team and I can assure you that any enquiries are in process but far from normal timeframes in dealing with enquiries can be observed now.
• Like the devolved governments are saying to protect everyone please follow the guidelines which we are trying our best to do to keep everyone safe. Working from home more than ever remains the default.

• The REVIEW for 2021 should be with you by now if not early next week. The challenges of getting this year’s one completed and with you early in January have like everything else been compromised.
• I hope that you enjoy the different content this year and also a slightly different format, work has started with next years already with systems and procedures being put in place to leave advert booking open all year as you will see so you can book now for next year and assembling content as we travel through 2021.
• Many thanks to Natalie Cormack and Amy Johnstone for their efforts this year and Pinstone have their first one under their belt so have a better idea of what’s coming next year!
• Planning for a “virtual AGM” and deep in process as the normal format is impossible and details of that will be with you soon Laura Stewart is working through the logistics.
• Not going to be easy and very different to normal but hopefully compliant with our requirements laid down in our Articles of Association and requirements of the Charities commission.
• The audit on the accounts is delayed owing to remote working, we would normally have these by the end of November and completion for approval needs to be done before we can call the AGM.
• David Ismail the Senior Vice President is very actively preparing for his term in office as president which unfortunately may be slightly delayed owing to the deferment of the AGM as well as the new appointments to the board.
• Many thanks to David Ismail, Duncan Morrison and Henk Rennie for their input in completing a strategic review on the QMS activities with a very open and honest summary of their thoughts which we were invited to submit.
• BCMS registrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland are putting Aberdeen-Angus and Aberdeen-Angus cross cattle at number one just awaiting the figures for England to arrive and see where we are as a UK total.
• We have as you are all aware been working hard on our Irish/EU herd book, things moving on at pace where we are now sorting out the infrastructure to run the herd book from Ireland for the EU.
• Good thoughts going in to make this work and tremendous support for what we are doing to maintain our links with the membership now finding themselves in the EU.
• Closely working with ICBF to help with our administration of the herd book and the issuance of pedigrees.
• A tremendous piece of independent information on meat eating quality has been published by ICBF which shows Aberdeen-Angus as the tops when it comes to the thing that really matters!
• Have a look by clicking here and see what you think it makes very interesting reading for an Aberdeen Angus breeder confirming that your choice of breed is the right one for a very important reason!
• Consider how you can use this information in your marketing to bring new Aberdeen-Angus breeders into the fold. This is the end game consumer approval is paramount to keeping demand for Aberdeen-Angus beef!
• We are also exploring ways through the new herd book of working more closely with the ICBF going forward and being able to benefit from their work expertise and experience to take us forward as a breed.
• Big thanks to Fiona Flood and Kathryn Bradshaw for mopping up the last pieces of administration from 2020 all new going forward!
• On health matters a while ago we engaged with CheCs on a couple of subjects and a much-delayed response has been received from them for various reasons but progress being made on potentially improving herd health.
• We continue to liaise and investigate jointly with our partners ways to improve the DNA testing programme and reduce the requirement for retesting.
• This time of the year is always telling on the verification and myostatin status of bulls for sales. Thanks to Caroline for her efforts and tenacity on chasing down missing info.
• Amy Johnstone has had her first sale on organising the health declarations for the catalogues and seen the challenges sometime posed! Prompt interaction is required from all parties or catalogue delays are inevitable which is detrimental to sale publicity.
• We have started to receive a few more enquiries from overseas for stock required these are always posted on the Stock Wanted part of the website so keep tabs on that on a regular basis. Good to see a few more coming through.
• We continue to work on ways to work more closely with the AI companies a zoom meeting to pool some ideas on this was held and an action list formulated.
• The good work on the maternal index carries on with the sub committee now focussing on a trial run on some selected herds, progress just been hampered a little from some changes at ABRI that we were unaware of.
• Last year’s request for some missing items for Tom Burke and Kurt Schaff have been sorted and shipped to the Angus Hall of Fame in the US.
• We have run dry of AA washable face masks, but I have some further ones available which are arriving soon please email your name, membership number and sizes (med/large) required. Non members please supply your address to [email protected]

• Thanks to Gill MacGregor secretary of the Highland Aberdeen-Angus Club for an invite to their virtual AGM on Zoom and hats off to them for taking the initiative on that. If you need any help in organising your AGM by Zoom we can perhaps help by providing a link from the Society.
• The list of shows and events being cancelled this year continues to rise owing to COVID-19 we will keep you posted of these on the website and through your local council members and club secretaries when we are notified.
• As the sales get closer then the need to have settled adverts agreed and placed in good time, this is proving difficult this year owing to uncertainty of conditions. We have changed the wordings to make them more generic and refreshed the messaging too.
• Reorganising the allocation of staff and ways of working and shifting workloads is an ever changing picture now and this is under close revision. A big task with so many unknowns.
• The YDP had a Zoom meeting, I was very pleased to be a part of with some sparkling ideas coming forward from the group as it is looking shaky for workshops again this year and it more than ever is important to engage with some “home schooling” for our YDP membership.
• The Argentine Association are now getting to the final stages of their centenary book marking the occasion we have supplied some further information from our archives this week and look forward to seeing the result.
• This is some but not all of the tasks and challenges that we face at Pedigree house over the last couple of weeks could I ask you to only contact the staff on matters of urgency while we work our way through the must do list.
• The next fortnight brings more of the same, moving forward on the AI project, assessment of DNA supply chain continues, preparation for the infrastructure for 2021 with the JVP, Bull sale preparation, AGM arranging, Ireland infrastructure to name but a few!
• I am going into hospital on Saturday 6^th of February to have a new hip fitted, I am confident that my normal level of keyboard warrior will not be badly affected.
• I am pleased that the date has been brought forward as more of my recovery time will be in national lockdown and should be fully fit again sooner as restrictions are eased!
• I know and am fully confident, that if I am not as accessible as normal for a day or two that everyone in Pedigree House has the full capability to cover for any matters that may arise.
• I hope that you all stay safe and well and leave you with the hope that the light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel comes to an end soon and we can return to some normality with our activities.

News & Notices from Office Manager, Laura Stewart:

A voting paper for nominations to Council for 2021 will be arriving by post for members in Scotland, England and Wales to vote on their preferred Council candidate to represent the England and Wales South constituency.  Please note that the closing date to return nominations is 19^th February and nominations should be posted direct to our auditors as detailed on the form and not returned to Pedigree House.

We continue to receive a large amount of phone and email enquiries at present.  If possible, please email your enquiry as it is not always possible to receive phone calls due to being on a call or if taking part in a virtual meeting at the time of your call.

News & Notices from the Accounts Department:

2021 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP

• A kindly reminder that membership for 2021 is due to be paid, if not already done so.  You can pay by either cheque, internet banking or credit card.  Please don’t forget to quote your membership number when making payments.

 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:

Rules for the registrations of female calves have changed recently and have been brought into line with the timings for the males.  They should also be intimated within 27 days but you now have 6 months after that to register them for the standard fee £25 + VAT.  After this the fee increases to £50 + VAT until they are 12 months of age.  These fees only apply if the calves have been intimated first.

Please also check to see if your stock bull has been DNA tested and Sire Verified BEFORE you use him.  This will avoid any problems once the calves are on the ground.  You can check this on the online database or give us a ring to confirm.

ET donor dams must also be DNA tested before any calves can be registered.  Please check before they are flushed.

News & Notices from Pedigree Cattle Services:

The GeneProb results have been updated for the four main genetic conditions (AM, CA, NH or DD) these are now available in your members downloads.

GeneProb utilises the basic principles of inheritance to estimate the probabilities of specific genes being present in a wider, related population than the animals with DNA test results available. It allows breeders to focus on animals that require testing, instead of testing all animals

For further instructions on how to download files and manage genetic conditions click here

If any members have photos of sale animals, and you would like them uploaded onto the website catalogues please send them directly to Barbara: [email protected]

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