From the Royal Welsh Show to some great blasts from the past, it’s been another busy week of news and events at the Society. Here’s your Friday update everything that’s been going on:

Show and Sales:

The Royal Welsh Show took place from Monday to Thursday and saw some top quality cattle on display throughout the Aberdeen-Angus classes. Judge Dave Murray selected Glympton Essie K452 as the female champion and Glympton Revolver R962 as the male champion, in a successful day for all at Glympton Farms and many more. We were also delighted to see our somewhat ‘ballsy’ new event banners (including one in Welsh!) going down a treat with everyone who stopped by the Aberdeen-Angus stand! The presidential team would like to thank John and Harriet James and their family for delivering a fantastic spread for the exhibitors and visitors to the stand, it was much appreciated by all. On the business side we fielded a number of genuine enquiries about breeding stock, sales of store and fat cattle and two new members signing up. We must also thank the representatives from the show sponsors Marks & Spencer who can be seen pictured below with the Society’s Paul Jeenes, Alex Sanger and Angela McGregor.

Across the water in Ireland, the Dungarvan Summer Show saw Aberdeen-Angus arrive in great numbers with the largest overall entry of all the beef and dairy breeds. The judge on the day was Gerard Lynch, Kells, Co. Meath, who selected the UK-bred Cheeklaw Jake Eric R535 as the show champion, exhibited by Albert & Jennifer DeCogan.

Coming up this weekend, we look forward to attending the Banchory and Turriff Shows taking place on Saturday and Monday respectively, which we’re sure will see more great cattle on display for everyone to enjoy. Don’t forget to stop by and say hello if you’re out and about at the shows!

Sale enquiry: today we told you about a need for some organic Aberdeen-Angus heifers and bulls in Leon, Spain. To find out more if you think you might be able to help, visit: http://www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/spain-enquiry-organic-aberdeen-angus-heifers-and-bull-wanted/.

If you have bulls going to the Carlisle, Stirling or Dungannon Sales this Autumn and have not already notified the Registation Department of the tag numbers of bulls being entered and led females, please do so as soon as possible so DNA/MYOSTATIN testing can be arranged in plenty time prior to the sales.

Member survey:

We’ve had a good response to the member survey that has been live for the last couple of weeks, so we’d like to thank you all for your participation and correspondence with that. As previously mentioned, your opinions will help us great with decisions moving forward, and the surveys are something we’ll be doing on a more regular basis. We look forward to potentially sharing some insights in to the results with you all in the next week or so.

Youth Development Programme:

We shared a great piece with you this week from Gayle Bersey, YDP programme co-ordinator, giving us a strong in-depth look at what the YDP involves and why we hold it in such high importance for our breed and the cattle breeding industry as a whole. From how it started, to what can be expected at the workshops and why the youth are so important to the breed, make sure to give the piece a read to get some brilliant insight. You can read it at: http://www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/a-detailed-look-at-our-youth-development-programme/. A big thank you is extended to Gayle for helping put the piece together. Remember, if you’re aged 8-24 and like the sound of our Youth Development Programme, we’d be delighted to hear from you! We would also like to hear from breeders and stockmen and women who would like to share their knowledge and expertise and would be willing to assist at the venues throughout the country.

This weekend there are two YDP workshops taking place over in Ireland in Mohill and Co Cork thanks to Mac Crowe and Kathryn Bradshaw and John and Kate Tait. We look forward to bringing you full reports on the workshops in the coming weeks.

Other news:

We shared some photography from a great day at Ballindalloch as part of the World Angus Forum, so make sure to head over to our Gallery page on the website and check it out if you haven’t already. Keep an eye out for us sharing more photography albums over the next few weeks.

We’d like to thank Miranda Jane Barbour for sharing the below document with us, always nice to see Society documents from the past that are living on, it really goes to show the longevity and proud history that sits at the roots of our breed!

Have a great weekend from all at the Society!