September is always a month full of preparation and anticipation with some large and exciting events just around the corner, with the major sales at Carlisle and Stirling and the start of the calf show season almost upon us. It’s been business as usual at the Society with plenty going on in and around Pedigree House. Here is your latest bi-weekly news update with all you need to know.

News Roundup

We’ve been busy preparing for the upcoming 2019 YDP final weekend, with Tina Russell and all other co-ordinators driving what is shaping up to be a great couple of days in Drumshanbo. Uniforms for all participants have been being finalised this week and we look forward to seeing everyone there – good luck to all participating.

The 2019 edition of The Cud was finalised this week and sent off to print, so will be arriving in letterboxes in the next 2-3 weeks. We look forward to hearing thoughts on this 2^nd edition since The Cud was first delivered last year as we look to ‘chew over’ all the most important Society matters.

The online entry is now open for November’s Stars of the Future Calf Show. Taking place at United Auctions in Stirling, this is always a highly anticipated event and we hope to see a strong entry from the Aberdeen-Angus breed. If anyone would like more information about the event, we encourage you to get in touch with Carol Rettie on: [email protected]. The closing date for entries is 18^th October.

This year’s National Ploughing Championships took place at Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co Carlow, with representatives from the UK and Irish branches of the Society present throughout the week on what was another excellent few days. Chief Executive Barrie Turner and Yvonne Buchanan attended the event, where the Aberdeen-Angus clubs and members from the Republic of Ireland represented the breed excellently, as they always do.

The summer show circuit across the water in Ireland came to a close at the Clonaslee Show. The show is staged near the Laois/Offaly county border with Aberdeen-Angus breeder Mr. Seamus Neary, Kilkenny and pedigree continental breeder Mr. John Searson, Roscrea acting as joint master judges over the day’s proceedings. After intense deliberation, the red rosette was ultimately awarded to Castlelough Mister Bert U196 from Edward Dudley, Kilsunny Hse, Dovea, Thurles, Co Tipperary with this 11-month-old bull going on to be tapped forward as the day’s supreme Aberdeen-Angus breed champion at the end of the show.

We brought you news and the report from the dispersal sale for and on behalf of Thrussendale Farm Ltd of their outstanding herd of pedigree Aberdeen-Angus breeding cattle along with their excellent range of livestock equipment and other farm machinery. The sale took place at Thrussendale Farm on Friday 20^th August and was a great success.

The North East of Scotland Club will be hosting the annual show of Aberdeen-Angus calves and yearlings on Friday 22nd November at Thainstone Agricultural Centre, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The event is one of the largest shows of Aberdeen-Angus calves and yearlings in the country, we anticipate an entry of 100 head from many herds. For more information contact Janelle Anderson, Black Beauty Bonanza Event Co-Ordinator: Email: [email protected].

The Aitabhaile Aberdeen-Angus herd of Sean & Rosaleen Smith, Cabragh, Cootehill, Co Cavan held a major reduction sale of 20 pedigree registered Aberdeen-Angus cows with calves at foot (and scanned back in-calf for 2020) as well as 4 in-calf heifers and one well-bred senior stock bull. The sale took place at Cootehill Mart, Cootehill, Co Cavan on Friday, September 13^th and was a success for all involved.

To keep up with all other news from the Society as well as all the latest updates from shows, sales and other events, just head over to the appropriate sections on our website.

News and features: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/

Show and Sales news: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/show-and-sales/

News and Notices from the CEO

• After some fine tuning, the Cud has now gone to print and will be with members in the coming weeks. Thanks go to Laura Stewart and her excellent eye for detail as she did a great job helping with the proof reading of the finished document.
• A reminder for all Club Secretaries to complete their reports for 2019 and send them to Rob or Michael at Denvir as soon as they are compiled to be included in the Review. Email addresses for Rob and Michael are@ [email protected] / [email protected].
• Review planning is now well underway, with content being assimilated and the page plan agreed. Advert booking forms are in the Cud, so please complete and return your forms as soon as possible. These forms will also be made available online and sent through email in the coming weeks. If for any reason you cannot access a form, feel free to call Rob at Denvir and he will arrange for a form to be sent directly to you – 01786 435178.
• Amy Johnstone has now had some training in using the website and being able to upload things from the office. Amy has also been getting more involved with the Society’s social media activity, so she is becoming our GURU in that field. Well done Amy for taking this on.
• Our new telephone system has gone live and the feedback from the office side has been positive to date. Like anything new, it just takes a bit of adjusting to, but it will improve the ways of communicating with the office. Full details of the new system are provided in the Cud.
• No sooner is the show season drawn to a close than the sales season is upon us, looking forward to seeing many of you at these events over the Autumn period.
• Past president Bob Lane and I attended the Dairy Day event at Telford – it was a lot less busy this year and there were some motorway difficulties, and we were not in the best place for footfall, but not all lost as we met some of our key partners which made it all worth attending. Thanks to Bob and Vanessa for feeding me the evening before the event and providing the opportunity to visit Penguin!
• YDP preparation for the Finals continues – well done to all concerned in Ireland, Tina, Will Chrystal and the YDP team for bringing it all together.
• Great to have the confirmation that A K Stoddart have kindly agreed to sponsor our Winter National Competition at Borderway again this year. Thanks to Grant Moir and the team there for their support.
• Sometimes you wonder if standing at shows does any good for us – I had a chat through with a couple at the Yorkshire Show about Aberdeen-Angus and what it might do to help them with their enterprise, and got to hear that they had visited Dunlouise and eaten my steak!
• There was a “Fanger” meeting last week that Angus Stovold visited on behalf of the Council, bringing back lots of information that will be of use to us as native breeds going forward. Focus on economic beef production and using genomics to improve performance were top of the agenda amongst other topics.
• The long debate continues with the Scottish Government over the Brexit deal or no deal planning. As a breed who is involved with exporting, we have “Fast Track” status for approval as an approved Society in any event, deal or no deal.
• There was a first visit for the CEO to the Ploughing Championships in Ireland, justifiably labelled “The Big One”. I have not been to a bigger agricultural event – ever! Great job done by the Southern Ireland clubs in representing the breed and flying the Aberdeen-Angus flag. Yvonne Buchanan, our Irish specialist in Pedigree House, also attended and had a couple of long days meeting members and mopping up a few outstanding bits of administration with Kathryn Bradshaw.
• We have supplied the beef for a fundraising dinner for the team who will be attending the World Culinary Olympics. Chris Sandford has assembled a team representing people with disabilities since the competition’s start. We wish them well with their efforts, and thanks to all at Scotbeef, especially Eck Gordon the Agricultural Manager, for the Aberdeen-Angus beef described by Chris as “Outstanding Quality”. We must also thank William McLaren for getting the beef there. Many thanks to you all for your support!
• I attended the NBA Pedigree Breeders biannual meeting at Stoneleigh Park this week, where all topics affecting the beef industry were tabled and discussed on the best ways forward for the industry.
• Next week sees a full week in the office of which I am glad about, and we can continue working through the way that we do things and improve processes and efficiencies
• My input to the bi-weekly report may be a little less in the next report as I am heading out to Portugal for a week away in the sun and a recharge of the batteries! However, rest assured that the team at Pedigree House will be on hand to assist in all your enquiries.

News and Notices from Office Manager Laura Stewart

• You may have noticed our new telephone system at Pedigree House was launched on Monday. By phoning the main number you will be directed to the person or department you need to speak with which should save you time with your enquiry. This is working well for us in the office as we receive specific enquiries which come through direct to our own line which cuts out the need to transfer you.
• We also have direct dial numbers which is a good option to save to your phone if you have regular contact with a specific member of staff. Further information will be included in The Cud which you will receive in a few weeks.
• This week has seen the proofing of The Cud, along minutes and actions progressing from the Council and Committee meetings and preparation for the Autumn sales and events continues.

News and Notices from Angela Cumming in the Finance Department

• Statements were posted out at the start of September. If you have any outstanding invoices, prompt payment would be very much appreciated as our financial year end is on the 31st October 2019. 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 here.

News and Notices from the Registrations Department

• The 2019 initiative of having all registered male calves DNA profiled using the new SNPS technology is well under way. Please be aware that calves can only be sire verified if their sire also has a SNPS profile. Should you currently have an active stock bull which has not been tested on the new SNPS platform, you may wish to contact us to request that this be done. This is NOT compulsory, however it would ease the transition from Microsatellite DNA to the SNPS DNA.
• It would also be more cost effective to retest current stock bulls on SNPS as the society is testing all 2019 born male calves at no expense to the breeder. If we don’t have a SNPS profile for the sire we cannot sire verify these calves.

• Please let us know if you have a stock bull that you would like to test, and we can arrange this for you. Any other questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

News and Notices from the Pedigree Cattle Services Department

• With Autumn calving just around the corner, here’s a short video on understanding birth weight EBV’S, in this video it shows all the important aspects on birth weight EBV’S and how birth weights should be correctly recorded – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWax8gVFzcU
• If anyone wants to start on the performance recording please contact Barbara, Helena or Amy in the Breedplan office. This makes data available that you can use to develop your enterprise and breeding programme. It helps monitor your herd and individual animals’ performance and benchmarks against breed average, which is a very worthwhile thing to be part of.

News and Notices from the YDP

• Our last report before the long-awaited Final in Southern Ireland, final arrangements are being completed. The full complement of 37 young people from within the industry will be competing the weekend of 28th September. We wish them all good luck and have Fun!
• Well done to our new team of Co-ordinators who have worked hard this year to provide the workshops. We are now all looking forward to the 2020 workshops, any clubs or members who would like to support the YDP and host a workshop next year, please contact your YDP area Co-Ordinator or email [email protected]. Without your support we cannot provide this great experience for the young people of today.

Shows, Sales and Events

Key upcoming events are shown below:

• 28^th – 29^th September 2019 – YDP Final Event – Loughallen Equestrian Centre and Hotel, Leitrim, Ireland
• 28^th September 2019 – Worcester Autumn Show and Sale, McCartney’s, Worcester
• 4^th October – Carlisle Show and Sale, Borderway Mart, Carlisle

Merchandise

We have a new range of clothing coming out and the CEO has been modelling the shirts at recent events, with a branded gilet and jacket also set to be available. We will be introducing these in due course, with an introductory offer just in time for Christmas.

Get ahead of the bad weather as Winter approaches by grabbing one of our Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society umbrellas for £25. Sturdy, reliable and proudly sporting the Society colours, help fly the flag whilst you’re out and about and stay dry at the same time!

*Insert image of Wool scarf

You can purchase by emailing Yvonne at: [email protected], who can deal with and dispatch your orders for all our merchandise. You can pay over the phone by card or simply add it to your next invoice. Full range of merchandise available to view online at: https://www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Merchandise-poster-2018-web.pdf

We hope you all have a great weekend.