Temperatures have soared this week whilst the Society has been down at Builth Wells for the Aberdeen-Angus Summer National at the Royal Welsh Show, with the rest of the UK really feeling the heat as well, all the way from Thurso down to Truro! Alongside the Royal Welsh Show and other events up and down the country, it has been business as usual in Pedigree House, just with a few more windows cracked open than usual – here is your fortnightly update from the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society.

News Roundup

The Summer National at the Royal Welsh Show has headed the list of news this week, with an impressive showing in the ring from Shadwell Estate where Shadwell Evolution took home the top Aberdeen-Angus honours after the yearling/junior championship also went to Shadwell Estate in the form of Shadwell Pam. It was a great day for the Society with an excellent selection of cattle on show, and we enjoyed bringing the live results on our Facebook page as they happened on the day. You can access the full list of results from the Royal Welsh and the Summer National, alongside the full report and photography on our show and sales news section on the website.

As we are in the height of summer, we appreciate that it is an extremely busy and exciting time for you. However, the autumn event calendar will come around quicker than expected and we’d encourage preparation to begin as early as possible. The October Stirling Bull Sales at United Auctions in Stirling represents one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the UK agricultural calendar, and this year features full herd sales from a selection of renowned Aberdeen-Angus herds including Cheerbrook and Liley Aberdeen-Angus, on top of the usual programme of events. The online entry is now open for the Stirling event and can be assessed by clicking here. Be sure to get your entries in and prepare for another great event for our breed.

Entries are also open with the schedule available for the 2019 Halifax Show that will be taking place on Saturday 10th August 2019 at Savile Park, Halifax. We’d encourage as many entries as possible to make for a great event in West Yorkshire. The schedule and details about entering the event can be found by clicking here.

We’ve brought you results from a selection of shows from across the border in both Northern and Republic of Ireland, including the Castlewellan Show where Eric and Judith McClelland’s Brookhall Emma scooped the top Aberdeen-Angus honours. At the Mullingar Show in Republic of Ireland the Aberdeen-Angus championship went to Drumbeera Everest as Thomas & Patrick Beirne continue their winning street, while the Munster Provincial Trophy was awarded to Albert and Jennifer DeCogan and their senior stock bull, Cheeklaw Jake Eric.

The PENWAC Aberdeen-Angus Club announced two excellent herd visits taking place in the coming weeks. On Sunday 4th August at 11am there will be a visit to D&J Isherwood’s Airedale Herd at Lane Bridge Farm, Kildwick, Skipton. Following a couple of weeks later, on Sunday 18th August at 11am the club will be visiting Richard Jackson’s Pilsbury Herd at Endmoor, Tagg Lane, Monyash, Bakewell. Anybody interested in attending is welcome and encouraged to do so – for more information, contact Mary Hamnett on 07817083995.

You can keep up to date with all the news from the Society, including stock for sale and purchase enquiries at the below links:

Stock for sale: www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news-events/stock-for-sale

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

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

News and Notices from Barrie Turner the CEO

• A visit to our trademark lawyers took place to discuss the revisit to the Certified Aberdeen-Angus Beef scheme. It proved very worthwhile in the continuance of the redevelopment of the scheme
• The Technical Sub-committee met to progress the Maternal Index, now being at the stage where we can move that forward to run a trial on the numbers and review what it looks like
• Our new phone system is all installed and nearly ready to go live, training for the staff in getting the most from the system took place last week
• Continuation of the final refinements with the help of the government bodies to ensure compliance with the Zootech regulations is nearly finalised, with the final tweaks being made to the last draft for final approval
• The redesign of the PCS office moved forward with the new desks arriving, Amy Johnstone is really pleased with her newfound workspace and is now compliant with health and safety!
• I travelled south to support John James in setting up for the Royal Welsh Show and the Summer National. The BBQ for Exhibitors on the Sunday evening went really well – thanks to John and Harriet James for their efforts and also to Richard Hassal and Rachel Wylie for providing the “Sloe-gasm” (Prosecco and Sloe Gin) which always serves as a great icebreaker!
• After an administrative morning sorting out the order of the National Classes with John James, judging commenced under the auspices of Alistair Fraser (Idvies) but was delayed by our Patron’s delayed visit to the cattle rings!
• Classes went really well, and we sorted out the show results and also the Summer National results side by side. Thanks to Amy Johnstone for deciphering and making sure Facebook was updated on an as-it-happens basis
• We attended a two-day course run by the AHDB entitled “Meat Science”. It revealed a huge amount of information on the supply chain and factors that can affect meat quality in so many different ways – I can recommend this to everyone as being a very worthwhile exercise, no matter at what part of the supply chain from Farm to Fork that you sit
• There was a wonderful evening in the company of Andrew and Sarah Shufflebotham, a bite to eat and a good blether was the order of the day. Andrew is working through the treatment regime that he is under and I am really pleased to report that he is back to eating normally with minimal top ups from the bag!
• A meeting with ABS Genus at Ruthin Bull Stud also took place. Thanks to Mark Smith and Arwell for their time and the team there for showing me how it all works. There were lots of areas for crossover and information sharing between us to ensure improved Aberdeen-Angus breed uptake moving forward
• There was also a meeting with IdentiGEN at Chester on the way back north, covering various parts of our relationship and how we can work more together going forward
• The next couple of weeks include some welcome time in the office and a visit North to the Black Isle Show on the way to Caithness for the Castle of Mey weekend. Also involved will be finalisation of the Zootechnic breeding programme, agenda preparation for the Council gathering at the end of August, finalising the content for “the Cud”, meeting with two foodservice operators to find out their supply chain and how it works and see what we can do to provide them with what they need. Hopefully you enjoy that nice snapshot of the world of the CEO – back in a fortnight with more updates!

News and Notices from Laura Stewart the Office Manager

• Preparation of the Committee and Council agendas is a priority at the moment – brief committee meetings will take place in Pedigree House on Tuesday 27th August and Council will meet on Wednesday 28th August
• If any members have any issues that they wish to be discussed at the meeting, please contact your local Council member in advance. A list of Council members can be found at: https://www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/the-society/the-council/
• Arrangements have been made for the Pembrokeshire County Show, which is a new show that the Society will have a presence at this year. The show will be held from 13th to 15th August and we will have a breed stand with live cattle on the stand. Pembrokeshire County Show is a large 3-day show situated in South West Wales, which is the dairy heartland of Wales. The county suffers a high incidence of TB and dairy farmers are having to retain their calves and finish them on farm due to many being on lock down. As a result, more and more are turning to the Aberdeen-Angus as a terminal sire due to their ability to finish the cattle at home easier off a forage-based diet compared to their continental counterparts. We hope that by having a stand at the show we can raise the profile of the Aberdeen-Angus breed in this area. Link to the show website: https://www.pembsshow.org/
• The PCS office improvements have been completed with the addition of a hot desk

News and Notices from Angela Cumming in the Finance Department

• PEDIGREE CATTLE SERVICES: Pedigree Cattle Services year end is on the 31st July 2019. If you have any outstanding invoices on your account, prompt payment before this date would be very much appreciated
• ABERDEEN-ANGUS CATTLE SOCIETY: FINAL REMINDER – ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION JANUARY 2019: If you have not yet paid your annual membership can you please do so by return as this was due on the 1st January 2019. If we do not receive payment by the 31st July 2019, we will presume that you no longer wish to be members

News and Notices from the Registrations Department

• All calves must be named after the family of the dam. If submitted incorrectly, we will change this on your behalf. We change a huge volume of names, therefore it is impractical and time consuming to inform you each time we do this.
• Please look at the downloads, for a list of family names for your guidance. These can be accessed via the links below:
  • Family names
  • Service certificate
• Any member who is entering animals for forthcoming sales, please contact the registrations department to submit tag numbers for DNA testing in sufficient time before the sale. Cows which are being flushed, must have a DNA result on file. Calves from these flushes, cannot be registered from a cow which has no DNA result. Please contact the registrations team to ensure all donor dams are DNA tested

News and Notices from the Pedigree Cattle Services Department

• Type Classification: In the Spring 2019 newsletter there was an article on type classification by Meurig James, Head of breed development at NBDC. Click the link for the article: https://www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Spring-Newsletter-2019.pdf
• This is the time of year for herds to be type classified, if you are interested in getting your herd classified or want to receive some more information then get in touch with PCS
• Here is a short video on type classification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX2spDGDpcs
• If any of the Aberdeen-Angus clubs would like Holstein UK to put on a demonstration in their area to show breeders how type classification works, then get in contact with PCS to organise a demonstration day for your club

News and Notices from the YDP

• Unfortunately, two of our workshops have had to be cancelled due to hosts having to change plans. These are the Sunday 11th August in Central Scotland and Saturday 27th July in Southern Ireland workshops – we apologise for any inconvenience caused
• I shall be over in Ireland this weekend for the Broomstreet Herd Workshop and whilst over will visit the YDP Final Venue for a site meeting
• Kian Frain and Ellie Westaway competed at the Royal Welsh Show Interbreed Young Handlers Competition and came a very respectable 4th of a turnout of approx. 10 teams.  Well done to them for flying the Aberdeen-Angus flag!
• We will be supporting a team for the Young Show Stars Competition at the Three Counties Showground in August. Kian Frain and Robyn Westcott will be competing with cattle kindly sponsored by Glympton Farms. Good luck to them in their preparations!

Shows, Sales and Events

Key upcoming events are shown below:

• Scottish Borders (Tofts) YDP workshop – Sunday 4^th August 2019
• North Devon Show – Wednesday 7^th August 2019
• North of England (Tree Bridge) YDP workshop – Saturday 10^th August 2019

Back-dated copies of the Aberdeen-Angus Review

We still have a selection of copies available from Reviews from years gone by, which make for great gifts for significant years and anybody with an interest in the Aberdeen-Angus breed and its heritage. We encourage anybody interested in purchasing these to get in touch with the Fiona Flood at the Society on [email protected]. Let us know what year you are looking for and we would be happy to help.

Have a great weekend, from all at the Society.