If you would like your photo to be included, please send your photo into Amy: [email protected]

DEADLINE: Monday 16th November 2020

RULES:
– One photo per person
– Must contain Aberdeen-Angus

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 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 CEO, Barrie Turner:

• Start with the usual update on the Covid-19 situation in that we are in Perth and Kinross. we are now under tier three restrictions as appropriate in Scotland.
• This is a tightening up and one step away from full lockdown again which is saying that cases are on the rise our investment to date in keeping a safe working environment for our staff continues.
• We are now facing a much longer than anticipated disruption to our normal working environment and not much light at the end of the tunnel to a return to the full team able to return to pedigree house.
• A big thank you from me to all the staff who are giving up some of their private space at home to continue the business of the Society through these very challenging times.
• Also a big thank you from me to all of you for your patience and understanding of the current situation that is limiting our ability to deliver the services that we do.
• Thank you to our Registrations team Caroline and Fiona for managing to get up to date with registrations for the year end and also thank you to all of you for your continued patience as we continue to live in a very different world.
• We continue to make progress in Ireland with helping to keep our relationship with our members in the republic of Ireland
• The Female sale at Skipton went well this week with stock being procured for some renowned herds which pleased greatly the main consignee David Isherwood of the Airedale herd. Thanks to Chris Wilkinson of council for ably representing the Society.
• Been engaged with the NBA in reviewing the succession planning and expansion of the scanning service with good progress being made. Thanks to Barbara Webster for her input into that .
• The financial year end has come and gone with much thanks to Angela Cumming and Helena Stewart for their efforts to tidy all the finances up.
• The updated Bye-Laws are on the website now along with the fees and charges reflecting the changes that have been made by council.
• A really good, interesting meeting with the Agricultural team at Sainsbury where they shared a great deal of data from their dashboard of their Aberdeen-Angus scheme with us.
• We continue to work with ABRI and Weatherby’s to iron out the wrinkles in the DNA module implementation.
• A major piece of work ahead in reviewing our supply chain on samples we are experiencing a relatively high failure rate so Caisley tag, Wetherby’s are involved with this.
• We continue to assemble the REVIEW for 2020 thanks to Natalie Cormack, Amy Johnstone and Eddie Gillanders for their diligent input.
• We are continuing to work with Angus Association of America on the parentage qualification process that they provide us with for semen and embryo’s just to ensure we have sufficient SNPs to qualify parents of embryos.
• The normal process of year end for PCS is running behind as the Auditors are behind owing to workload restriction due to Covid-19 remote working but the final report is due at the time of writing.
• Council in December will be on Zoom again as well as committee meetings, Laura Stewart is busy with organising agendas and all the necessary paperwork to be distributed in good time. We do not expect to have as normal the audited accounts in time for the meeting.
• Normal proceedings for the AGM are under threat and we are working on contingencies for that now.
• I have written to United Auctions as I had one or two suggestions from the membership that would have perhaps made the arrangements better for all.
• The Tesco and Foyle meats engaging with us on high genetic merit sires has been launched in Norther Ireland.
• A very interesting piece of work has come from ICBF in Ireland on meat eating quality tied back to sires. You can have a look at it here and Aberdeen-Angus fairs rather well!
• The YDP coordinators and Will Chrystal have launched a competition at two levels, senior and a different one for the younger end of our participants well done to all for getting this initiative off the ground.

• Don’t forget to visit our Virtual Stand at AgriScot for a chance to win a pair of whiskey glasses in time for Christmas. Well done to Amy Johnstone for setting this up.
• Nomination papers are out for Council nominations for next year in the UK please give some thought to suitable candidates who may like to be a part of the growing and developing of the breed.
• Laura Stewart is also now working on the Republic Of Ireland nominations which will be with you soon.
• Progress is being made with the development of the sire verified project in establishing a plan with the retailers to progress.
• The above is a summary of some but by no means all the tasks that we are faced with in the office on an hourly, daily and weekly basis.
• Committee meetings and Council meeting preparation will be a priority over the next period of reporting and also catching up with some of the delayed registrations in the Republic of Ireland owing to staffing problems that have developed.

News & Notices from Office Manager, Laura Stewart:

Members in Scotland, England and Wales should now have  received your Nomination to Council 2021 form in the  post. Please note that the closing date for nominations is 4^th December and I look forward to receiving completed nomination forms by that date.

Members in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will receive the IAAA Nomination form in the near future so please look out for this in the post.

News & Notices from the Accounts Department:

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 December) 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!