Bi-Weekly Update – Friday 16th October 2020:

Aberdeen-Angus REVIEW 2021 – Booking Now Open!

Book your advertising space in the Aberdeen-Angus January 2021 REVIEW

Emails have now been sent out to the membership, clubs, trade advertisers and overseas societies – please check your junk boxes.

Online booking and downloadable forms are available now, please see below for links and DEADLINES!

You can now book your advertising space in the upcoming January 2021 edition of the Aberdeen-Angus REVIEW. As always, advertising space is available on a first come, first served basis. Deadline for booking adverts is 31^st October 2020. Deadline for supplying your artwork is 20^th November 2020

You can access the online booking forms by clicking here

If you’d prefer to print out and post/email the booking form, you can access it by clicking on the documents below –

Member Advert Booking Form

Trade Advert Booking Form

Forms should be sent to Natalie Cormack using the details provided on the form.

Please submit your bookings as soon as you can to make the process run as smooth as possible.

Many thanks in advance!

The Cud 2020 – ‘Worth Chewing Over’

The Cud 2020 is now live! We’re thrilled to share the digital version of our annual Autumn digest.

What’s inside…

• Words from the CEO
• 2020 DNA Testing Report
• Reports from Committees and Council
• A Look Back in Time
• 2019 Godfrey Neal Awards Winners

Click here to chew over the goings-on from the Society and our members so far this year…

Crook Hill Mr Bishampton V026 Tops Carlisle Aberdeen-Angus Sale:

In what is becoming an unprecedented times for shows and sales, a small but quality offering of Aberdeen-Angus bulls saw a high of 3,000gns at H&H, Carlisle Autumn Pedigree Bull Sale on Friday 2^nd October 2020, with two bulls finding new homes to average £3045.

The top price bull on the day was April 2019 born bull Crook Hill Mr Bishampton V026 from Dr William & Margaret Taylor. Mr Bishampton is out of homebred cow Crook Hill Miss Bishampton T014 and by the famous Australian sire Te Mania Berkley B1 (AI) (IMP).

Following closely behind was Christopher D Timm with his April 2019 born bull Wensleydale Jedi Eric V130 which sold for 2,800gns. Jedi Eric is out of homebred cow Wensleydale Janet Erica S046 and by Netherallan Peter Pershore E052 (ET) son, Blelack Ensign L796 (ET).

To view the full report and pictures from the sale please click here

Birches tops Dungannon Aberdeen-Angus trade at 3,500gns and 3,200gns:

Sale leader at 3,500gns was the twenty-one-month-old Birches Lord Jock V732 TSI+27 SRI+38.  He was sired by the herd’s former stock bull Cheeklaw Emlyn P480 – reserve Balmoral champion and All-Ireland Aberdeen-Angus champion in 2017; and is the second calf from Birches Lady Julie P586 – dam of the 2019 Balmoral Show champion.

This much-admired bull was snapped up by online bidders Donogh and Jane McCarthy, owners of the 25-cow Lemonfield Herd based in Limerick. “We’ve been searching over the summer months for a new senior stock bull to replace our previous herd sire Carrigroe Magic,” explained Donogh.

“Birches Lord Jock V732 certainly fits the bill. He oozes breed quality, and has an attractive pedigree. We researched his ancestry prior to the sale, and had our hearts set on buying him.”

Selling at 3,200gns was the eighteen-month-old Birches Lord Jake V776 TSI+23 SRI+33. He was sired by Fordel Minnesota Prime P753, and bred from the Carrigroe Fred daughter Birches Lady Jane S113 – one of 20 cows in the Birches Herd.

This bull’s great grandam won numerous prizes in her show career, including Ulster Champion and 2011 reserve All-Ireland champion. The Lady Jane bloodline has been crowned best cow family in the NI Aberdeen-Angus Club’s herd competition for four consecutive years.

Ranked in the breed’s top 10% for calving ease +4.0, and boasting +12 for milk, he came under the hammer of auctioneer Trevor Wylie, selling to Messrs Dickson from Crossgar, County Down.

To view the full report and pictures please click here

Upcoming Society Sales:

Skipton:

• Skipton sale of Aberdeen-Angus females including a reduction sale from the Airedale Herd (David Isherwood).
• Sale date – Wednesday 11th November 2020 (Catalogue will be available soon).

Dungannon:

It is with great sadness that we must bring you the news that Willie Robertson of the Nightingale Aberdeen-Angus herd, sadly passed away on the 13^th Of October 2020.

Willie was a great advocate of Aberdeen-Angus and represented the breed at many levels throughout his life and his 60 years of dedication to the cause was acknowledged in 2019 when he received the President’s award for outstanding services to the breed from Angela McGregor the outgoing president, which he accepted and responded in his own fashion much to the amusement of the gathered crowd.

The Nightingale Herd is located in beautiful Worcestershire countryside where the family have farmed for 45 years plus now, having come from the Highlands of Scotland with the pedigree herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in 1971. The herd has been reduced in size over the last couple of years and the genetics have been distributed far and wide.

The Nightingale prefix appears in many pedigrees of the cattle in today’s herd which is testament to Willies philosophies on breeding that have attracted pedigree breeders to invest in their genetics.

We will be covering more about the contribution that Willie made to the breed and the Society in this year’s Review, but for now our thoughts and best wishes at this sad time go to the family.

Barrie L. Turner

Chief Executive Officer

 Autumn Photography Competition

Cattle and camera’s at the ready – our competition is now OPEN!

• Open to children and adults (no professionals).
• Age groups: (6 – 12 years old), (13 – 17 years old) & (18+).
• We are looking for your very best pics of your herds, farms, and families. They can be funny, serious, artsy or anything in between and of course have Aberdeen-Angus cattle in them – new or old photos are accepted.

All entries should be sent to Amy: [email protected] – the email should contain your photo, name, age and contact details.

Judged by MacGregor Photography

Closing date – Friday 30th October 2020.

Great prizes to be won!

Good Luck & Have Fun!

Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society Face Masks

Wearing a face mask has become the new normal, so why not promote the breed and the brand and get yourself an Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society face mask?

We have two different designs to choose from – to find out more and place your order then please click here

We can’t wait to see your Aberdeen-Angus face mask selfies!

To all YDP Participants

We are looking for each of our YDP participants to take over the YDP Instagram page @aberdeenangusydp for a week over the summer and into the autumn months.
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.

The Aberdeen-Angus YDP are also having a virtual stock judging on their Facebook page, to get involved and find out more please click here.

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]

Yvonne Buchanan, Registrations, Merchandise (01738 448340) – [email protected]

Amy Johnstone, Pedigree Cattle Services, 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:

• I start with the normal update on the office opening and COVID-19 so where are we! Back to very restricted working practices for all.
• One person and I in the office if its required but working remotely is still the default for the office staff and nearly 8 months into this with little prospect of coming out the other side is starting to tell!
• Yvonne, which will affect many of you, has reported in unwell, not Covid related and we wish her a speedy recovery, so we are a bit depleted in the registration’s office.
• The guidelines are changing again in a very fast manner and we do not know where we will be any more than a week in front pretty disconcerting for all.
• As always the safety of the staff at Pedigree House is our first priority and we will continue to support them to work remotely and keep the wheels of the Society turning for which I thank them all for doing.
• We are in the last week of our financial year which is an important time for us as we need to get any invoiceable work completed this month and have as little carry over to next year as possible.
• I would ask you if it can wait please let it do so for the next couple of weeks as we are a “Man down” with a huge amount to get through in terms of registrations and transfers.
• We are working to priorities if we can and would ask for you patience while we get through the next period.
• Just a reminder too please if you could take the time to see to any outstanding invoices and square away your accounts that would again help us greatly!
• A very different Stirling Bull sales is now upon us, limited staff attending, social distancing limited buyers attending, vendors restricted to numbers much more compact but great interest from a buyer perspective.
• The Market has a capacity where they can ensure that social distancing is maintained and we need as many buyers as possible so these are the rules!

Access to this sale will be by pre-registered buyer number only.

Any buyer wishing to attend must register for this sale by clicking here

You will then receive your bidding number by email. You must bring this with you to the sale.

Only attend sales if you are genuinely interested in purchasing bulls
There will be no spectator element to the sales
• Respect the 2m Social Distancing
• One customer per farming enterprise
• Facemask to be worn at all times
• No under 16’s

• The sales are as near to normal that conditions allow please respect the rules let buyers have the seats and watch the sale online by clicking here
• If you can’t get to the sale but wish to bid on any lots you can arrange to be on the telephone with one of the UA staff who will handle your bidding as you watch online by contacting UA directly.
• Big thank you to Caroline, Fiona, Barbara and Amy for pulling the catalogue’s together fighting through the issues with DNA and everything that is done in the office during sale time for Carlisle, Stirling and Dungannon sales huge amount of unseen time invested.
• Pinstone are beavering away on the Review which is being very well planned and to be in print 1^st week January – we have tight deadlines for advertising so don’t forget to book your space and above all get the art work to us in good time.
• We have also started a production and planning of a Webinar so keep your eyes open for further details on that and hopefully the first of these will be on the DNA which is a noisy and complex subject but hopefully we can answer some of the questions you have.
• Delays will mean that we don’t get the review print ready before Christmas and going on last year my phone did not stop ringing after the first week January so your help is required please.
• The nomination papers for Council members will be hitting the doormats soon. If you feel you have a contribution to make find a sponsor and return it to the office as soon as possible. See the Cud on line for more information.
• We had an National Breed Association zoom meeting in the last period, many people were unhappy about the recent press on “Carbon Taxation” the collective questioned the motives and discussion was had with the CEO who was left in no doubt about the feelings of many breeds on this.
• We also discussed at length the Scanning service and we have a Zoom call with ABRI on the 23^rd of October as a “users group” so will see how that goes.
• An update of the Bye-Laws and the fees and charges is under consultation by council with some amendments to be added from recent Council decisions. These will be communicated and will be effective from the 2^nd
• Many thanks to Henk Rennie and Laura Stewart for their inputs into this.
• Hopefully some of the questions that we are asked in the office will be covered in the revised documents giving every member the opportunity to read the rules and understand the charges.
• We are still working hard with the Registrations team to finalise the DNA workings that will make life simpler in the long run. Been a very frustrating journey for all concerned including yourselves!
• When DNA goes smoothly which it does in 90 % of cases its fine, resolution for a further 9.5% is again relatively simple but there is always the odd one that throws something up that requires more investigation.
• Our DNA provider works to internationally agreed standards and the implications of them issuing a wrong result are many fold but when they do they will stand behind it as correct.
• We have finally managed to get the hair cards out to the breeders in the Republic of Ireland for their Genomic testing programme, thanks to Karl O’Connell at ICBF for facilitating this.
• Work and negotiations continue to ensure that we can maintain our working relationship with our breeders in the ROI post Brexit and continue with our European membership too.
• Managed through a transaction with Australian Angus on a semen import and ironed out the creases with the Zootechnical certificates that we need so American Angus and now Australian Angus have the skill set to issue these.
• A further Zoom Meeting was held with Identigen with progress being made on several fronts to look at new initiatives with them and further develop our involvement with the retailers and food service companies.
• The staff had their virtual meeting with the HR committee and had their opportunity to put there thoughts on how we can work better and anything that they have concerns with.
• The CEO has his follow up with them on the 22^nd October as time did not permit the follow up after the staff meeting.
• The next two weeks will be a focus on the financial year end, the content for the review Technical Committee Zoom meeting, Breed promotions committee Zoom meeting, PCS board Zoom meeting, HR Committee Zoom meeting, Executive Committee zoom meeting, ICBF Zoom meeting Pinstone Review Zoom meeting, Pinstone everything but the review Zoom meeting, Weathervbys Scientific Zoom meeting X2, ABRI User group Zoom meeting and before we know where we are it will be time for the next Bi-Weekly update!
• If someone had said to me two years ago that during my working week I would spend 20 hours talking to my laptop I would have had to say that will never happen, but it has!
• Looking forward to catching up with who I can catch up with at the Sales at the weekend and it will be great to see some of the membership in the flesh!
• Lastly, I was saddened to hear about the passing away of Willie Robertson of Nightingale herd. I didn’t see Willie that often but when I did he always had some sound advice for me to take away for which I was very grateful.
• This is a summary of some of the activities that myself and the staff at Pedigree House are involved in but by no means not all.
• In these strange times it leaves me to say to you and your families all keep well, and stay safe by taking the COVID guidelines issued in your areas seriously.

News & Notices from Office Manager, Laura Stewart:

• The 2021 Council nomination form will be mailed out to members in Scotland, England and Wales over the next few weeks, for vacancies in the constituencies of Scotland North,  Scotland  South,  England &  Wales North and England & Wales  South.  The Council members are nominated by the membership annually and are appointed to serve a three-year period.   Where there is more than one candidate nominated in an area, there is a voting paper sent out and the membership can vote for their chosen candidate.  We have several committees including  Technical, Health, Youth  Development, Breed  Promotion,  Finance and  Executive.   These committees are made up of some of the members of Council who have either an interest or expertise to take the business and the breed forward in the areas covered by each committee.  If you are interested in being part of the Council, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with your local Council member and discuss in more detail how you can help the Society to progress to find out who is your local council representative please click here.  Please look out for the nomination paper in the post and these can be returned to me at Pedigree  House.

News & Notices from the Accounts Department:

If you have any outstanding invoices, prompt payment would be very much appreciated as our financial year end is on the 31^st October 2020.  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 on the link below –

INVOICES BY EMAIL

News & Notices from the Registrations Department:

• New DNA Module Installed on Our Database: An email went out last week regarding our new DNA module which has been installed on our database. Please check your junk box for the email. (COPY OF EMAIL BELOW):

Dear Breeder, We have a new DNA module installed on our database. This means that you will quite often receive an acknowledgement email regarding DNA testing. The Society is currently testing every male calf – registered, at no cost to the breeder. We are also DNA testing any females coming into the herd when you register her first calf at no cost to the breeder.

• The email is simply an acknowledgment to let you know that we have actioned this testing and no further action is required on your part. This testing is being done on the new SNPS testing platform. Should you have a stock bull which has a MICROSATELITE profile only, it would be advantageous to have him re-tested on the new SNPS platform to enable sire verification.
• As a reminder to all members engaging in embryo imports and exports the rules have changed and you need Zootechnical Certificates from the Society of Origin. There are no exceptions to this if we want to maintain our trade with the EU post Brexit on 31/12/2020.

News & Notices from Pedigree Cattle Services:

• With it being bull sale season please remember to check the size of your bulls scrotum. Click here to see a short video from Breedplan on recording scrotal circumference measurements.

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