Bi-Weekly Update – Friday 4^th September 2020 

News Roundup:

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE TO THE MEMBERSHIP

CHANGES TO DNA PROCEDURES:

As you will be aware the society has recently implemented some changes to our DNA testing procedures. As of 1st June 2020, you should forward your samples directly to the society office.

DNA SAMPLES
‘Pedigree House’
6 King’s Place
Perth
PH2 8AD

We are in the final stages of switching all our DNA testing regime to one laboratory. Our aim is to streamline and speed up the process and ensure accuracy. We have also updated the programming software that we use to manage the DNA going forward.

The society has invested heavily in DNA testing over the last few years for the benefit of the breeders. The Society currently funds the testing for all male registered calves to be DNA profiled on the new SNPS platform. It has become apparent as we develop our systems and processes that in around 50% of cases, we request a test and we have had no sample submitted to perform that test on.

We need all members to implement the sample sending promptly to enable a sample to be accessed to be processed. To enable us to manage this testing it is vital that you submit your tissue samples to the office within 21 days of birth.

If we process a registration, submit a test request to the lab, and do not have a tissue sample on file we cannot subsequently go back and request a test at a later date. The new automated process relies on the sample being in storage before the registration is completed and the test request is actioned. If we do not have a tissue sample on file the request will not be actioned, therefore we assume you do not wish to take up the society’s offer of free testing of Male Registrations.

We are trying to improve our services and turnaround times to prevent delays in issuing pedigree certificates. There is only so far, we can go with this that is within our control, we need your help in achieving efficiencies.

Could you please ensure that you send your DNA samples to us on a very regular basis and within the 21 days if it’s one, twenty or one hundred samples it makes no difference, please pack them off to Pedigree house within 21 days of sampling and we will deal with them from there.

We appreciate your co-operation with this slight change in submission of samples.

Kind regards
Caroline, Fiona and Yvonne
REGISTRATION DEPT.

?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?

Keep an eye on our Facebook page on Wednesday for your chance to purchase an Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society branded face mask!

All orders should be placed with Yvonne by email – yvonne@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

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

Highland Area Aberdeen-Angus Club Virtual Show –

The Highland Area Aberdeen-Angus Club organised a online virtual show for their club members to take part in and win some fantastic prizes, the virtual show had a great entry of over 80 animals entered with a total of 8 classes. Click here to see the prize winners

Upcoming Society Sales –

Saturday 12^th September – United Auctions Sale of Pedigree Aberdeen-Angus Females, make sure to head along for your chance to benefit from all the Aberdeen-Angus female has to offer.

There are 10 Aberdeen-Angus females up for grabs some with calves at foot from Threeburnford & Scotsmill Aberdeen-Angus, view our online catalogue by clicking here

All purchasers must register with Raymond Kennedy on 07545 207927.

Friday 2nd October – Carlisle Autumn Sale (TBC).

Tuesday 13th October – Dungannon – Northern Ireland Autumn Sale of Pedigree Aberdeen-Angus.

Saturday 17^th October – United Auctions Stirling Bull Sales, make sure you head along for your chance to benefit from all the Aberdeen-Angus sire has to offer.

There are 87 bulls for sale along with 6 females with calves at foot or in calf.

Click here to see the online catalogue.

Click here to see the programme of events.

AHDB’S Next Host Farmer –

Could you be the AHDB’s next host farmer? The AHDB are looking for 5 new Monitor Farms to join their Farm Excellence programme, joining 15 existing farms in the project, aiming to deliver measurable performance and profitability improvements, whilst sharing ideas and methods with like-minded farmers. Sound like you – then click here to get involved.

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: ydp@aberdeen-angus.co.uk 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: amy@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

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).

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 info@aberdeen-angus.co.uk 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) – barrie@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Laura Stewart, Office Manager (01738 448343) – laura@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Angela Cumming, Accounts (01738 448344) – angela@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Caroline Ford, Registrations, Sales (01738 448341) – caroline@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Fiona Flood, Registrations, New member enquiries (01738 448342) – fiona@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Yvonne Buchanan, Registrations, Merchandise (01738 448340) – yvonne@aberdeen-angus.co.uk

Amy Johnstone, Pedigree Cattle Services, Stock For Sale, Stock Wanted, Website & Social Media Updates (01738 448348) – amy@breedplan.co.uk

Barbara Webster, Pedigree Cattle Services (01738 448346) – barbara@breedplan.co.uk

Helena Stewart, Aberdeen-Angus Accounts & Pedigree Cattle Services (01738 448347) – helena@breedplan.co.uk

News & Notices from CEO, Barrie Turner:

• In the last update I conveyed to you that we were stepping up the office presence of the staff at Pedigree House, in this one I have to report that we have returned to a rota of every other day with someone in.
• This is due to an uplift in cases of Covid-19 in the Perth area with three Schools being affected following reopening and a chicken factory in Couper Angus seeing multiple cases which is very near to home.
• We continue to monitor and adjust to the circumstances that we are in due to the pandemic and make sure that the investment that we have made to protect the staff to date is not compromised.
• Despite the above the new DNA system is just about there and the registrations staff have managed to get caught up a little with the backlog that this has caused.
• We have monitored all phone calls that the office staff receive in a bid to see what areas of what we do cause the volume of calls which does inhibit our progress.
• We will be looking at the list of causes next week and hope to make available some further information for the most common causes of the need for members to call the office.
• The face masks have arrived and we will be making them available for sale on Wednesday 9th September as they are now mandatory. We have the disposable branded ones and also the reusable branded ones available for you to order. Keep any eye out on our website and Facebook page next Wednesday.
• I had a long conversation with a member about the DNA costs terms and just further explanation which has prompted an update in “the Cud” our autumn newsletter which will be available online very soon.
• We have commissioned a survey of the public that is taking place as we write as part of our breed promotions this report to give our marketing some serious edge backed up by numbers.
• This is to give us some messages to take to the market so if 98% of the marketplace recognise Aberdeen Angus as a badge of quality lets shout about it backed by facts.
• We have had the final schedule for the October sale at Stirling we have a “Super Saturday” for Aberdeen Angus only, Yard opens 3.00pm Friday 16^th October, sale will commence on Saturday 17^th at 11.45 am with Bulls followed by Females.
• A great opportunity to invest for the future in both bulls and some female seedstock from two very well known herds having reduction sales as well as other consignments of quality. Catalogue is available to view on the website – to view the catalogue please click here
• Carlisle is in the same boat and they are awaiting final entries to come in see what the numbers are and decide the formats from their taking into account social distancing measures.
• There are many calls coming into the office regarding the other arrangements and the message is that two further updates from the Scottish and English government are due before the sale.
• Any further relaxing of the guidelines, mainly social distancing, will make a big difference and we are waiting until the beginning of October to see how far we can take it on viewing, inspecting and the general house keeping of the sale to make it as near to normal as possible.
• As soon as we have more we will be letting you know and I realise that this is not ideal for booking accommodation and for numbers being able to attend to stock but we are not back to normal working conditions.
• I would ask that the guidelines, when issued should be adhered to as any compromises of them will put the market sales avenue in the spotlight and any irresponsibility may lead to the authorities curtailing their activities. As a society we would not want to be responsible for this.
• I have been notified that the usual “Trade stands” and literature will not be allowed we will however be making face masks available for all attendees but please remember to bring your own pen!
• Been looking further into the recent Sainsbury announcement, that has caused a stir in the marketplace with an honest discussion taking place on Zoom that has given us some food for thought.
• We continue the dialogue with Tesco and Foyle meats on their plans to utilise EBVs within their programme to encourage the use of better genetics across the piece many thanks to Barbra Webster for her input into that.
• Preparations discussion and plans progress to ensure that our members in the Republic of Ireland are catered for next year.
• We had our initial introductory meeting between Natalie Cormack and Pinstone as we will be moving forward with the Review of 2020 before too long. A very different one this year with no shows but hopefully lots more case studies and technical info instead.
• A downloadable advert booking form will be included in the Cud and with more sales happening in 2020 farm to farm there is never a better time to be included in the review so book early to avoid disappointment!
• The Final, Final adjustments have now been made to the 200 years of change being put together by Willie McLaren and team. We have a box designed to hold a USB and hope to have this on the market before too long. Ideal for Christmas presents for any Aberdeen Angus enthusiast!

• The panel have judged the Godfrey Neal applications this year and are pleased to announce three grants of £150.00 going to Andrew Adam, Chloe Dunlop and Maddie Clarke well done to all three.
• I took a week out this week just to recharge the batteries, catch up with family and see to some personal matters including sorting out a new hip appointment which I have achieved! But please be assured the show still goes on and I am still in harness!
• This as always is some but by no means all of the matters dealt with from the office and as always please stay safe and well and we will at some point I am sure return to normal working!

News & Notices from Office Manager, Laura Stewart:

• We have reduced staff attendance to the office from Monday this week, limiting the rota to one member of staff in the office per day due to local positive Covid outbreaks in the area.   We will continue to monitor the situation and when not on rota to be in Pedigree  House, the staff continue to work remotely from the office.
• Printing has been a big issue that some staff face when working remotely as well as the IT system that we employ to make that happen.  Some of the staff have had their remote workstations upgraded to avoid the IT outages that we have faced and printers have been purchased and installed for those that require use of them at home.
• The Cud is under construction which will include a report on Council proceedings as an update for you and will only be available online on the website.

News & Notices from the Accounts Department:

• Statements were posted out at the start of September.  If you have any outstanding invoices, prompt payment would be very much appreciated.  You can pay by cheque, internet banking or credit card.

News & Notices from the Registration Department:

• ?Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society Face Masks ?Now that wearing a face mask has become the new normal why not promote the breed and the brand and get yourself an Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society face mask.Keep an eye on our Facebook page on Wednesday for your chance to purchase an Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society branded face mask! All orders should be places with Yvonne by email – yvonne@aberdeen-angus.co.uk
• Aberdeen-Angus DNA Testing (Reminder on recent email that was sent out) – You may be aware the society has recently upgraded its DNA software.  This is to try to streamline the entire testing regime. 
   
  All MALES REGISTERED born in 2019/2020 will automatically be tested free of charge.
  All FIRST TIME CALVING FEMALES will automatically be tested free of charge.
   
  Each time we run a weekly report it will pick up any animals within these parameters and testing will be actioned at the laboratory.  You will AUTOMATICALLY be sent an email which will outline any testing that is being done.
   
  PLEASE NOTE:  THIS EMAIL WILL BE INFORMATIVE ONLY.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING FURTHER.

News & Notices from Pedigree Cattle Services:

• Breedplan have recently released some short videos – the videos give a short overview of the methods and considerations when recording performance information for the breedplan traits. Click here to view a video on recording data for milk EBV’S.

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