There’s just a week to go until the World Angus Forum kicks off with the start of the English tour, and everyone at the Society has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event the success it deserves to be. This week’s news round-up kicks off with telling you all about a great day that we had yesterday (Thursday) at the Scottish Beef Association’s Beef Event at Fans Farm in the Borders.

Scottish Beef Event 2017:

People travelled in their numbers to Fans Farm in the Borders for what was a great event and a fantastic showcase for the society and our magnificent breed. A you can see from the images below, the stand was packed full from start to finish, with many people making a range of enquiries, from how to become a member of the Society to lots of talk about breeding stock, which was great to hear.

The weather might not have been what we’d hoped for, but that didn’t stop people from coming along with smiles on their faces and having a great day.

And, the weather certainly didn’t ‘dampen the spirits’ as everyone enjoyed a wee dram!

On the day, we’re delighted to report that Society Vice President Angela McGregor was lucky enough to with the Scottish Beef Association’s prize of a Wedderlie heifer, topping off a brilliant day!

The event gave us a great opportunity to see a working herd really showing exactly how well the Aberdeen-Angus breed is doing from a commercial point of view. We’d like to thank the Stewart family at Fans Farm for hosting such a great day, their dedication and time committed to our breed is greatly appreciated by everyone at the Society. We must also thank the Scottish Beef Association for putting on the event, which was a resounding success, while also thanking all helpers and attendees on the day. Some more images from the day:

North Sheep event:

The Society was also present at the North Sheep event in the North of England in the last week, where we had our stand that was again well-attended. The sun shone for the majority of the day, and everyone who attended was in high spirits, showing some great interest in the Aberdeen-Angus stand.

Show and sale news:

Don’t forget the Dunlouise Sale of females, calves, young bulls and embryos, to be staged on farm at Kingston, Forfar, Monday 26th June at 1.30 pm – the first of its kind in over 50 years. This is sure to be a great sale, and we’d encourage everyone to attend if they can.

We brought you some of the results from the recent shows, including the following:

Thousands attended Lurgan Park for the annual Lurgan Show held on Saturday 3rd June where the Aberdeen-Angus Champion was Dartrey Elliott from Hylda Mills and Brian Johnston, Scarva.

At the 2017 Devon County Show, Temple Farm (Chedzoy) Ltd’s cow Haughton Justine Erica (born 04/01/2011) was selected as the day’s champion.

The 2017 Nottinghamshire County Show took place recently, and the champion was Liley Evergold R187, a heifer from Marsden Farms (born 23/03/2015).

The Champion at the Ballymoney Show was Sam McCollum’s (Priestland) stock bull Tonley Palacios K715.

Aberdeen-Angus Breed Champion from the Hertfordshire County Show was John O’Hara’s bull Glenade Destroyer (born 13.01.16).

Youth Development Programme

With only seven days until it all kicks off, we heard from Calum Smith of the UK and Ireland team for the World Angus Forum youth competition. Calum is of Turnberry, Girvan, and is a young yet experienced Stockman who’ll be a great member of our team. If you missed it, you can hear from Calum at http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/world-angus-forum-2017-youth-competition-team-member-profile-calum-smith/.

Our Youth Development Programme had a great workshop at Angela McGregor’s farm at Newcairnie. We look forward to bringing you a full account of the day from one of the attendees next week.

World Angus Forum:

It’s still not too late for you to join as at the World Angus Forum if you haven’t already registered, with many great opportunities throughout. There are day tickets available along with single farm visits that you can join in on where you will be able to have a good chat with some like-minded breeders from up and down the country and overseas, learn from each other and enjoy some brilliant hospitality. The social programme is also packed with great events, including the Oxford Dinner, Murrayfield night out and the Gala Dinner at the National Museum of Scotland – individual tickets can be brought for all of these events and it’d be great to see as many of you there as possible.

The Technical Conference is also set to be a highlight of the full Forum, packed full with insightful, beneficial and interesting content and workshops with an array of speakers in attendance. Some of the highlights that’ll feature in the conference include discussing the importance of protein in human health and traceability for the consumer, looking at the future and working out the best way forward for beef production, along with workshops from Eggs-Port, Meriel/Boehringer, Daylesford, Watson Seeds and Alltech.

The Royal Highland Show is one of the landmark events at the World Angus Forum, with upwards of 150 Aberdeen-Angus cattle from the UK and Ireland competing at what is one of the biggest events on the agricultural calendar. We heard about what can be expected for World Forum delegates at the RHS, and if you missed it you can catch up here: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/the-world-angus-forum-at-the-royal-highland-show/.

The Tofts Herd of James and Debbie Playfair-Hannay, James’ father Patrick and his son Robert is set to be visited during the World Angus Forum, and we heard from James to get a profile of the herd and a taster of what attendees can expect when visiting the farm at Morebattle, Tofts. Read more here: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/herd-profile-tofts-aberdeen-angus-james-and-debbie-playfair-hannay/.

Other News:

The Society Summer Update magazine arrived at the office today and it’s looking great. All members will receive a copy in the coming days before the World Angus Forum, so keep a look out for that arriving through the letterbox!

A huge thank you to Heather Barnett for sharing the below photograph with us. A real blast from the past as we can see Erica of Downehil at The Royal Highland Show held in Inverness in 1923, where she was Champion.

Next week:

In what will be a busy week pulling together all the final operational things in preparation for the World Angus Forum, we look forward to bringing you a profile on John McCulloch from the youth team, the YDP report from Newcairnie and all other news from your Society. Have a great weekend!