It seems as if our CEO Barrie Turner has brought some of the nicer weather back with him from Uruguay as we now enter the middle of April. It has been very busy here in Pedigree House as we prepare for the upcoming Dungannon Show and Sale and we have reports from each day at the World Angus Secretariat that was held in Uruguay. Take a look at what’s been happening in and around the Society over the last 14 days!

News Roundup
Worcester Show and Sale took place on Saturday 6th April which saw a top price of 5000gns with a strong average of more than £3800 for 14 bulls sold and a healthy demand for both males and females on offer. Sale leader at 5000gns was Hallington Wizzard P445 son from A E and C R Bishop.

The largest pedigree Aberdeen-Angus sale of the year so far took place at Carrick-On-Shannon over the weekend with 139 head of Aberdeen-Angus cattle catalogued in total. The sale resulted in a 65% clearance rate whilst the sale leader came from Cathal & Cormac Duignan, Laheen House, Eslin Bridge, Carrick-On-Shannon, Co Leitrim who sold their 13-month-old Laheens Rebel for €4000.

Munster Aberdeen-Angus Club held its annual sale of pedigree Aberdeen-Angus bulls at Bandon Mart, Bandon, Co Cork. For the second consecutive year, the Inchisine Aberdeen-Angus herd of Denis O’ Riordan, Inchisine, Toames, Macroom, Co. Cork provided the overall sale topper in the Aberdeen-Angus section with the 18 month old, Inchisine Padraic selling for €3260.

Details and information on the schedule and classes at this years Summer National at the Royal Welsh Show are now available – check out the news section of our website to find out more.

We have all the latest updates from each day of the World Secretariat Uruguay 2019 as we have full reports from all 6 days of the visits – definitely one not to miss out on with interesting and insightful notes to take away from each visit!

We look forward to sharing with you all our brand new mobile responsive website which should be available for you all to see after the Easter weekend – our new website has a modern and fresh look and feel whilst making it much easier to navigate through content, we can’t wait to share it with you all!

The Spring newsletter should be with you all shortly as we bring you updates from the Council meetings including updates from each individual committee – make sure to keep an eye out in the post!

To keep up with all other news from the Society as well as all the latest updates from shows, sales and other events, just head over to the appropriate sections on our website.
News and features: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/
Show and Sales news: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/news/show-and-sales

News and notices from the CEO

• Back in harness after two gruelling weeks and a long, long flight back to blighty and it’s been all go since my return, I am not built for economy long haul!
• I hope that you have been enjoying my reports from the visit and a fantastic demonstration of how to produce quality meat from grass at a low price point.
• News coming into the office of three or four members being caught out and injured, some seriously, by cows over the last couple of weeks, we wish you all well in your recovery.
• The modifications to the PCS office and the back office in registrations continue to move forward with the joiner coming in next week and hopefully not too long now before we get Amy sitting at a proper desk and a bit more space!
• A sit down with all the staff in the office to catch up on activities since I have been away.
• Hopefully worked through the Summer National Programme with the Royal Welsh Show team to sort out a programme that will work, closing dates for entry is the 24th April 2019, so make sure that you enter in good time so that we can sort the classes out.
• The team at Pedigree house have mailed out your newsletter which is just an update on the things that were spoken about at council, I hope that you feel this beneficial to know what’s going on!
• The time lag between writing and printing has meant a slight error in the process for engaging with the Classification service. Apply directly using the form enclosed to the Holstein society and they will pick things up rather than call or contact registrations.
• Work continues to go on with the updating of the web site to both the new format and functionality we will let you know when it’s live so that you can have a play and see what you think!!
• The opportunity for Andrew Shufflebotham and myself to catch up with 4 out of the 5 new YDP team members afforded itself at Worcester the day before the sale. The enthusiasm of the team was really encouraging that we are at a new beginning with the YDP. You can check out the new YDP members by clicking here.
• If you have not yet returned the registration forms for any of the family or friends wishing to take part in the YDP this year dig it out or a new one is available here and send it back to Pedigree House.
• We are sorting out the YDP Facebook page and lines of communication so that the new leader Tina can work away at that and keep you all posted of events and happenings.
• Good to see so many people attending the Worcester Southern Spring Show and Sale and special thanks to Oliver Edwards, Angus Stovold and Owen Tunney (Judge) for attending as council members. Thanks to the team at McCartneys for their sterling efforts to ensure all went well for exhibitors, vendors and purchasers alike.
• We welcomed a party who were half way through a road trip around Scotland to Pedigree house on Wednesday morning, the party including the president of the Czech Aberdeen-Angus Society were looking to form closer ties with the A-ACS and take the breed forward in the Republic. Interesting to hear their thoughts about the way forward and an invitation to all members to their National show in Brno 12th – 15th May 2019. For more information click here.
• Looking forward to meeting all that can make it to the South West club AGM on Saturday coming and a few jobs to do along the way on the journey back on Sunday and Monday.
• Tuesday sees a meeting with one of our providers of DNA testing to take that journey a little further towards improving the service and the final steps to see where we can use the information to protect the brand.
• A big focus this year is to deliver several projects, with the revisit of the CAAB scheme being one of the most important. I will need your help with this so keep close to the web and the updates to see what is required and please act swiftly to any requests for actions should they be required.
• The committees are all working hard behind the scenes to deliver progress on the specific projects that they have been tasked with. Some short-term gains and some longer term but the important thing is that progress is being made!
• The lengthy action lists from the committee meetings are being prioritised and worked through following council and it’s great to have a list of tasks and progressively work through them to completion.
• The CEO has managed to keep the diary fairly clear and is taking a few days off after next week to recharge and return fully refreshed and raring to go! returning to work Monday 29th April so possibly not much to report on the next Bi Weekly update.
• I hope that you all manage to have a pleasant Easter break if you can, at this busy time of year for all on the farm.
• It was great experiencing the amazing BBQ food in Uruguay last week, back to normal barbeque diet this week!

Notes and actions from Laura Stewart

• Laura has taken the opportunity after the council meetings and completing the minutes to take a few days out with the family but the work at Pedigree house is continuing in her absence.

News and Notices from the Pedigree Cattle Services Team

• You will have received information on type classification along with the recent newsletter if you would like more information please get in touch with PCS, to view a short video of classifications click here.

News and Notices from Angela Cumming in the Finance Department

• In the post this week you should have received a Herd Book Pre-order Form. Should you wish to buy Volume 143 of the Herd Book, then please complete the form and return to Angela as soon as possible (before the 30th April 2019 at the very latest). You can either post this or email Angela at angela@aberdeen-angus.co.uk.
  You can access the pre-order form here.

News and Notices from the Registrations Department

• Now that Spring calving is in full gear, please ensure when you are ordering your tags that you ask for a DNA Tissue sampling tag. We are aware some members have been supplied with the wrong types of tags. Tags for BVD testing are NOT suitable for DNA storage/testing.
• If you are requesting a DNA TISSUE MANAGEMENT TAG, please ensure the full ministry tag number for the calf is printed on the sample tube.
• Samples should be sent to IDENTIGEN in a timely fashion and not stored on farm/in a pocket/on a dashboard etc… for any length of time.
• If you are not already using the online database to register your calves and you would like to give it a go, please contact fiona@aberdeen-angus.co.uk to obtain a password.

Shows, Sales and Events
Key upcoming events are shown below:

• Dungannon Show and Sale: 23rd April – Dungannon Farmers Mart, 90 Granville Rd, Dungannon BT70 1NJ

Merchandise

Keep all your items in one place whilst on the go with one of our handy and transportable Jute bags for only £5.

You can purchase by phoning the office directly. Speak to Yvonne who can deal with and dispatch your orders for all our merchandise. You can pay over the phone by card or simply add it to your next invoice. Full range of merchandise available to view online at: http://aberdeen-angus.co.uk/assets/2018/Merchandise-poster-2018-web.pdf

From all at the Society, have a great weekend!