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<strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Issue 141<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2020</strong>
Contents Page<br />
<strong>2020</strong> Pandemic, Covid-19 3<br />
Council of Management <strong>2020</strong>/21 4<br />
Society Council of Management Update 6<br />
Chris Curry appointed Vice President of Charolais International 7<br />
Julie Holmes has joined the Charolais team 7<br />
SALES<br />
Stirling 8<br />
Aberdeen 13<br />
Dungannon 14<br />
Carlisle 16<br />
Shows<br />
The Charolais virtual show must go on 22<br />
Charolais take the top accolade in the <strong>2020</strong> online show season 24<br />
Brigadoon take judging to another level 30<br />
Charolais Youth 26<br />
ARTICLES & LATEST NEWS<br />
The <strong>2020</strong> Harman Awards 18<br />
Breedplan & Performance Recording 20<br />
Measuring pelvic area proving a useful tool in heifer selection 33<br />
Who to contact in the Charolais office 33<br />
Investing in top bloodlines is vital 34<br />
UK Charolais bull gets selected for leading AI business 36<br />
Society Chairman finalist in the <strong>2020</strong> British Farming Award 37<br />
Nostalgia - Can you remember what happened 25 years ago? 42<br />
Nostalgia results 51<br />
OBITUARIES<br />
James Jeffrey - Kersknowe 38<br />
John Blewett- Reddivallen 40<br />
John Davies - Tanat 41<br />
Mike Brown - Charbron 41<br />
REGIONAL REPORTS<br />
Northern Ireland 44<br />
Scotland 48<br />
Borders 50<br />
South East 50<br />
Promotional Goods 51<br />
Minutes of the 58th Annual General Meeting of the British Charolais<br />
Cattle Society Ltd 52<br />
ADVERTISERS<br />
Balmyle - WP Bruce Ltd 43<br />
Genus 55<br />
Gretnahouse - Mr AG Houston 56<br />
Pentervin - Mr DA Littlehales 32<br />
Welshpool Livestock Sales Ltd 21<br />
ISSN 2632-7589<br />
2 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
<strong>2020</strong> Pandemic, Covid-19<br />
In years to come we’ll all remember <strong>2020</strong> as the year Covid-19 hit the UK and the significant loss of life we suffered including one of<br />
our own members David Montgomery of the Bridgehill herd.<br />
With the onset of lockdown, we closed the office under the great organisational skills of our office manager Rusmi and quickly<br />
adapted to operating from our homes seamlessly, so a big thank you to all our staff who gave up space in their houses to carry on<br />
their BCCS work.<br />
After the fantastic October and February sales we were all looking forward to seeing the trade at the May show and sales and had<br />
great expectations. But, as it turned out, we ended up with them all cancelled, and the bulls being placed by the Marts. The one<br />
exception was our very first online sale at Carlisle.<br />
Moving on to this year’s autumn sales at Dungannon, Welshpool and Carlisle, all have contingency plans to revert to online sales<br />
should we get another lockdown.<br />
Sue and Rusmi set up the online promotion of your cattle on our website to help sell the animals. This was a time-consuming job, but<br />
worked well, and many animals have been sold using this platform.<br />
The show season was wiped out for the whole of <strong>2020</strong> which for exhibitors, judges, stewards and, of course, the Society was a big<br />
disappointment as we’d worked hard to make some new marketing material which will hopefully be used next year.<br />
On a bigger landscape Covid-19 has presented a huge challenge to the beef sector – disruption to supply chains, big swings in<br />
demand patterns across different channels and switches in consumer behaviour to name just three.<br />
Most would recognise that, overall, the industry has responded positively, particularly when measured by food availability and<br />
choice on shelves. The restaurant industry has taken a huge blow, but the August Eat Out To Help Out scheme meant we could all do<br />
our bit to help the industry get back on its feet and eat more steak.<br />
However, there are some fundamental policy developments still happening that will impact our industry in the shape of the<br />
Agriculture Bill and trade discussions. They may be overshadowed by coronavirus right now, but ultimately, I think they’ll have a<br />
bigger impact on farming prospects in the long run.<br />
I can’t help thinking that some of the consequences of Covid that we’ve seen in recent weeks, and those set to emerge in the next<br />
few months, give an indication of how future policies may impact our industry. We’ve written to Defra several times to change<br />
the beef labelling rules to allow retailers to call animals slaughtered over 10 months old to be called beef. Current rules say 12<br />
months and this is penalising progressive breeds like ours. A two-month change will help farmers profitability, cash flow and the<br />
environment… hopefully this will be included in the new Ag bill when it’s published.<br />
Marketing<br />
We now have over 18,300 (16,140 August 2019) Facebook followers who regularly get updates on what we’re doing and, as many of<br />
you know, we share as many of your success as possible!<br />
The other posts we share are on eating beef and defending the beef industry against the anti-beef/farming articles on the<br />
environment.<br />
Charolais International, World Congress 2022<br />
With Australia cancelling their congress for <strong>2020</strong> and the Czech Republic cancelling next years tech conference, we’re the next<br />
country to hold a world event in 2022, hopefully Covid-19 will allow us to progress this and plan over the next 20 months<br />
At the world Charolais International AGM held on 7 th August former British Charolais Cattle Society Chairman and council member<br />
Chris Curry was elected Vice President of Charolais International. Well done Chris!.<br />
EBV work goes in-house<br />
From July 1 the Society took all performance recording in-house after a long, and excellent, relationship with Pedigree Cattle<br />
Services. In the longer term we’ll be offering the same service to other beef breed societies, again working to consolidate costly<br />
admin services.<br />
I’m delighted to say Julie has joined the Charolais team to look after all the EBV work and will be working from the Stoneleigh office<br />
once Covid-19 restrictions allow. At the moment she’s based at home and is available on email julie@charolais.co.uk.<br />
Julie carried out the same work for the Simmental Cattle Society for more than eight years and is aiming to increase the amount of<br />
information fed back by members in the future.<br />
Lastly<br />
A big thank you to all our members who’ve been supporting and working with us to carry out all the work,<br />
and from myself a big thank you to all our staff Rusmi, Sue, Rebecca, Fiona, Mandy and Julie who’ve worked<br />
some very long hours answering many queries and listened to many stories of adversity.<br />
No matter what happens in the future, Charolais will always have a bright future as we are the breed that<br />
improves all breeds…<br />
Bring on the 2021 show season.<br />
Peter Phythian Chief Executive<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
3
Council of Management <strong>2020</strong>/21<br />
3<br />
1<br />
2<br />
4 5 6 7<br />
8 9 10<br />
11<br />
12<br />
13 14 15 16 17 18 19<br />
President (ex Officio)<br />
Mr MV Atkinson(18)<br />
Parkfield<br />
Kirkby Malzeard<br />
Ripon<br />
North Yorkshire<br />
HG4 3RX<br />
Tel: 01765 658545 email: mowbraypark@aol.com<br />
Chairman / National<br />
Mr B Harman (14)<br />
Grove Farm<br />
Grove Lane<br />
Chesham<br />
Bucks<br />
HP5 3QN<br />
Tel: 07867 802823 email: benharman@btconnect.com<br />
Vice Chairman / National<br />
Mr A P Drysdale (12)<br />
Middle Drimmie<br />
Blairgowrie<br />
Perthshire<br />
PH10 7JD<br />
Tel: 07801 339550 email: allendrysdale@hotmail.com<br />
Hon Treasurer (ex officio)<br />
Mr G C Robinson (5)<br />
Stockhill Lodge<br />
Elton<br />
Peterborough<br />
Cambs PE8 6SJ<br />
Tel: 07860 765338 email: gcrobinson1961@gmail.com<br />
Chief Executive<br />
Mr Peter Phythian (1)<br />
BCCS<br />
Tel: 07949 262293 email: peter@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mr D Barker (Southern England) (15)<br />
Sable House<br />
Nuthampstead<br />
Royston<br />
Herts<br />
SG8 8NA<br />
Tel: 07798 518994 email: barkers.caylers@btinternet.com<br />
Mr N Blyth (Northern England) (13)<br />
Middleton House Farm<br />
Elwick<br />
Hartlepool<br />
Cleveland<br />
TS27 3EN<br />
Tel: 07977 997326 email: neilkirstyblyth@gmail.com<br />
Mr WD Connolly (Northern Ireland) (9)<br />
Brigadoon<br />
25 Creevyargon Road<br />
Ballynahinch<br />
Co Down<br />
N Ireland<br />
BT24 8YG<br />
Tel: 07443 857403 email: brigadoondave@hotmail.com<br />
Mr R C Curry (Northern England) (6)<br />
Low Burradon<br />
Thropton<br />
Morpeth<br />
Northumberland<br />
NE65 7HG<br />
Tel: 07917 731531 email: chriscurry05@gmail.com<br />
Mr M A Milne (Scotland) (3)<br />
Kennies Hillock<br />
Llanbryde<br />
Elgin<br />
Morayshire<br />
IV30 3LJ<br />
Tel: 07971 510965<br />
email: elgincharolais@btinternet.com<br />
Mrs Tracey Nicoll (Scotland) (16)<br />
Home Farm<br />
Balthayock<br />
Perth<br />
PH2 7LG<br />
Tel: 0778 4891005 email: tracey@balthayock.com<br />
4 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Mr R A Owen (National) (11)<br />
Tynewydd<br />
Garthbeibio<br />
Foel<br />
Welshpool<br />
Powys<br />
SY21 0NR<br />
Tel: 07971 118547 email: arwel.owen@genusplc.com<br />
Mr W Owen (Wales)(17)<br />
Braich Y Saint<br />
Criccieth<br />
Gwynedd<br />
LL52 0PW<br />
Tel: 07771 520442 email: w.owen@btconnect.com<br />
Mr J Price (Southern England) (8)<br />
Oakchurch Farm<br />
Staunton-On-Wye<br />
Herefordshire<br />
HR4 7NE<br />
Tel: 07788 454454 email: jeremy@oakchurchfarm.co.uk<br />
Mr A E Sellick (Southern England) (7)<br />
Battins Farm<br />
Brompton Ralph<br />
Taunton<br />
Somerset<br />
TA4 2SG<br />
Tel: 07876 306310 email: andrew_sellick@yahoo.co.uk<br />
Mr W Short (Northern Ireland) (4)<br />
Wood Park<br />
Beragh<br />
Omagh<br />
Co Tyrone<br />
N Ireland<br />
BT79 0UU<br />
Tel: 07968 085777 email: woodpark34@googlemail.com<br />
Mr D Thornley (Northern England) (19)<br />
30a Main Street<br />
Hartshorne<br />
Swadlincote<br />
Derbyshire<br />
DE11 7ES<br />
Tel: 01283 819644 email: davidthornley39@gmail.com<br />
Mr C J Wight (Scotland) (2)<br />
Carwood Farm<br />
Biggar<br />
Lanarkshire<br />
ML12 6LX<br />
Tel: 07714 979971 email: c.wight@carwoodfarm.com<br />
Mr B L Williams (Wales) (10)<br />
Gwastod<br />
Llawr-Y-Glyn<br />
Abermeurig<br />
Lampeter<br />
Ceredigion<br />
Wales<br />
SA48 8PP<br />
Tel: 01570 470273/07809 146308<br />
Email: benllwydwilliams@gmail.com<br />
Complaints and Disciplinary Committee<br />
Andrew Hornall<br />
Alasdair Houston<br />
Iain Millar<br />
Ralph Needham<br />
Breedplan Technical Committee<br />
Arwel Owen (Chairman)<br />
Ben Harman<br />
Andrew Hornall<br />
Alasdair Houston<br />
Alastair Lyle<br />
Sean McGovern<br />
Jeremy Price<br />
Barbara Webster<br />
British Charolais office<br />
contacts<br />
Peter Phythian, Chief Executive<br />
Tel: 07949 262293 Email: peter@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mr Rusmi Parekh, Office manager,<br />
Tel: 07377 119224 Email: rusmi@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mrs Sue Stenner, Communications manager, Charolais<br />
youth co-ordinator, sale reports, website & social<br />
media Tel: 07958 210243 Email: sue@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mrs Fiona Warner, registrations, transfers, Charolais<br />
promotional goods, Charolais Journal, website<br />
Tel: 07377 119345 Email: fiona@charolais.co.uk<br />
Miss Mandy Mooney, DNA testing<br />
Tel: 07377 119312 Email: dna@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mrs Rebecca Fraser, Society accounts , ETs,<br />
Inspections, Membership Tel: 07377 119307<br />
Email: rebecca@charolais.co.uk<br />
Mrs Julie Holmes, Performance recording, society sale<br />
entries, queries Tel: 07377 119233<br />
Email: julie@charolais.co.uk<br />
Avenue M, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth,<br />
Warwickshire CV8 2RG Tel: 02476 697222<br />
Email: charolais@charolais.co.uk<br />
www.charolais.co.uk<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
5
Society Council of Management Update<br />
Due to the extraordinary circumstances we<br />
find ourselves in this year, and the subsequent<br />
cancellation of all of the summer shows, it was<br />
decided that we should keep some consistency<br />
within the Society, as well as ensure that the<br />
existing and new presidents had the opportunity<br />
to represent the Society for a full year of<br />
Charolais events. Therefore, Mike Atkinson has<br />
retained his role as President until July 2021.<br />
Graham Robinson has also kindly agreed to<br />
uphold his post of Society treasurer for another<br />
term, thank you Graham, your hard work and<br />
diligence in the role is most appreciated.<br />
There’s only been one change to the Society<br />
council of management team, and we’d like<br />
to take this opportunity to thank John Christie<br />
for his service over the past three years and<br />
welcome Matthew Milne as a new representative<br />
for Scotland.<br />
This is Matthew’s first stint serving on the Society<br />
council, and he was also elected vice-chairman<br />
of the Scottish & Northern regional Charolais club in February.<br />
He’s been a long-serving member of the Charolais judging<br />
panel, and has judged at Stirling, Welshpool and Ireland, to<br />
name but a few events.<br />
Matthew, together with his Dad and family, run the renowned<br />
Elgin herd in Kennies Hillock, Morayshire, with the help and<br />
support of his wife of 16 years Carolyn and their children Rory<br />
15, Archie 13, Gregor 11 and Magnus 9.<br />
Matthew’s father Roy saw the commercial benefits of using a<br />
Charolais bull, over his previous choice of the native Hereford,<br />
on his suckler herd and purchased his first Charolais Wooton<br />
Jacerus in 1975. The first pedigree Charolais female Espley<br />
Melody soon followed, and he formally joined the Society in<br />
1977.<br />
Striving to produce quality stock to meet market demand has<br />
been the herd’s ethos since the very beginning, and Charolais<br />
success in the both the show and sale rings has followed. The<br />
herd has produced a string of Highland show winners, the<br />
most notable being the supreme champion Elgin Catherine,<br />
who was recently crowned Scottish Farmer’s interbreed<br />
champion of the decade. The Milne family’s highest sale price<br />
to date was 28,000gns, paid for Elgin Glenlivet at Stirling in<br />
2013, where as well as leading the day’s bids, he was crowned<br />
supreme champion at the pre-sale show.<br />
The herd is made up of 45 pedigree cows producing Charolais<br />
calves, and first-calving heifers are put to a Saler bull to<br />
produce replacements females for the farms 80-strong<br />
suckler herd, which is now predominantly made up of these<br />
Charolais-Saler crosses, with any bull calves being fattened at<br />
home.<br />
These Charolais x heifers are bulled with a Saler at 18 months,<br />
and home bred Charolais bulls are used over all commercial<br />
cows. The resulting calves are sold as yearlings throughout the<br />
Spring at Thainstone and Huntly.<br />
Matthew Milne<br />
Although Matthew uses some AI, most of the farm’s calves are<br />
produced by stock bulls that he chooses by visual inspection<br />
and by taking into account the figures, with particular<br />
emphasis on calving ease and growth. “It’s also essential to<br />
look at the myostatin status these days,” he says. He likes to<br />
purchase them at around 15 months old, either off farm or<br />
through Society sales, and has partnered with the Glenericht,<br />
Mornity, Allandfauld and Harestone herds to secure the right<br />
bulls.<br />
The Lhanbryde-based family farm is a mixed beef and arable<br />
enterprise, with 200 of the 550 acres being used to produce<br />
malting barley and cereals for feed, the rest is left for grazing.<br />
Being quick to capitalise on the benefits of monitoring the<br />
health of the herd, the family have been members of the<br />
Biobest health scheme for some years, and are now BVD<br />
accredited free, Lepto monitored and at Johnes level 2.<br />
Looking to the future Matthew said, “I intend to carry on<br />
trying to breed Charolais bulls that people are wanting to<br />
buy, we have to move with the times, and hopefully beef<br />
production will become more profitable.”<br />
“The Charolais as a terminal sire is the key, it’s by far the best<br />
for growth and efficient beef production, and there’s no other<br />
breed which will reach killing weight quicker. We’ve made<br />
great strides over the past few years in tackling calving and we<br />
no longer have serious issues in this area.”<br />
“Now’s the time when our great breed can capitalise on its<br />
strengths and help the commercial producer to overcome<br />
the hurdles facing the British beef industry at the moment.<br />
Production must become more efficient, and the quicker the<br />
finishing the better.”<br />
“When the deadweight limit was dropped it was thought by<br />
many to be the end of the Charolais breed, but more and more<br />
producers are coming back to Charolais having seen their<br />
bottom line drastically reduced by switching, as they couldn’t<br />
get the attributes that the Charolais brings as a terminal sire<br />
from any other breed.”<br />
6 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Chris Curry Appointed Vice President of<br />
Charolais International<br />
Former British Charolais Cattle Society<br />
chairman Chris Curry has been<br />
appointed vice president of Charolais<br />
International in a move that should see<br />
him become president in time for the<br />
2022 world congress due to be held in<br />
Britain.<br />
“It came a bit out of the blue really,”<br />
he says, “we had the AGM on Zoom<br />
and I was put forward for the role. I<br />
am absolutely thrilled to have been<br />
elected and look forward to helping to<br />
meet the challenges the beef industry<br />
is facing.”<br />
Chris farms at Lower Burradon near<br />
Thropton in Northumberland and<br />
began breeding Charolais in 1989. His<br />
Burradon herd is now well-established,<br />
and his cattle sell for top prices, with<br />
semen sales being made worldwide.<br />
He is also a well known breed judge,<br />
officiating at shows around the<br />
country.<br />
Chris Curry<br />
Charolais International is a forum for<br />
the world’s different Charolais breed<br />
societies, one that shares information<br />
and is responsible for the world congress held every second<br />
year, and the technical congress held on the other years.<br />
Due to Covid-19, the Australia world congress, due to be held<br />
this year, has been cancelled, as has the technical congress<br />
due in 2021. That leaves Britain<br />
in pole position to hold the first<br />
world event for the breed in nearly<br />
three years.<br />
The 2022 event is timed for early<br />
July and will coincide with the<br />
Great Yorkshire Show where the<br />
breed’s national show will be held.<br />
Combined with farm visits and<br />
technical sessions, the congress<br />
will run over 10 days.<br />
“I’m really interested in getting to<br />
know more people from around<br />
the world by taking on this role,”<br />
says Chris. “We have so much to<br />
learn from one another with the<br />
sharing of information. It’s a bit<br />
like being in the classroom every<br />
day.<br />
“I believe we should share<br />
information to help improve the<br />
breed and stay on top of the game.<br />
On the technical side, sharing<br />
genomic information between<br />
countries can only be beneficial.”<br />
Society CEO Peter Phythian congratulated Chris on his new<br />
role and said it was an ‘honour’ for a British farmer, judge and<br />
board member to be elected. “We wish Chris the best of luck<br />
and we are all thrilled he has been given this opportunity.”<br />
Julie Holmes has joined the Charolais team<br />
We’re delighted to announce that Julie Holmes has joined the Charolais<br />
Society team.<br />
She has joined us full time to set up and running our performance recording<br />
data collection, which we brought in house from 1 July <strong>2020</strong>, initially working<br />
from home until we are all back at Stoneleigh park.<br />
Julie started her career in catering and progressed to become a restaurant<br />
assistant manager, where she contributed towards the redevelopment and<br />
relaunch of the business. After having her two children she looked for a<br />
new challenge and moved to into administration working for a local housing<br />
association before a change of direction took her to LANTRA and the world of<br />
agriculture. For the past eight years Julie has worked at the Simmental society,<br />
where she graduated to become office manager and oversaw the smooth<br />
running and management of the Society office and administration of the<br />
Society.<br />
With her wealth of experience, we know that Julie is going to be a huge asset<br />
to the team. You can reach her by email: julie@charolais.co.uk,<br />
or by tel: 07377 119233<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
7
Stirling February<br />
Charolais<br />
Remains King<br />
at Stirling<br />
Judge: Raymond Irvine<br />
Charolais once again sold the highest number of bulls as well<br />
as producing the biggest average of all breeds sold at the<br />
Spring round of the Stirling bull sales. They also matched the<br />
top price of 25,000gns - not once but twice - selling a total of<br />
117 with 15 bulls returning five figures.<br />
A strong commercial interest saw 74 sell for 5,000gns and<br />
above. The breed’s average of £6,633.85 was up £571.18 up<br />
on the year, while the clearance rate was 79% at the sale on<br />
Tuesday 18 February.<br />
Society CEO Peter Phythian was delighted with the day’s trade.<br />
He said: “The great prices we’ve had today are a reflection of<br />
how well Charolais sired steers and heifers are selling in the<br />
store mart. We’re just starting to see buyers looking at the<br />
myostatin status when purchasing bulls, and also being more<br />
conscientious of how they select. With profit in mind, they’re<br />
going for the breed that finishes first, improves turnover and<br />
cuts carbon emissions.”<br />
The star of the sale was W K and P Drysdale’s senior and<br />
supreme champion from Blairgowrie, Perthshire, who was the<br />
first to sell at 25,000gns. The May 2018-born Glenericht Oasis,<br />
whose full brother sold for 11,500gns in October 2017, is sired<br />
by the 12,000gns Caylers Gladiator and out of Glenericht Gem,<br />
a daughter of the 16,000gns Stirling junior champion Clyth<br />
Diplomat. He was purchased by Danny Sawrij, Kedzlie Farm<br />
Ltd, Blainslie, Lauderdale.<br />
The other lot to secure 25,000gns was the reserve supreme<br />
and junior champion Elrick Outlaw, this time knocked down to<br />
Boden and Davies Ltd, Mellor, Cheshire. A 17 month-old son<br />
of the French-bred Maerdy Gouverneur, his dam Elrick Florida,<br />
who is also mother to the 8,500gns Stirling supreme champion<br />
Elrick Malt, goes back to the 11,000gns Maerdy Dublin. His<br />
breeder and consigner Michael Massie, Ellon, Aberdeenshire,<br />
accrued the day’s top herd average of £14,175.00 for his four<br />
bulls.<br />
Top price and senior and supreme champion<br />
at 25,000gns Glenericht Oasis<br />
Michael’s next highest priced at 15,000gns was the red ticket<br />
winner Elrick Oxygen, also sired by Gouverneur, his dam Elrick<br />
Isidore is another Maerdy Dublin daughter. The August 2018-<br />
born Oxygen caught the eye of the Maghera breeder Jonathan<br />
Crawford and travels home over the water to work in Co Derry.<br />
His final top priced lot was Elrick Oxford, knocked down sold<br />
to W Ramsay and Sons, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire,<br />
for 9,000gns. This 17 month-old lad, who’s bred out of the<br />
16,000gns Stirling supreme champion Thrunton Fearless<br />
daughter Elrick Jessica, is another son of Maerdy Gouverneur.<br />
The second bull to sell at a 15,000gns price tag was the presale<br />
show’s intermediate champion from Roy and Matthew<br />
Milne, Lhanbryde, Morayshire, whose five bulls sold averaged<br />
£8,778.00. Elgin Oliver, a June 2018-born son of the 11,000gns<br />
Woodpark Elgin and the 12,000gns Caylers Gladiator-sired<br />
Elgin Ianthe, was purchased by Jenny and John Rix, Nayland,<br />
Essex.<br />
A tidy 13,000gns was the highest price paid for an impressive<br />
string of 12 bulls sold by the Flintshire Vet Esmor Evans which<br />
averaged £6562.50. The June 2018-born Maerdy Osgood,<br />
who caught the eye of joint purchasers Major David Walter,<br />
Balthayock, Perthshire and C Smeaton, Kirkbuddoo, Angus<br />
when he was placed third in his class the previous day, is out<br />
of Maerdy Honney, a daughter of the French-born Froufrours,<br />
while his sire is the 10,000gns Stirling reserve senior male<br />
champion Blelack Fabulous.<br />
Esmor’s other top lot was the blue ticket winner Maerdy<br />
Obrian. The first son sold by the 18,000gns Stirling reserve<br />
supreme champion Goldies Linford, his<br />
dam Maerdy Dendrite goes back to the<br />
French bred Maerdy Alcazar. 9,500gns<br />
was the final bid by W J Millar, Tealing, by<br />
Dundee, for this 18 month-old bull.<br />
Another top price and the reserve<br />
supreme and junior champion<br />
Elrick Outlaw at 25,000gns<br />
Elrick Oxygen at 15,000gns<br />
The auctioneers gavel came down 10<br />
times in total at 10,000gns, and the first<br />
to achieve it was the Northumberland<br />
bred Burradon Olaf from former Society<br />
chairman Chris Curry. Having placed<br />
second in his class at the pre-sale show,<br />
the 21 month-old Olaf is sired by the Irish<br />
8 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Elgin Oliver sold<br />
for 15,000gns<br />
Maerdy<br />
Osogood<br />
sold for<br />
13,000gns<br />
Maerdy Obrian<br />
sold for 9,500gns<br />
Burradon<br />
Olaf<br />
sold for<br />
10,000gns<br />
bred Clenagh Lyle who has bred over 60 progeny into the herd<br />
since his purchase in 2016. Burradon Jemma is his dam and<br />
she goes back to the 10,000gns Puntabrava Federico, while<br />
grandam Emma is a full sister to the 26,000gns Burradon<br />
Garibaldi. J Morton and Son, Melrose, Roxburghshire, were his<br />
purchasers.<br />
Matching the 10,000gns price tag was an entry from the<br />
aforementioned Danny Sawrij. Swalesmoor Oscar, a May<br />
2018-born son of the 30,000gns Oakchurch Igor, was<br />
purchased by John W Millar, Port of Menteith, Stirlingshire.<br />
His dam Swalesmoor Laura is in turn sired by the 22,000gns<br />
Yorkshire show male champion Balmyle Headline.<br />
A and R Paton, Avonbridge, Falkirk, were the next to purchase<br />
a 10,000gns lot. The class winner Woodpark Oaktree is out of<br />
the Irish bred Deeside Gulliver daughter Woodpark Lavender<br />
and this June 2018-born bull is sired by the French born<br />
Doonally Souverain. He was bred and exhibited by Will Short,<br />
Beragh, Co Tyrone.<br />
The next two 10,000gns lots both came from the vendors,<br />
William and Moira Milne, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. The<br />
first Glenernan Ohboy, who is a 20 month-old son of the<br />
17,000gns Elgin Jagger and Glenernan Finesse, a daughter<br />
of Mistral Ben, was knocked down to John Jeffrey, Kelso,<br />
Roxburghshire.<br />
The Milne’s other 10,000gns offering was the yellow ticket<br />
winner Glenernan Original, a July 2018-born lad by the<br />
17,000gns Elgin Jagger and out of Glenernan Ivory, who goes<br />
back to the Stars of the future junior male champion Dunesk<br />
General. J Gordon and Co, Alford, Aberdeenshire, were the<br />
winning bidders.<br />
Swalesmoor<br />
Oscar<br />
sold for<br />
10,000gns<br />
The reserve intermediate champion was the next to sell<br />
at 10,000gns. Sired by the Perth show junior champion<br />
Balthayock Impression, the 19 month-old Balthayock<br />
Overdrive, who was purchased by K and J Mallarkey, Ythan<br />
Bank, Aberdeenshire, is out of the Highland reserve female<br />
champion winner Balthayock Lisa, whose father is the<br />
26,000gns Balbithan Vespasian, while grandam Gem bred the<br />
46,000gns Minstrel. Breeders and exhibitors Major David and<br />
Nick Walter, Balthayock, Perthshire, matched the day’s top<br />
number of bulls sold at 12 – averaging £6,763.75.<br />
The July 2018-born Thrunton Orkney from J H C Campbell and<br />
Sons, Alnwick, Northumberland, who sold a total of four to<br />
average £7743.75, was the next to attain the 10,000gns price<br />
tag. Sired by the 28,000gns Maerdy Jerusalem, his mother<br />
Thrunton Lilac goes back to Thrunton Gladiator, and he was<br />
purchased by Jan Boomaars, Woldingham, Surrey.<br />
Also hitting the 10,000gns price tag when he was snapped<br />
up by G T Wordie, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, was A and A<br />
Wright’s class winning 19 month-old, Lagavaich Orlando from<br />
Ballindalloch, Banffshire. Elrick Jazzman is the sire here and his<br />
Woodpark Oaktree sold for 10,000gns Glenernan Ohboy sold for 10,000gns Glenernan Orginal sold for 10,000gns<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
9
Balthayock Overdrive sold for<br />
10,000gns<br />
dam Hindstones Gypsy is by the Carlisle<br />
supreme champion Trefaldwyn Valiant.<br />
Thrunton Orkney sold for 10,000gns<br />
Lagavaich Orlando sold for 10,000gns<br />
Tweeddale Orbit, a 17 month-old bull<br />
who was tapped out reserve junior<br />
champion for breeders Jonathan<br />
Watson and Co, Berwick Upon Tweed,<br />
Northumberland, was next to sell at<br />
10,000gns. He is another to boast<br />
an impressive pedigree being sired<br />
by the 28,000gns Maerdy Jerusalem<br />
and his dam Tillside Ingrid, full sister<br />
to the 9,000gns Goldies Iceman goes<br />
back to the 30,000gns Dingle Hofmeister. He goes back to<br />
Northumberland to work for F T Walton, in Morpeth.<br />
The next vendors in the money were R and N Barclay,<br />
Insch, Aberdeenshire, who sold a total of six bulls averaging<br />
£8,802.50. Their 10,000gns class winner Harestone<br />
Offtheclock who was purchased by H Crawford, Ballymena,<br />
Co Antrim, is a <strong>September</strong> 2018-born son of the French born<br />
Highland show champion Harestone Jaquard and Harestone<br />
Iona, a 16,000gns Stirling supreme champion Thrunton<br />
Fearless daughter.<br />
The Barclay’s next highest priced was the yellow ticket<br />
winner Harestone Oberhausen. Out of Harestone Jutty,<br />
another Thrunton Fearless daughter and sired by the<br />
homebred Harestone Hercules, the 16 month-old Oberhausen<br />
commanded an 9,500gns bid from J M Nisbet, Sorn, Ayr.<br />
Also from the same home was the <strong>September</strong> 2018-born<br />
Harestone Osasco, who was purchased for 9,000gns by<br />
Andrew Young, Girvan, Ayrshire. Another son of Harestone<br />
Jaquard, his dam is the Thrunton Fearless-sired Harestone<br />
Lovejoy.<br />
Three more bulls then achieved 9,000gns apiece with the first<br />
coming from Colin and Fiona Wight, Biggar, Lanarkshire, who<br />
sold a total of three to average £6,650.00. Carwood Oswald<br />
who stood second in his class the previous day is a son of<br />
Tweeddale Orbit sold for 10,000gns<br />
Harestone Offtheclock sold for<br />
10,000gns<br />
the 14,000gns Ugie Goldcup and out of the Royal Highland<br />
show reserve junior male champion Elgin Emperor daughter<br />
Carwood Iris. The man behind the money on this 20 month-old<br />
bull was J W Hogg, Gifford, East Lothian.<br />
The same buyer went on to purchase Tweeddale Ontop also<br />
spending 9,000gns to secure him from the aforementioned<br />
Jonathan Watson and Co, Berwick Upon Tweed,<br />
Northumberland, who sold a total of six to average £5,915.00.<br />
The August 2018-born Ontop is out of Lakenheath Ellen, who<br />
has bred sons to 9,000gns and is sired by the Suffolk show<br />
champion Tattenhall Impeccable. His sire is Blelack Blackberet<br />
who has not only bred over 100 progeny into the Tweeddale<br />
herd but has also proved to be a popular choice for AI.<br />
The final 9,000gns bid went to Bill Bruce, Meigle, Perthshire,<br />
for his 14 months-old bull Balmyle Onward. Sired by Ovil<br />
Lennon whose first crop of sons were sold at Stirling last<br />
October where they were awarded the best group of three<br />
and sold to a top of 9,500gns, Onward’s dam is the 22,000gns<br />
Balthayock Diplomat daughter Balmyle Harmony. G W<br />
Woolhouse and Sons Ltd, Ravensfield, Rotherham, were the<br />
purchasers.<br />
Leading the bids for the females at 5,500gns was the female<br />
champion Allanfauld Ozzy from former Society President<br />
Archie MacGregor, Kilsyth, Glasgow. Sean Mitchell, Skelton,<br />
Cumbria, was the winning bidder of this July 2018-born heifer,<br />
Harestone Oberhausen sold for<br />
9,500gns<br />
Harestone Osasco<br />
sold for 9,000gns<br />
Carwood Oswald<br />
sold for 9,000gns<br />
10 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
y the homebred Allanfauld Lachie who has bred over 40 sons and daughters and out<br />
of Allanfauld Gaga, a daughter of the Royal Highland show reserve junior bull Elgin<br />
Davinci.<br />
The above-mentioned J H C Campbell and Sons heifer entry Thrunton Oriental was<br />
another female top seller. David Dandie, Broxburn, West Lothian, was the purchaser<br />
who paid 3,200gns for the reserve female champion and July 2018-born Oriental<br />
whose dam is the Thrunton Gladiator-sired Thrunton Isabella and sire is the 28,000gns<br />
Maerdy Jerusalem.<br />
Tweeddale Ontop<br />
sold for 9,000gns<br />
Averages: 117 bulls £6,633.85; four heifers £3,333.75<br />
Auctioneers: United Auctions<br />
Intermediate champion Balthayock Overdrive and<br />
reserve intermediate champion Balthayock Overdrive<br />
Overall champion Glenricht Oasis and reserve<br />
overall champion Elrick Outlaw<br />
Senior champion Glenricht Oasis and reserve<br />
senior champion Maerdy Obie<br />
Junior Champion Elrick Outlaw and reserve junior<br />
champion Tweeddale Orbit<br />
Female champion Allanfauld Ozzy and Thrunton Oriental<br />
Group of Three<br />
Elrick Oxford, Oxygen and Outlaw<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
11
AROUND THE RING<br />
STATISTICS FROM STIRLING<br />
Top 10 Leading sires with a minimum of 3 bulls sold to qualify<br />
Sire Number Sold Range (gns) Average (£)<br />
1 Maerdy Gouverneur 4 5,000 - 25,000 14,175.00<br />
2 Harestone Jaquard 4 7,000 - 10,000 8,925.00<br />
3 Elgin Jagger 4 5,000 - 10,000 8,006.25<br />
4 Maerdy Jerusalem 6 4,500 - 10,000 7,752.50<br />
5 Blelack Fabulous 6 3,000 - 13,000 6,510.00<br />
6 Carwood Lochness 3 4,500 - 8,000 6,405.00<br />
7 Ugie Goldcup 4 3,500 - 9,000 6,300.00<br />
8 Balthayock Loyalist 3 4,500 - 8,000 6,125.00<br />
9 Goldies Linford 4 3,000 - 9,500 5,722.50<br />
10 Blelack Blackberet 3 3,000 - 9,000 5,600.00<br />
Top 10 Leading herds with a minimum of 3 bulls sold to qualify<br />
Vendor Name Herd Name Number Sold Range (gns) Average (£)<br />
1 MJ Massie Elrick 4 5,000 - 25,000 14,175.00<br />
2 WK & P Drysdale Glenericht 3 5,000 - 25,000 13,300.00<br />
3 R & N Barclay Harestone 6 6,800 - 10,000 8,802.50<br />
4 RA Milne Elgin 5 4,500 - 15,000 8,778.00<br />
5 W & M Milne Glenernan 4 5,000 - 10,000 8,006.25<br />
6 JHC Campbell & Sons Thrunton 4 4,500 - 10,000 7,743.75<br />
7 Major D F W H & N R Walter Balthayock 12 4,500 - 10,000 6,763.75<br />
8 Mr & Mrs CJ Wight Carwood 3 3,500 - 9,000 6,650.00<br />
9 DE Evans Maerdy 12 3,000 - 13,000 6,562.50<br />
10 J Watson & Co Tweeddale 6 3,000 - 10,000 5,915.00<br />
12 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Aberdeen February<br />
Aberdeen Charolais<br />
average up<br />
on the year<br />
Judge: Ian Goldie<br />
Charolais trade was led by a strong<br />
commercial interest at the Aberdeen<br />
and Northern Marts multibreed Spring show on Wednesday<br />
26 February, where Charolais averages climbed by £481.25<br />
from last year to £4,943.75 for the 12 bulls sold and bidding<br />
peaked at 6,800gns.<br />
The supreme and breed champion was the top selling<br />
Charolais of the day, at 6,800gns. Bonnykelly Officer, a 20<br />
month-old bull by the 10,000gns Carlisle reserve intermediate<br />
champion Gretnahouse Ivory, exhibited by Robert Leggat,<br />
New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, was snapped up by PAK Junor,<br />
Dores, Inverness-shire. His dam Bonnykelly Fern is sired by the<br />
9,000gns New Deer show champion Newhouse Challanger.<br />
Moments later the hammer came down at 6,200gns when A<br />
Anderson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire, raised his hand for the<br />
yellow ticket winner Lettoch Oxford. Out of the 14,000gns<br />
Highland show reserve male champion Goldies Banker<br />
daughter Ugie Giselda, and sired by the 11,000gns Stirling<br />
senior champion Balthayock Imperial, this June 2018-born<br />
lad was bred and exhibited by Colin Stuart, Ballindalloch,<br />
Banffshire.<br />
Just behind, at 6,000gns, was another from the same home.<br />
Also placing third in his class at the pre-sale show, the 20<br />
month-old Lettoch Oscar, who is also by Imperial but this time<br />
bred out of the Killadeas Dwane-sired Lettoch Jemima, was<br />
the pick of AW McArthur, Balfron, Glasgow.<br />
Robert Leggat, New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, was another<br />
vendor in the money when his blue ticket winner and 19<br />
month-old Bonnykelly Oliver, was knocked down at 5,500gns<br />
to Messrs Macivo, Thurso, Caithness-shire. The sire here<br />
is the 10,000gns Carlisle reserve intermediate champion<br />
Gretnahouse Ivory, and his dam Bonnykelly Fiona goes back to<br />
the 9,000gns New Deer show champion Newhouse Challanger.<br />
The next highest priced at 5,000gns also came from Robert<br />
Leggat. Bonnykelly Orlando, a May 2018-born bull out of<br />
Bonnykelly Erin, a daughter of the 10,000gns Maerdy Rumbull<br />
is another sired by Gretnahouse Ivory. He goes on to work in<br />
Banchory, Aberdeenshire for C Smith.<br />
Following on at 4,800gns when he caught the eyes of J and<br />
E Finnie, Newseat of Balthangie, Cuminestown, was another<br />
entry from the aforementioned Colin Stuart, who sold a total<br />
of three to average £5,590. Balthayock Imperial is the sire<br />
of the June 2018-born Lettoch Occasion and he is out of the<br />
Killadeas Dwane daughter Lettoch Little.<br />
Bonnykelly Officer, supreme champion and top priced<br />
Charolais at 6,800gns<br />
Two bulls then came under the hammer for 4,000gns, with<br />
the first being Auchincrieve Oblivion, a bull by Blelack Jeffrey,<br />
whose dam Auchincrieve Gaga is sired by the French-born<br />
Sang-D’or. J Baxter, Gamrie, Banffshire, was the man with his<br />
hand in the air as the hammer came down on this 23 monthold<br />
entry from Charles McCombie, Huntly, Aberdeenshire.<br />
The other to match the 4,000gns price was the April 2018-<br />
born Kinclune Observer who stood second in his class earlier<br />
in the day for breeders and exhibitors John Wilson and Sons,<br />
Glenkindie, Aberdeenshire. Observer is sired by the 12,000gns<br />
Stirling supreme champion Goldies Ivan and his dam Kinclune<br />
Inga goes back to the 20,000gns Perth supreme champion<br />
Thrunton Crownprince. He stays local going home to Aboyne,<br />
Aberdeenshire, with new owner AJ Blackhall.<br />
The only Charolais female forward was the June 2018-born<br />
Lettoch Oasis from Colin Stuart. A daughter of the 11,000gns<br />
Stirling senior champion Balthayock Imperial and out of<br />
Blelack Fleur, a Swalesmoor Bayonet daughter who was<br />
purchased at the Blelack dispersal sale in 2016, Oasis sold to C<br />
Smith, Strichen, Aberdeenshire, for 1,850gns.<br />
Averages: 12 bulls £4,943.75; one heifer £1,942.50<br />
Auctioneers: Aberdeen and Northern Marts<br />
<strong>2020</strong> Forthcoming Sales<br />
Carlisle 2 October<br />
Auctioneers: Harrison & Hetherington Ltd<br />
Tel: 01228 406230<br />
Stirling 19/20 October including the dispersal of<br />
the Westcarse herd on behalf of Mr JH Christie<br />
Auctioneers: United Auctions Ltd<br />
Tel: 01786 473055<br />
Dungannon 6 November<br />
Auctioneers: Dungannon Farmers Mart<br />
Tel: 028 8772 2727<br />
Welshpool 12 November<br />
Auctioneers: Welshpool Livestock Sales Ltd<br />
Tel: 01938 553438<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
13
Dungannon March<br />
Commercial demand<br />
drives price<br />
increase at<br />
Dungannon<br />
Judge: Martin Donaghy<br />
The market was packed to the rafters for the Charolais sale<br />
at Dungannon on Friday 6 March, where bidding peaked at<br />
6,200gns and 33 bulls sold to average £3,465.00, up £86.00 on<br />
last year. The sale saw 85% of the bulls forward finding new<br />
homes, an increase of 19% from 2019, most of which were<br />
purchased by the commercial market.<br />
The day’s top seller at 6,200gns was the pre-show junior<br />
champion who also went on the receive the reserve supreme<br />
and reserve male championship accolades. Bred and exhibited<br />
by Sean McGovern, Clogher, Co Tyrone, Ratoary Ourboy is a 16<br />
month-old by the Royal Welsh show reserve junior champion<br />
Montgomery Ianto, and his dam Clooncullane Chloe goes back<br />
to the French-bred Mozart. He was purchased by R Pedlow,<br />
Lurgan, Co Armagh.<br />
The supreme and senior male champion was next in the trade<br />
stakes at 4,900gns. Drumlegagh Odin, who is bred out of the<br />
Deeleview Classick-sired Deeleview Ingrid and is by Tweeddale<br />
Lookout, a double Q AI bull increasing in popularity having<br />
added over 100 sons and daughters into the national herd.<br />
John, Ivan & Ryan Elliot, Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone, were<br />
his consigners and the aforementioned R Pedlow, was the<br />
purchaser of this August 2018-born lad.<br />
Will Short, Beragh, Co Tyrone, was the vendor behind the next<br />
top selling lot. Woodpark Orion, an 18 month-old who stood<br />
second in his class at the pre-sale show, was knocked down<br />
sold to Trevor Butler, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, in a 4,300gns deal.<br />
The sire here is Invictus, while Orion’s dam Woodpark Leanne<br />
goes back to the Southern Irish-born Deeside Gulliver who has<br />
bred well for the Woodpark herd, producing over 100 progeny<br />
to date.<br />
Just behind at 4,200gns was a yellow ticket winner and the<br />
Reserve supreme champion and top price for Sean<br />
McGovern is Ratoary Ourboy<br />
first lot through the ring. From David and John Connolly,<br />
Ballynahinch, Co Down, Brigadoon Orbit, an April 2018-born<br />
bull sired by the Royal Ulster supreme champion Brampton<br />
Petition, is out of Brigadoon Leona, herself no stranger to the<br />
show ring having picked up the reserve intermediate heifer<br />
champion title at the Minsups final in 2016. She in turn is sired<br />
by Royal Capitan. Colin Maxwell, Clough, Co Down, was the<br />
winning bidder.<br />
Three bulls were knocked down at 4,000gns. The first was<br />
Innisrush Osmond, a class winner from William Whyte,<br />
Portglenone, Co Antrim. T Aiken, Coleraine, Co Derry, was the<br />
man with his hand in the air as the hammer came down on<br />
the 18 month-old Osmond, whose sire is the Black Isle show<br />
champion Lochend Apache. His dam, Edenhurst Ingrid, who<br />
was purchased at Peter Vasey’s dispersal sale in 2016, goes<br />
back to the 10,000gns Carlisle supreme champion Ratoary<br />
Ferguson.<br />
The reserve junior male champion was the next 4,000gns<br />
selling lot. The 17 month-old Drumlone Orlando who caught<br />
the eye of winning bidder A Caldwell, Killen, Co Tyrone, is<br />
bred out of the Oldstone Egbert daughter Drumlone Edwina<br />
and sired by Ashleigh Admiral. Kenneth Veitch, Lisbellaw, Co<br />
Fermanagh, was the consigner.<br />
Matching the 4,000gns price tag was Corrick Orion, who<br />
was placed second in class at the morning’s show and is a<br />
full brother to last year’s champion Corrick Napoleon. Cecil<br />
and Scott McIlwaine, Newtownstewart, Co Tyrone, were the<br />
exhibitors of this 14 month-old lot, who<br />
was purchased by M Gillespie, Killylea, Co<br />
Armagh. His sire the 25,000gns Inverlochy<br />
Ferdie was a Stirling intermediate<br />
champion while his dam Corrick Hazel<br />
goes back the 9,000gns Balmoral supreme<br />
champion Goldies Carnival.<br />
Supreme champion Drumleagh Odin<br />
for JI & R Elliott with sponsor<br />
Dan and judge Martin Donaghy<br />
Champion female Drumacritten<br />
Oaklee for Mr G Nelson<br />
Four bulls then made 3,800gns a piece,<br />
the first seeing Will Short, who sold a<br />
total of four bulls to average £3,648.75,<br />
back in the money. His 3,800gns seller<br />
was the reserve senior male champion<br />
Woodpark Ohio, a May 2018-born son of<br />
the aforementioned Deeside Gulliver, and<br />
14 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Woodpark Orion for Mr W Short<br />
Brigadoon Orbit for WD & JA Connolly<br />
Innisrush Osmond for Mr W Whyte<br />
the Welsh-born Maerdy Indoor, a Maerdy Dynamite daughter.<br />
He was snapped up by D Donnelly, Sixmilecross, Co Tyrone.<br />
The second to sell at 3,800gns was Tanhill Obi, a 21 monthold<br />
by Whitecliffe James out of the Dungannon supreme<br />
champion Fymore Glory-sired Tanhill Lorna. He stood second<br />
in his class in the morning for breeder and exhibitor Andrew<br />
Armstrong, Dromore, Co Tyrone, and goes on to work in<br />
Armagh for new owner F Oliver.<br />
Also hitting the 3,800gns price tag was Paddy and Valerie<br />
McDonald’s Glencoe Oak from Killeavy, Co Down. A blue ticket<br />
winner who has already proven to have worked at home, he is<br />
bred out of Glencoe Jewel, a daughter of the 16,000gns Stirling<br />
junior champion Clyth Diplomat and sired by the 13,000gns<br />
Stirling reserve junior champion Glencoe Galliant. Frank King,<br />
Newry, Co Down, was the winning bidder of this 17 month-old<br />
lad.<br />
The next 3,800gns lot, the 15 month-old Royaldowns Oryan,<br />
was purchased by S Watterson, Cookstown, Co Tyrone and<br />
offered for sale by Mervyn McKeown, Crossgar, Co Down. The<br />
10,000gns Stirling reserve junior champion Goldies Icon is the<br />
sire here, and his dam Royaldowns Jenna is a daughter of the<br />
25,000gns Stirling supreme champion Inverlochy Ferdie.<br />
The other making this money was the November 2018-born<br />
Brogher Owen when he was knocked down sold to Stephen<br />
Heenan, Clough, Co Down. Also a son of Goldies Icon, but<br />
this time out of the Fintona class winner Brogher Gigi, who<br />
goes back to the 55,000gns Balmoral interbreed champion<br />
Sportsmans Columbo. He was bred and exhibited by Trevor<br />
Phair, Bellanaleck, Co Fermanagh, who also went on to sell two<br />
more for a total average of £3,780.<br />
Mr Phair’s next highest priced lot at 3,600gns was Brogher<br />
Original who had also earned him a yellow ticket earlier in the<br />
day. Another November 2018-born lad, this time sired by the<br />
26,000gns Balbithan Vespasian and out of Brogher Jebella, a<br />
Blelack Digger daughter, was purchased by R and S Chesney,<br />
Kircubbin, Co Down.<br />
the popular AI sire Davally Illusion who has added almost 400<br />
progeny to the National herd book, the 18 month-old and<br />
yellow ticket winner Outlook is out of the Blelack Digger-sired<br />
Tullygarley Iflo.<br />
The highest price female of the sale was George Nelson’s<br />
female champion from Drumacritten, Co Fermanagh. Selling<br />
at 3,200gns to D McAlonan, Dunloy, Co Antrim, the 17 monthold<br />
Drumacritten Oaklee is another by the aforementioned<br />
Goldies Icon and her dam Drumacritten Duchess is by the<br />
15,000gns Carlisle supreme champion Burradon Talisman.<br />
At 3,000gns, the reserve female champion Derryharney<br />
Oowho was next in the trade stakes. An October 2018-born<br />
daughter of the 18,000gns Derryharney Outstanding and<br />
Derryharney Lizzy who goes back to the popular AI Sire<br />
Blelack Digger, she was offered for sale by Harold Stubbs and<br />
Alan Burleigh, Crummy, Co Fermanagh, and purchased by an<br />
undisclosed bidder.<br />
Another entry from Kenneth Veitch was the other high-priced<br />
female lot. Drumlone Ola who stood third in her class at the<br />
pre-sale show caught the eye of Kevin Ferguson, Garrison, Co<br />
Fermanagh. The July 2018-born Ola is sired by the 18,000gns<br />
Perth intermediate champion Fury Action and out of Gallaway<br />
Heidi, a daughter of the French-bred Nippur.<br />
Topping the lots in the draft sale from Mervin McKeown’s<br />
Royaldowns herd, was a first calving heifer along with her<br />
twin calves who sold for at 2,600gns. The heifer Royaldowns<br />
Margo is a three year-old daughter of the 18,000gns Thrunton<br />
Fairfax and Royaldowns Hope, who goes back to the abovementioned<br />
Sportsmans Columbo. Her male and female, three<br />
month-old twins, are sired by Royaldowns Hemingway Deras.<br />
Averages 33 bulls £3,465, 11 heifers £2,142.95, Royaldowns<br />
Draft: three cow and calves £2,205.00.<br />
Auctioneers: Dungannon Farmers Mart<br />
Sponsor: Danske Bank<br />
Judge: Martin Donaghy, Dungannon, Co Tyrone<br />
Woodpark Ohio for Mr W Short<br />
Next up<br />
Tullygarley<br />
Outlook was<br />
knocked down<br />
at 3,500gns and<br />
taken home by<br />
David McFarland,<br />
Beragh, Co<br />
Tyrone. An entry<br />
from John Currie,<br />
Ballymena, Co<br />
Antrim, and by<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
15
Carlisle May<br />
Inaugural Charolais<br />
Online Auction Tops<br />
at £10,000<br />
With the ban on pedigree breeding sales in the livestock<br />
markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Harrison and<br />
Hetherington developed their online marketing to include<br />
timed auctions, so that the pedigree breeders had a legitimate<br />
outlet at which to sell their bulls.<br />
The Charolais sale which was due to take place at Borderway<br />
mart in the 9 May was converted into the new online timed<br />
auction format, which started on Friday 8 and concluded on<br />
Tuesday 12 May. A total of 19 Charolais bulls found new homes<br />
to average £5,021 with bidding peaking at £10,000 and eight<br />
lots trading at £5000 and above.<br />
Topping the lots at £10,000 was the November 2018-born<br />
Solwayfirth Oneal, who was purchased by John Wight and<br />
Sons, Biggar, Lanarkshire. This bull is the first to be sold by the<br />
11,500gns Glenericht Majestic, who has so far produced over<br />
40 progeny for the herd since his purchase in October 2017.<br />
His dam is Solwayfirth Ingrid, a daughter of the Perth supreme<br />
champion Blackford Samson.<br />
Oneal has some impressive figures with a Terminal Index of<br />
+63 and Self Replacing Index of +60, placing him in the top 10%<br />
of the breed. He also has a copy of both the F94L and Q204X<br />
myostatin genes in his DNA. He was bred and exhibited by Ian<br />
and Dorothy Goldie, Annan, Dumfriesshire, who had a great<br />
day selling all four bulls they had entered to average £5,525.<br />
“I’m delighted with our trade and really pleased that H&H<br />
have set up this new online system so quickly,” said Ian. “I feel<br />
that we would never have achieved a price of £10,000 in the<br />
current situation without this. These are the first four sons of<br />
Majestic we’ve sold, and hopefully there’ll be some more in<br />
the pipeline for February.”<br />
The second highest price of £9,000 was paid for Mornity<br />
Pedro, an entry from Jack Nicoll Farms, Blairgowrie, Perthshire.<br />
Sire verified as by the renowned 14,000gns Westcarse Houdini,<br />
and he’s out of the exceptional breeding of Guthrie Laura who<br />
goes back to Falleninch Hamzoraj. His TI of +66 places him in<br />
the top five percent of the breed. He’s also amongst the top<br />
one percent of the national herd for 200 day weight, and the<br />
Solwayfirth<br />
Oneal top<br />
price at<br />
£10,000<br />
top five percent for 400 and 600 day weight gain, and was<br />
purchased by Tom Story, Greenburn, Dumfriesshire.<br />
At £7,400 the next highest priced lot was the October 2018-<br />
born Goldies Orchard who boasted the highest Terminal Index<br />
and Self Replacing Index in the sale catalogue at +86 and +76<br />
respectively, placing him in the top one percent of the breed<br />
and he also has two copies of the F94L myostatin gene.<br />
Another to be fully parentage verified, his dam is the<br />
15,000gns Gretnahouse Heman-sired Goldies Lottie and his<br />
sire is the 10,500gns Tweeddale Matador, a prolific show<br />
winner whose accolades include the National show junior<br />
championship. Orchard was purchased by Ouston Farms,<br />
Lobley Hill, Tyne and Wear, and he was bred and consigned by<br />
Hamish Goldie, Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire.<br />
An entry from RM Adam and Son, Forfar, Angus, was the<br />
next top selling bull at £6,800 and he goes on to work in<br />
Caernarfon, Gwynedd for new owner Ifan Thomas. Newhouse<br />
Olympus, a 17 month-old with a myostatin status of F94L-1,<br />
Q204X-1, who has also been fully parentage verified, is out<br />
of the 26,000gns Maerdy Hearthrob daughter Newhouse<br />
Lass, and sired by the 28,000gns Perth supreme champion<br />
Brampton Nacodar.<br />
At £5,100 was the 21 month-old Retties Oasis from Richard<br />
and Carol Rettie, Methven, Perthshire. The popular AI bull<br />
Davally Illusion is the sire here and his dam is Retties Harmony,<br />
a daughter of the 10,000gns Stirling senior champion Chunal<br />
Dougie. He was purchased by JC Rennie and Son, Inverurie,<br />
Aberdeenshire.<br />
Three bulls achieved bids of £5,000 and the first was<br />
Gretnahouse Onside, an October 2018-born lad who is fully<br />
parentage verified. He has an impressive calving ease score<br />
(+11.6), which positions him in the top 10% of the national<br />
Mornity Pedro sold for £9,000<br />
Goldies Orchard sold for £7,400 Newhouse Olympus sold for £6,800<br />
16 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Retties Oasis sold for £5,100<br />
Glenericht Onside sold for £5,000 Glenericht Oger sold for £5,000<br />
herd and he also has a copy of the Q204X myostatin gene.<br />
His sire is the 12,000gns Carlisle reserve senior champion<br />
Wesley Equinox and his dam Gretnahouse Maradise is a<br />
first calving daughter of the 17,000gns Balthayock Gladiator.<br />
He was offered for sale by Alasdair Houston, Gretna Green,<br />
Dumfriesshire, and was purchased by R and J Stannard,<br />
Bethersden, Kent.<br />
Matching the £5,000 price tag when he was snapped<br />
up by John Nelson, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire,<br />
was Glenericht Oger an entry from WK and P Drysdale,<br />
Blairgowrie, Perthshire, who places in the top five percent of<br />
the breed with a TI of +69 and in the top one percent for SRI<br />
with a score of +70.<br />
He also places in the top 20% for calving ease, gestation length<br />
and 200-day weight, top five percent on 400 day weight and<br />
top 15% for 600 day weight gain. An October 2018-born bull<br />
who boasts two copies of the F94L gene, he is sire verified to<br />
the 12,000gns Caylers Gladiator and his dam Glenericht Gigi<br />
goes back to the popular AI sire Blelack Digger who has added<br />
over 2,000 progeny into the national herd.<br />
Another who was bid to £5,000 was Mark McGahan’s 15<br />
month-old Chunal Primeminister from Hadfield, Derbyshire,<br />
who was the second easiest calving bull in the catalogue at<br />
+14.5 and has a myostatin status of F94L-1. His dam is the<br />
12,000gns Wesley Equinox-sired Chunal Mistletoe and he<br />
is sire verified as by the Yorkshire-bred Whitecliffe James.<br />
He’s off to work for Andrew Wilson in Newton Stewart,<br />
Wigtownshire.<br />
Next in the trade stakes at £4,800 was Solwayfirth Ozzy, a<br />
November 2018-born bull from the aforementioned Ian and<br />
Dorothy Goldie, who has a myostatin status of F94L-1. Sire<br />
verified to Glenericht Majestic, his dam is Solwayfirth Hayley,<br />
a daughter of the homebred Solwayfirth Bandit. He was<br />
snapped up by Mark Jones-Davies and Co, Brecon, Powys.<br />
The Goldies success didn’t stop there, and their other top<br />
lot sold when a bid of £4,200 secured Solwayfirth Oliver for<br />
Scott Hiddleston, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire. The 17 month-old<br />
Oliver is again sire verified to Glenericht Majestic, is out of<br />
the Solwayfirth Bandit-sired Solwayfirth Heather, and has one<br />
copy of the F94L myostatin gene in his genetics.<br />
Achieving a bid of £4,300 was Harestone Oasis, an entry from<br />
R and N Barclay, Insch, Aberdeenshire. Born in November 2018<br />
and a carrier of the Q204X gene, he is fully parentage verified<br />
and sired by the Highland show supreme champion Harestone<br />
Jaquard, while his dam is Knockmahon Jane, who goes back<br />
to Cloverfield Excellent. He was purchased by A and B Fisher,<br />
Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire.<br />
The star of the female section was the 2019 Royal Welsh show<br />
reserve junior female champion Bassett Oakleaf, who was<br />
offered for sale by Brailes Livestock, Banbury, Oxfordshire. She<br />
is a January 2018-born heifer who was bred in North Yorkshire<br />
by Jean Atkinson and was sold AI’d to Westcarse Houdini<br />
to Kenneth Hall and Son, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for<br />
£5,600. Her sire is the 10,000gs Harestone Domino and she is<br />
bred out of Bassett Ebony, a daughter of the 16,000gns Perth<br />
junior champion Balmyle Vagabond.<br />
The other top priced female seller at £3,000 was Bassett<br />
Olivia, a March 2018-born heifer who is sire verified to<br />
Whitecliffe Lacroix and one of the first to be sold by this bull.<br />
She is bred out of the 10,000gns Harestone Domino daughter<br />
Bassett Hifi, was bred and consigned by Jean Atkinson, Thorpe<br />
Bassett, North Yorkshire, and purchased by Lee hopwood,<br />
Littleborough, Lancashire.<br />
Averages: 19 bulls: £5,021.05, four heifers: £3,362.50<br />
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington Ltd.<br />
Chunal Primeminister sold<br />
for £5,000<br />
Solwayfirth Ozzy sold for<br />
£4,800<br />
Solwayfirth Oliver sold for<br />
£4,200<br />
Harestone Oasis sold for<br />
£5,300<br />
Bassett<br />
Oakleaf<br />
Top priced<br />
female at<br />
£5,600<br />
Bassett<br />
Olivia sold<br />
for £3,100<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
17
The <strong>2020</strong> Harman Awards<br />
In February, before all of the madness of Covid-19,<br />
when we were all blissfully ignorant of all of the<br />
disruption to come, the presentations of the<br />
Harman awards went ahead as usual at the Stirling<br />
sale.<br />
The awards recognise the herds that have shown<br />
the highest genetic gain in each region over the<br />
previous 12 months, by measuring the percentage<br />
of age improvement in SRI using the Breedplan<br />
recording system.<br />
Society chairman and awards founder, Ben<br />
Harman, said: “With the approach of Brexit and<br />
implementation of the new Agriculture Bill, it’s<br />
never been more important to have a reliable<br />
measure of excellence in the stock we produce in<br />
the UK. It’s no good us just saying we have some of<br />
the best stock in the world if can’t prove it.<br />
“The rate of genetic progress (days to slaughter<br />
and carcass traits) in the pig and poultry industries<br />
has been measurable and stark – and was achieved<br />
through performance recording and the selection<br />
of stock using the information garnered. When<br />
we’re to provide what the customer wants with a<br />
lower financial and carbon cost this can only be done through<br />
accurate recording and genetic evaluation.<br />
“Now in its 11th year, it’s fitting that this award is in memory<br />
of my grandfather who recognised in the 1960s that the UK<br />
herd needed to improve the quality and growth rates of the<br />
national herd, and so was the instigator of the British Charolais<br />
Society.”<br />
The highest improvement of the year was shown by the<br />
Scottish regional winner Michael Massie, with his Elrick<br />
Charolais herd. The 35-cow strong Aberdeenshire-based herd<br />
showed a whopping improvement of +15.3 points in SRI in the<br />
past 12 months, ending the year on an average of +45.1.<br />
A member of Breedplan since its adoption in 2007, Michael<br />
has been performance recording with the Society since moving<br />
onto his own holding and establishing his Charolais herd 25<br />
years ago. Building his herd on a foundation of females he took<br />
with him from Blelack, all of the females that he has today are<br />
bred from these originals with the male contribution coming<br />
from a little AI but mostly carefully chosen stock bulls.<br />
Michael says: “I’ve<br />
always thought of<br />
performance recording<br />
as an essential way of<br />
keeping a track of your<br />
progress, and most<br />
importantly as a way<br />
to provide data for our<br />
bull byers.”<br />
“We’ve a 320-acre<br />
holding. Alongside<br />
our Charolais we<br />
also raise pedigree<br />
Limousin and run a<br />
Michael Massie<br />
The Harman awards at Stirling<br />
small flock of commercial ewes. Our intention over the next<br />
few years is to increase our Charolais numbers to around 50<br />
cows and followers. All our pedigree Charolais females are put<br />
to Charolais bulls. We choose bulls that suit our females and<br />
our heifers, which we calve at 2 and a half, and don’t have any<br />
issues with calving.”<br />
Driving the herds improvement has been the use of Mr<br />
Massie’s current stock bull Maerdy Gouverneur, who was<br />
purchased at six years old from fellow Harman award winner<br />
Esmor Evans. “Prior to the contribution that Gouverneur has<br />
made, we have always had good beef figures, but his calving<br />
ease direct score is what’s tipped the balance,” Michael said.<br />
“He was +17 for calving when we purchased him, and this has<br />
followed through onto his progeny.”<br />
We don’t have to look far back to see what this bull has<br />
contributed. His first two sons were offered for sale at Stirling<br />
in October, where the two averaged just under £6,000 each.<br />
Then in February his four sons sold averaged just over £14,000<br />
and topped at 25,000gns. Add to that the £15,000 private<br />
sale of Elrick Paragon to the Balthayock herd in the summer<br />
and you can see why Michael said: “He just clicked with our<br />
females and has bred really well for us.<br />
“Although he’s now coming up to 10 years old, he’s still doing<br />
a job for us, but with the autumn sales just around the corner<br />
we may be on the look out for a new stock bull to join us here<br />
at Ellon. As always, we’re looking for a bull with good calving<br />
figures to complement our females and I’ll also take myostatin<br />
into account. Before all of that, of course, any bull we purchase<br />
must be visually right and structurally correct,” he says.<br />
Having grown up with Charolais, Michael is obviously a<br />
dedicated lover of the breed, but this love is backed up on<br />
a sound financial basis. “Aberdeenshire is predominantly a<br />
Charolais area. They lead markets here and so the commercial<br />
finishers want to buy them. Some of our bulls are sold at<br />
Stirling and Thainstone but we also have a ready home buying<br />
18 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
market made up of these commercial customers.”<br />
The English regional winners with an improvement of +7<br />
taking the herds’ average year end value to +48.3 were Caylers<br />
Charolais, David, Louise and Greta Barker, Nuthampstead,<br />
Hertfordshire.<br />
The Caylers herd was established in 1973 by Greta and Tony<br />
Barker, and is now run by son David, a council of management<br />
representative for southern England, who’s grown up with<br />
the Charolais breed. Alongside their 100 head pedigree herd,<br />
the family also manages 900 acres of arable land as well as a<br />
haylage business.<br />
Louise and David Barker<br />
The innovative Caylers have been on board with performance<br />
recording right from the off, following the Society from MLC,<br />
Signet and in 2007 to Breedplan. They’re still keen to embrace<br />
the latest advances in cattle breeding management, and were<br />
one of the first Charolais herds to fully myostatin type all of<br />
their breeding females.<br />
David says: “We’re keen to do all that we can to monitor<br />
and improve our herds performance and with the use of<br />
performance recording you can do that. There’s also the<br />
opportunity to compare your performance to that of other<br />
herds. Our ultimate goal is to keep improving and producing<br />
animals which are sought after in the commercial market, and<br />
produce the meat yield the end producers require.”<br />
In order to keep moving forward, the herd concentrates<br />
heavily on the management of their females. “We feel that<br />
the cow we use is just as important, if not more important,<br />
than the bull,” he says. “The females are the foundation of<br />
the pedigree herd, not only have we myostatin tested all of<br />
our females, we only keep heifers which fit our strict criteria.<br />
We want medium sized, easy fleshed cows with good feet<br />
and legs and an excellent temperament, they also need good<br />
pelvic area and plenty of milk to rear their calf. Any that don’t<br />
measure up are culled.”<br />
David continued by saying: “In combination with some<br />
other high figured AI bulls, our stock bull Rosanna Jupiter<br />
has definitely contributed towards our SRI rise this year. We<br />
purchased him in 2015 from Southern Ireland, and as he was<br />
imported his figures started at a fairly low accuracy.<br />
“Luckily his father had already been brought to England by the<br />
Cliftonpark herd and that, in combination with the fact that<br />
he’s got some breeding familiar to the British herd book on his<br />
dams side, meant that he at least wasn’t starting from scratch<br />
with his figures. However, even with this advantage, if we take<br />
for example his calving ease, when he was first added into the<br />
UK herd book, it was +1.9 with an accuracy of 33%, now as his<br />
accuracy has increased to 65% his calving ease direct figure<br />
stands at +19.3.”<br />
This increase in accuracy brings a rise in his EBV’s across the<br />
board, and has seen the value of Jupiter’s sons rocket. His first<br />
sons were sold in 2017 and averaged a respectable £4,480<br />
whereas his 2019 sales saw an average of £7,848, representing<br />
a value increase of 75%, which just proves that when it comes<br />
to selling bulls, figures definitely help.<br />
When purchasing bulls David says “I am looking for a positive<br />
calving figure, it doesn’t necessarily have to be high, but<br />
as much as possible I look for an above average score for<br />
everything else, the most important thing is that we get an<br />
allrounder and that he has quality breeding behind him.”<br />
The Welsh regional<br />
winner, Esmor Evans,<br />
needs no introduction.<br />
He’s a stalwart of<br />
the Charolais breed<br />
who runs a busy<br />
veterinary practice in<br />
Mold, Flintshire, and<br />
a pedigree Charolais<br />
herd on a 1000ft hill<br />
farm spread over two<br />
holdings, making his<br />
successes over the<br />
past four decades<br />
of cattle breeding<br />
remarkable.<br />
Esmor Evans<br />
With an improvement of +5.1 to a year average end value of<br />
+47.5, this is the second time in three years that the Maerdy<br />
herd has been awarded a Harman plaque.<br />
With numerous show championships under his belt, and a<br />
herd top sale price of 56,000gns for Maerdy Director, Esmor<br />
is no stranger to Charolais success. The foundation of this has<br />
been the variety of sires used across his Maerdy Charolais<br />
herd, with AI and French breeding from his imported bulls<br />
playing a large part.<br />
Esmor purchased his first Charolais in 1972, but has always<br />
had an interest in pedigree sheep and cattle breeding, having<br />
bred Suffolk’s and Hereford’s in his early days. These days his<br />
800 acres - which made up of several farms spread over more<br />
than a 10-mile radius - accommodates his 80-strong Limousin<br />
herd, 300-head Charollais and Texel flocks and of course his<br />
150 Charolais cows plus followers. Esmor describes his love<br />
of pedigree breeding as a hobby, with his main business his<br />
veterinary practice in Mold.<br />
Being, in his own words, ‘dragged into it’, Esmor wasn’t<br />
convinced by the merits of performance recording at first, but<br />
has since conceded the benefits of the system. He says that<br />
it’s “not without its flaw, being open to abuse, however. It’s<br />
important if you wish to monitor your own herd correctly as<br />
well as ensure the integrity of the national herd book that you<br />
enter your weights accurately.”<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
19
Esmor continued: “During my time in Charolais, the breed<br />
has made great improvements on calving which is of<br />
course integral to our success as breeders as well as for<br />
our commercial customers, and now myostatin testing has<br />
introduced an extra tool for selection to further help us<br />
progress in this area.”<br />
Although in the past the Maerdy herd has prolifically used AI,<br />
over the past few years Esmor has become more reliant on<br />
his stock bulls and his herd sire Blelack Fabulous has been the<br />
key to the rise in the herd’s SRI over the past three years in<br />
particular.<br />
With a calving ease direct score of +9.3, a terminal index of<br />
+75 and a self-replacing index score of +80 it’s difficult to<br />
disagree when Esmor says that: “he was an easy calving bull<br />
and his progeny have scanned very well, especially if you take<br />
into account his sons have sold to a top of 40,000gns and an<br />
average price of £8,530.”<br />
Esmor added that: “When looking at EBV’s I focus on growth<br />
rate and muscle score. Carcase weight and good loins are the<br />
important things to any commercial producer and combined<br />
with easy calving, and that’s what the Charolais is all about.<br />
It’s not about massive back ends, and breeding for this is what<br />
causes the majority of calving issues.”<br />
The Northern Ireland regional winner was Will Short and his<br />
Woodpark herd in Beragh, Co Tyrone, with an improvement of<br />
+5 bringing his average year end value up to +50.6, the highest<br />
average of all of this<br />
year’s winners.<br />
Will, a member of the<br />
Will Short<br />
Charolais society since<br />
1973, recognised the<br />
importance of using<br />
performance recording<br />
early on, and signed<br />
up under the Signet<br />
scheme before moving<br />
to Breedplan when<br />
the Society made the<br />
change in 2007. He<br />
said: “I saw this was<br />
the way forward, and<br />
that the commercial<br />
man, as well as<br />
pedigree breeders, were using figures to help them make their<br />
purchasing decisions. To be honest I felt adopting them was a<br />
no brainer if I wanted to appeal to as many potential buyers as<br />
possible.<br />
“I can only assume that the main reason for the improvement<br />
in our herd is the stock bull Deeside Gulliver, who has to date<br />
bred over 100 sons and daughters into our herd since his<br />
purchase in 2013 and is still going strong with a CED score of<br />
+20.8, TI +76 and SRI +66.”<br />
“You can see that Gulliver has proved his worth when we look<br />
at the sons that he’s produced. In the showring we can count<br />
a Swatragh supreme champion, a Dungannon reserve senior<br />
male champion, a Carlisle reserve junior champion and a<br />
Clogher show class winner among his progeny. And his Stirling<br />
sold sons have averaged £6,523 for the eight sold and topped<br />
at 16,000gns for Woodpark Longbow who has a calving ease<br />
score of +9.9, a TI of +80 and an SRI of +74.<br />
“Another reason for the improvement is that I try to<br />
concentrate on enhancing the females in my herd, as I feel<br />
the genetics from the maternal side are just as important to a<br />
pedigree breeder as those coming from the sire. To this end,<br />
I try to flush a cow every year, that way I can capitalise on my<br />
herd’s best breeding females as well as bringing in some new<br />
genetics from AI bulls without interbreeding from my herd<br />
sires.”<br />
Looking to the future Will has two new stock sires in the works<br />
that he’s using on his Gulliver’s daughters. Will says that when<br />
looking at bulls, EBV-wise he focuses mainly on two scores, the<br />
calving ease “well who doesn’t look at this, and this is always<br />
what I’m asked about first by potential purchasers” and the<br />
Terminal Index Score: “this gives me an all-round indication<br />
of the bull, and is a really invaluable part our performance<br />
recording set.”<br />
Breedplan and<br />
Performance Recording<br />
The Charolais Society is pleased to announce that from<br />
1 July <strong>2020</strong>, we’ve taken Breedplan and Performance<br />
Recording (PR) in-house. Moving forward all scanning,<br />
weights and queries regarding PR will need to be sent<br />
to the Society office; preferably by email to julie@<br />
charolais.co.uk . Due to the current Covid-19 situation<br />
and the temporary closure of the office, Julie will also<br />
be contactable on 07377 119233.<br />
Requests for weigh sheets and copies of BLUP reports<br />
will also be issued and dealt with by the Society office<br />
and only posted out when requested by the member.<br />
Alternatively, all PR members that pay by direct debit<br />
have access to their individual information from the<br />
download section of the on-line database. (if you don’t<br />
currently have access to your on-line account, please<br />
contact the Society office and we can set you up with a<br />
username and password).<br />
The PR financial year will remain the same, which runs<br />
from the 1 January – 31 December and members will<br />
continue to be invoiced in March of the following year.<br />
For BCCS members participating in the Charolais<br />
Breedplan Genetic Evaluation system the annual membership<br />
fee is £150 plus VAT for the first 10 breeding<br />
females. Thereafter £3 plus VAT per breeding female;<br />
to a maximum of £500 plus VAT.<br />
To improve the breed,s overall pool of data and to<br />
increase EBV accuracies, the BCCS currently offers ultrasound<br />
scanning credits as a financial incentive and to<br />
encourage members to record as much scanning data as<br />
possible. A credit of £75 plus VAT is added to the<br />
members account, for up to a maximum of two<br />
scanning visits per year providing a minimum of two<br />
Charolais calves of the same sex and in the same<br />
contemporary group are scanned.<br />
Should you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to<br />
contact Julie by email or telephone.<br />
20 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
BUTTINGTON CROSS, BUTTINGTON,<br />
WELSHPOOL, POWYS SY21 8SR<br />
Telephone: 01938 553438 Fax: 01938 554607<br />
Email: welshpool@auctionmarts.com<br />
AUCTIONEERS:<br />
Welshpool Livestock Sales<br />
Pedigree Charolais Cattle Sale<br />
Thursday 12th November <strong>2020</strong><br />
LIVE AUCTION EVERY MONDAY<br />
9.00 Cull cows and Prime Cattle<br />
10.00am Prime Lambs (weighing from 6.30am)<br />
11.00am Cull Ewes<br />
10.30am Store Lambs followed by Store Ewes<br />
FORTNIGHTLY CATALOGUE SALES<br />
Store Cattle, Store Bulls,<br />
Cows & Calves, In Calf Cows and Heifers<br />
Sale from 10.00am<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
21
The Charolais Virtual Show Must Go On<br />
With the cancellation of the summer shows, it was decided<br />
that the Society would hold the inaugural virtual Great<br />
Charolais Summer Show which was kindly sponsored by<br />
Welshpool Livestock Sales.<br />
Competitors were required to submit pictures and a short<br />
video of their entries, and each week we’ve been accepting<br />
entries for a new class. Public voting on Facebook has decided<br />
the winners.<br />
At the time of writing, the show is still going on, with the last<br />
few classes and championships still to be decided. We’ll catch<br />
you up on the full results for the show in the next newsletter,<br />
but for now we thought you’d like to see a few pictures of our<br />
class winners to date.<br />
The commercial competition<br />
On the back of the success of the pedigree competition, we’ve<br />
just launched our virtual commercial calf and Charolais Youth<br />
stock judging competition, and although entries will be closed<br />
when you’re reading this, you can look forward to seeing the<br />
results posted on the Society website, and on our Facebook<br />
and Twitter feeds.<br />
Thank you to our sponsors Breedr who run the Precision<br />
Livestock network which is a free precision beef app that<br />
helps you produce ultra-efficient animals with real-time<br />
performance data and compliance on the go. Sell cattle with<br />
confidence in Breedr with the growth predictor that keeps<br />
cattle on track for top returns and connects you to the buyer<br />
who pays the best prices for cattle with data pedigrees. Find<br />
out more @ www.breedr.co<br />
FEMALE, born on or between 01/03/2019 – 30/04/2019<br />
Teme Processo – The Corbett Family<br />
And thanks to AHBD #ShoutAboutTheSire who is helping us<br />
to promote this competition. With only 23 per cent of sires<br />
currently registered on passports, AHDB Beef & Lamb is urging<br />
farmers to start recording to improve profitability and boost<br />
competitiveness. Find out about the benefits of recording the<br />
sire of your animals when registering your cattle @ https://<br />
ahdb.org.uk/shout-about-the-sire<br />
Look out for the winners of the following classes which will be<br />
announced online on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 <strong>September</strong>,<br />
along with details of the Charolais Youth Stock judging winners<br />
and reasons from our master judges.<br />
1. Best individual female calf born between 01/01/<strong>2020</strong><br />
– 31/03/<strong>2020</strong><br />
2. Best individual female calf born between 01/04/<strong>2020</strong><br />
– 30/06/<strong>2020</strong><br />
3. Best individual male calf born between 01/01/<strong>2020</strong> –<br />
31/03/<strong>2020</strong><br />
4. Best individual male calf born between 01/04/<strong>2020</strong> –<br />
30/06/<strong>2020</strong><br />
5. Best group of 5-9 calves born between 01/01/<strong>2020</strong> –<br />
30/06/<strong>2020</strong><br />
6. Best group of 10 or more calves born between<br />
01/01/<strong>2020</strong> – 30/06/<strong>2020</strong><br />
7. Individual Champion<br />
With the winners of classes 5, 6 & 7 will each be awarded a<br />
£500 bull voucher to spend at Society sales.<br />
FEMALE, born on or between 01/01/2019 – 28/02/2019<br />
Newlogie Princesslaika – AJR Farms<br />
FEMALE, born on or between 01/07/2018 – 31/12/2018<br />
Teme Opaque – The Corbett Family<br />
22 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
FEMALE, born on or between 01/01/2018 – 30/06/2018<br />
Bostockgreen Opal – Charlotte Boden<br />
BULL, born on or between 01/03/2019 – 34/04/2019<br />
Annabelle Howell – Whitetower Pride<br />
FEMALE, born on or before 31/12/2017: Edenhurst<br />
Infanta – Charlotte Boden<br />
BULL, born on or between 01/01/2019 – 29/02/2019<br />
AJR Farms – Newlogie Perejacquemin<br />
BULL, born on or between 01/05/2019 – 31/07/2019<br />
Marwood Pascal – The Blyth Family<br />
REGIONAL CONTACT INFORMATION<br />
A list of all the regional club contacts can be<br />
found on the Charolais website.<br />
Please use the link below to find your regional<br />
contact.<br />
http://www.charolais.co.uk/society/<br />
regional-contacts/<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
23
Charolais take the top accolade in the <strong>2020</strong> online<br />
show season<br />
The Scottish Farmer<br />
Champions of the<br />
Decade Competitions<br />
In July, the Scottish Farmer announced the winner of its<br />
Champions of the Decade competition, which ran across its<br />
website for a few weeks gathering over 9,000 votes that were<br />
registered during the competition.<br />
The public voting whittled down the Charolais entries to a<br />
short lead of three, then the judges - Society Chairman Ben<br />
Harman and Society President Michael Atkinson had the final<br />
agonising task of deciding the ultimate Charolais champion.<br />
They said: “After looking at the final three we chose the winner<br />
who showed all the attributes of a great Charolais female. She<br />
has great depth while retaining clean lines and manages to<br />
carry plenty of power, while retaining her femininity. In the<br />
picture she is standing beautifully, shows great angles through<br />
the pasterns and upward and already hints at being a great<br />
milker. She looks good across the plates and the tail head,<br />
leaving us to think she will have all the attributes to become a<br />
productive breeding cow.”<br />
The winner of the converted prize was the 2013 champion<br />
Elgin Catherine, who also won the interbreed beef<br />
championship at the same show along with her February-born<br />
heifer calf Elgin Iona. No stranger to the showring, she had<br />
previously won the junior female title in 2009.<br />
Bred and exhibited by the Milne family, out of their 50-strong<br />
pedigree cow Elgin herd based at Kennieshillock, Llanbryde,<br />
she was by Gower Versace and out of the 14,000gns Rumsden<br />
Samurai daughter Elgin Unity, a cow which has bred sons to<br />
9,000gns.<br />
Her last year in the showring was in 2013, and she sadly passed<br />
away in the spring. However, she has produced nine sons and<br />
daughters in total and most of her female calves have been<br />
retained for breeding in the herd. One daughter sold was Elgin<br />
Lynsey who made 3,600gns at the 2016 herd reduction sale at<br />
Stirling.<br />
Since his success with Catherine, Matthew has added to his<br />
Highland show accolades with winning tickets in the Charolais<br />
classes but also being awarded the championship of the beef<br />
breeder classes twice and the junior interbreed title in 2018<br />
with Elgin Neuer.<br />
A week after the breed championships were decided the<br />
Interbreed championship title was awarded and Elgin<br />
Catherine was the pick of judge Kay Adam “The Charolais is<br />
an outstanding animal as she just oozes style, with all of the<br />
correct traits and is my choice of Champion of the Decade”<br />
said Kay, a Royal Highland Agriculture Society director and<br />
chief steward for all cattle lines and Young Farmers. “She’s<br />
an easy winner being full of breed character with a lovely<br />
presence, combined with great size and overall stature, whilst<br />
also managing to remain a sweet looking female that fills her<br />
frame well.”<br />
The first of the other two Charolais champions to make it<br />
to the short list was the 2019 winner Balthayock Nessie, an<br />
entry from Major David and Nick Walter, Perthshire. A heifer’s<br />
calf bred out of Balthayock Jessie, a Swalesmoor Cracker<br />
daughter, she is sired by the 30,000gns Dingle Hofmeister.<br />
Nessie also visited the Aylth show last year securing the breed<br />
championship, the supreme beef interbreed championship<br />
and the overall champion of champions awards, and she’s<br />
gone on to produce her first calf in March of this year.<br />
Also selected in the top three was Olrig Dubarry, who was<br />
crowned breed champion in 2010. The 2008-born Dubarry,<br />
who was bred and exhibited by The Logie Farm Partnership,<br />
Newburgh, Fife, was also awarded the reserve ticket in the<br />
inter-breed championships of that year. She was sired by<br />
the £25,000 Maerdy Impeccable who was himself a prolific<br />
show winner, counting amongst his many successes the 1999<br />
Highland show championship. Her dam was Maerdy Alien, a<br />
daughter of the Royal Welsh show supreme champion Maerdy<br />
Ulm.<br />
Finally, congratulations must go once again to all the last<br />
decade’s Charolais Highland show champions, which<br />
also include: John and Raymond Irvine’s 2011 champion<br />
Inverlochy Cathy; Balmyle Eclipse from 2012 who secured the<br />
championship for Bill Bruce; the 2014 champion Balmaud<br />
Eclipse exhibited by M Bruce & Partners; Balthayock Imp who<br />
secured the title in 2015 for Major Walter; Jenny and John<br />
Rix’s 2016 champion Wissington Jocasta; Kilbline 1 Instigator<br />
who claimed the 2017 title for previous winners John and<br />
Raymond Irvine; and the Barclay family’s 2018 champion<br />
Harestone Jaquard.<br />
Scottish Agricultural Show Online in Association with the<br />
Highland Show<br />
Congratulations to AJR Farms, who were awarded the<br />
prestigious Scottish Agricultural Show Online Champion of<br />
Champions award.<br />
Champion Maerdy Morwr, who was purchased by David<br />
Stubbs of AJR Farms for his Ellon-based Newlogie Charolais<br />
herd in December 2017 for £25,000 has proved a worthy<br />
investment going on to produce almost 40 progeny into the<br />
herd to date.<br />
Bred by Flintshire Vet Esmor Evans, Maerdy Morwr is a son of<br />
the home-bred Maerdy Dynamite who has sired almost 170<br />
offspring in Esmor’s herd since 2011. His dam Maerdy Fee is<br />
sired by the French-bred Victorieux who<br />
24 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Balthyaock Imp<br />
Balthayock Nessie<br />
Balmaud Eclypse<br />
Balmyle Eclipse<br />
Elgin Catherine<br />
Harestone Jazquard<br />
Inverlochy Cathy<br />
Kilbline 1 Instigator<br />
Maerdy Morwr<br />
Olrig Dubarry<br />
Wissington Jocasta<br />
Autumn Sale Dates<br />
Carlisle 2 October Auctioneers: Harrison & Hetherington Ltd Tel: 01228 406230<br />
Stirling 19/20 October Including the dispersal of the Westcarse herd on behalf of Mr JH Christie<br />
Auctioneers: United Auctions Ltd Tel: 01786 473055<br />
Dungannon 6 November Auctioneers: Dungannon Farmers Mart Tel: 028 8772 2727<br />
Welshpool 12 November Auctioneers: Welshpool Livestock Sales Ltd Tel: 01938 553438<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
25
Charolais Youth<br />
Sadly, following everything else this year, the Charolais youth<br />
program was suspended due to the restrictions placed on us<br />
because of the pandemic. Therefore, the only Charolais youth<br />
participant this year was the shadow judge at the Society sale<br />
in Stirling, February.<br />
Thank you to Louise McArthur who agreed to judge for us,<br />
Society judge Raymond Irvine and steward Ben Harman<br />
who were very impressed by your conduct in the ring and,<br />
on the back of that, have recommended to the council of<br />
management that you’ll be added to the full judging panel to<br />
be considered at the forthcoming <strong>September</strong> council meeting.<br />
The Charolais youth programme will resume next year all<br />
being well and we look forward to getting the show back on<br />
the road.<br />
Charolais Youth International<br />
At last year’s technical congress in Ireland, Charolais<br />
International once again invited member countries to send a<br />
delegate to the Charolais Youth International Congress, which<br />
is held each year at a different location. The <strong>2020</strong> congress was<br />
to be held in Kansas, USA between the 3 and 12 July.<br />
The trip was to be mostly funded with a grant from Charolais<br />
International and the British Charolais Cattle Society would<br />
cover the remaining costs, which would ensure that whomever<br />
won the trip would not have to worry about making their<br />
travel arrangements or covering the costs of their travel,<br />
accommodation or meals.<br />
As we had already awarded prizes to the winners of last year’s<br />
national stock judging competition it was decided that we’d<br />
invite candidates to apply for the chance to visit America.<br />
For the first stage of the two step process, candidates were<br />
required to complete a comprehensive application form<br />
which we sent to all members of previous Charolais youth<br />
competitions whose ages qualified them to take part, as well<br />
as advertising the competition on our website, Facebook and<br />
Twitter feeds.<br />
The application required the candidates to tell us about<br />
themselves as well as to write a personal statement and an<br />
outline their ideas for promoting the breed. There were some<br />
very impressive<br />
and comprehensive<br />
answers and the<br />
judging panel had<br />
their work cut out<br />
trying to determine<br />
who would be<br />
chosen to progress<br />
to the interview<br />
stage, which was<br />
held at Stirling bull<br />
sales in February.<br />
After a lot of<br />
consideration by the<br />
judging panel it was<br />
decided that five of<br />
the applicants would<br />
be interviewed -<br />
Julie Wight from<br />
Biggar, Lynsday<br />
Stirling shadow judge<br />
Louise McArthur<br />
Nelson from Brechin, Lois Scott from Glamis, Annabelle Howell<br />
from Dereham and Tom Brown from Selby, and interviews<br />
were arranged to be held with them and the interview panel –<br />
Chris Curry, Andrew Hornall and Allen Drysdale on Saturday 15<br />
February.<br />
The interviews were scheduled for 30 minutes, and the<br />
interview panel were really impressed with the answers given<br />
by the candidates to questions such as: How would you best<br />
describe British Charolais cattle and how would you promote<br />
our genetics to the international delegates? What are your<br />
aspirations and vision within the BCCS breed for the next 10<br />
years? and What do you think could be done to encourage<br />
more young farmers to use Charolais bulls?<br />
Again, after the interviews, lengthy discussions were held with<br />
the three experienced council members debating the merits of<br />
the five excellent shortlisted candidates and the Society would<br />
like to take this opportunity to thank them for taking on this<br />
difficult task.<br />
The winner and candidate who was due to travel to America<br />
in July was Annabelle Howell, an 18 year-old from Norfolk<br />
who runs her own Charolais herd and is taking a gap year to<br />
gain more experience within the beef industry, before starting<br />
university next year. Keen to embrace all things Charolais,<br />
Annabelle is secretary of the Anglia Charolais club, has been<br />
a consistent competitor in the Charolais youth program and<br />
has served a work placement at the Society office. Although<br />
this year’s International Youth Congress has been cancelled,<br />
Annabelle’s international trip will still go ahead, as we’ve<br />
booked her in for the Charolais International Youth Program<br />
2021 due to be held in Perry, Georgia next June.<br />
Thank you to all of the candidates who applied to take part,<br />
all of the applications really were very impressive and it was<br />
an extremely tough decision on who should go through to the<br />
shortlist and then who would win the trip.<br />
Annabelle Howell presentation at Stirling<br />
All of the shortlisted candidates were asked if they would like<br />
to become involved in Charolais youth and if they would write<br />
an article for the newsletter. The first article we have received<br />
is from Tom Brown, take it away Tom……….<br />
26 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Hi, my name is Tom Brown and I’m<br />
now 21 years of age. I’ve been involved<br />
with Charolais cattle since I could walk, I<br />
actually believe one of my first words was<br />
‘Charolais’. As I’ve always had passion<br />
and enthusiasm for the breed, I happily<br />
agreed when the Charolais Society asked<br />
me if I’d like to write an article about my<br />
involvement.<br />
My early influence came mainly from my<br />
dad Andrew, who founded the ‘Ellerton’<br />
Herd when he was a mere 15 years old,<br />
so we’re talking a long time ago now.<br />
From the start we’ve always aimed high<br />
and enjoyed striving to produce the very<br />
best we could.<br />
In that time, we’ve competed at some of<br />
the biggest shows in the country including<br />
the Great Yorkshire, the Scottish National<br />
and the National Charolais shows.<br />
We’ve been placed in the top three<br />
fairly regularly, and have won the odd<br />
Championship section prize.<br />
An early highlight was with ‘Ellerton<br />
Utopia’ when she was junior champion,<br />
female champion and reserve overall<br />
champion at just over ten months of age. This was at the<br />
Great Yorkshire show in 2004, when I just five years old. My<br />
parents tell me they were really embarrassed taking such<br />
a youngster to a major show, but this soon changed as she<br />
started to do so well.<br />
The following year ‘Ellerton Una’ beat Utopia in the young<br />
two-year-old heifer class, and together they won the pairs<br />
class at the Northern Charolais promotional event, also held at<br />
the Great Yorkshire Show.<br />
Our success continued in 2006 at the Scottish National show<br />
where we took ‘Ellerton Audrey’ who won her class as a 10<br />
and a half-month-old heifer. A year later she claimed the red<br />
rosette once again at the Great Yorkshire winning the young<br />
two-year-old heifer class.<br />
Tom and younger brother Stuart<br />
Ellerton Utopia – Reserve breed<br />
champion at the<br />
Great Yorkshire show<br />
My early<br />
show<br />
days<br />
A few years passed by and in 2013 we had<br />
‘Ellerton Honeysuckle’ who came first in<br />
her class and was placed reserve junior<br />
champion at the Great Yorkshire again.<br />
More recently has been ‘Ellerton Lucy’<br />
who was also first in her class and<br />
reserve junior female at the National<br />
Charolais show in 2017 and ‘Ellerton<br />
Nettle’ winning her class at the National<br />
Charolais show in 2018, both held at my<br />
beloved Great Yorkshire Show.<br />
As well as my love for showing, probably<br />
more importantly, we’ve sold many bulls<br />
at the annual sales in Carlisle and Stirling.<br />
Two of our earlier best sellers being<br />
‘Ellerton Rambler’, who took first prize<br />
and sold for 7,500gns in Perth, February<br />
2002, and ‘Ellerton Crockett’ second in<br />
his class and winner of the Yorkshire and<br />
Lancashire championship, where he sold<br />
for 6,000gns in Carlisle, May 2009.<br />
The most memorable one of them all was<br />
‘Ellerton Alberto’ who was a grandson<br />
of our best cow and my dad’s favourite<br />
‘Ellerton Larissa’ – she had sons sell up<br />
to 5000gns. ‘Alberto’ went on to win<br />
his class, and the Yorkshire/Lancashire<br />
trophy, and sell for the top price of 22,000gns at Carlisle in<br />
November 2006,<br />
which is still the<br />
record top price<br />
for that sale<br />
today.<br />
Our only other<br />
five figure<br />
bull to date<br />
was ‘Ellerton<br />
Independent’<br />
who was a<br />
second prize<br />
winner and sold<br />
for 10,000gns<br />
at Stirling<br />
October 2014. I<br />
Ellerton Una – Our show cow and one<br />
of our best show heifers<br />
remember the day well, sat in my teacher’s office watching the<br />
bidding on her laptop, the cheers echoed down the corridor.<br />
He was sold to the Chestnutt family in Northern Ireland, where<br />
at their annual on farm sale ‘Independent’s’ sons have sold for<br />
over 5,000gns a number of times.<br />
‘Independent’ also went on to win the breed championship for<br />
them at Ballymoney Show twice on the trot, including reserve<br />
interbreed champion the first year, where he was literally<br />
just taken out of the field to the showground. We are so<br />
pleased and relieved Independent is doing well, as when<br />
someone puts trust in your breeding it’s nice when they’re<br />
rewarded.<br />
I’ve gained experience as the years have gone by, keeping<br />
Charolais and then going on to train as a butcher. Dad has<br />
also been a big influence in teaching me what to look for<br />
when stock judging. All these elements have helped me<br />
understand what makes a good beef animal for the farmer<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
27
and the butcher.<br />
This helped me a lot when it came to<br />
competing at Young Farmer events where<br />
I’ve been placed at County level including<br />
third, second and first overall for Junior<br />
Stockman of the year. This also led me on<br />
to compete at a few National level stock<br />
judging competitions, one being the Isle of<br />
Man, which with being Young Farmers was<br />
treated more like a holiday rather than a<br />
competition.<br />
Along with Young Farmers stock judging I’ve<br />
competed in the Charolais stock judging<br />
regional qualifiers, where I’ve been placed second a handful of<br />
times. In 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend and win three<br />
regional qualifiers in a row. This put me automatically through<br />
to the Charolais Stock Judging final held at Peter Donger’s. I<br />
was delighted to be placed third overall in the senior category,<br />
which led me on to being asked to shadow judge the Stirling<br />
October Bull sale, under the very helpful judge - Will Short<br />
(Woodpark), who made time for me despite the pressure task<br />
of judging Stirling.<br />
Ellerton Larissa – Probably our bet<br />
ever cow, with shape and size. Dam of<br />
Audrey and Granddam of Alberto<br />
Ellerton Audrey – Placed first at<br />
both the Scottish National and Great<br />
Yorkshire shows<br />
to represent<br />
them at the<br />
‘National Young Stars’ held at the Three Counties showground<br />
in August 2018. We had to prepare two heifers ready to be<br />
shown for the ring, kindly provided by Mortimers Charolais.<br />
This also included advertising why our breed is the best by<br />
delivering a speech plus preparing a promotional stand.<br />
I was chosen along with Mick Dumbreck (Brampton/Valentine)<br />
and Harry Stobart (Scalehouse/Stobarts) to represent the<br />
breed. Harry injured his hand in a neck collar, but despite<br />
being all bandaged up and his arm in a sling he still got stuck in<br />
with a comb and show stick.<br />
Sadly, we didn’t win that competition (probably partly due to<br />
three different clipping styles). But we were both unaware we<br />
were also being judged for another competition (which you<br />
had to be over 18 for and unfortunately Harry wasn’t) to be<br />
awarded to the best three stockpersons where the prize was a<br />
once in a lifetime trip to Canada.<br />
Ellerton Lucy – Reserve<br />
junior female champion<br />
at the National show<br />
Ellerton Nettle – First prize<br />
at the National show at less<br />
than a year old<br />
I thought this was the biggest honour I could get, until I<br />
received a letter from the Society inviting me on to the judging<br />
panel, which at aged just 19 was a dream come true.<br />
Along with stock judging, I’ve had the privilege to do a bit of<br />
freelance stockmanship work for ‘Thrunton’ and ‘Brampton’<br />
herds at the annual bull sales. I was delighted to pick up and<br />
learn new skills from these experiences and I’m very grateful<br />
to both families for being given the opportunity to help.<br />
Another great honour was to have been chosen by the Society<br />
I hate having to praise my father this much, but the passion<br />
to produce something relevant to the industry directly comes<br />
from him. The little things like how to relax the animal so it<br />
doesn’t kick are also so useful as well as the actual farming<br />
knowledge.<br />
Alongside breeding cattle, my parents guided me down<br />
the career path of butchery. I started as an apprentice at A<br />
Laverack & Son butchers and bakers immediately after leaving<br />
school five years ago. Laverack’s is a relatively large butchery<br />
supplier to the quality end of the market with throughput<br />
steadily increasing all the time. I enjoy my job and I’m learning<br />
constantly, but one thing I have learnt is that hard work is<br />
appreciated.<br />
I get mocked by the other butchers for checking the breed<br />
crosses of every carcase, but I find it most interesting. I can’t<br />
say Charolais crosses are our most prominent, but my boss<br />
Tim Laverack is quite<br />
Recent show days<br />
Ellerton Rambler – First<br />
prize at Perth selling for<br />
7,500gns<br />
Ellerton Alberto – Sold for<br />
22,000gns at Carlisle<br />
28 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Ellerton Independent – sold to the<br />
Chestnutt family for 10,000gns at<br />
Stirling<br />
One of Ellerton Independent’s sons<br />
which sold for 5,100gns to the<br />
Oldstone herd<br />
Stockjudging regional winner at<br />
Welshpool<br />
Shadow judge at Stirling in October 2018<br />
happy with a good Charolais that fits his specifications and<br />
he acknowledges they have got more of a rear end over the<br />
years. From my limited knowledge in our type of premises it is<br />
a bit of a myth that fat cattle don’t need a back end, but I think<br />
my boss would agree that gradual changes in eating habits<br />
over the years do mean the rear doesn’t need to be quite as<br />
extreme.<br />
I love judging cattle and looking for perfection but a butcher<br />
is basically looking for as much volume of beef as possible<br />
throughout the whole carcase, as it all sells and cuts can be<br />
tweaked to meet demand to a degree.<br />
Michael, Harry and I at the National Show<br />
Stars competition<br />
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article and I’m looking<br />
forward to what the future holds for the British Charolais. I<br />
can’t claim to fully understand all the complexities of Brexit,<br />
but my boss certainly doesn’t anticipate us all being out of<br />
a job. Fingers crossed the outcome is positive one overall,<br />
meanwhile we wait with baited breath…<br />
Fat cover and marbling are also very important for it to be<br />
just right. Overall meat yield, killing out percentage and meat<br />
to bone ratio are important factors as the bone ratio within a<br />
carcase can vary quite significantly. Obviously a butcher buys<br />
what they buy as they are looking for a profit, but this isn’t<br />
necessarily directly hand-in-hand with the farmer’s profit,<br />
as growth rate and feed efficiency are much more a primary<br />
concern for the farmer rather than the butcher. Just out of<br />
interest the ‘butcher’s choice’ of steak tends to be the ribeye<br />
due to the marbling running through it adding to the flavour.<br />
Both gene testing and myostatin are areas that interest me,<br />
and I’m learning along with everyone else as it develops.<br />
I’m sure at this stage we need to get too hung up with the<br />
myostatin, as most breeds that Charolais tend to get crossed<br />
on to don’t possess a double muscling gene so it isn’t<br />
necessarily going to be on issue for them.<br />
As a breeder we’ve tended to prioritise gestation length<br />
over calving ease for years. We’ve certainly seen a benefit,<br />
but reduction is a lengthy process to be honest. One thing<br />
that hasn’t changed I can report first-hand, is the growth<br />
superiority over other breeds that the Charolais were brought<br />
in for nearly 60 years ago.<br />
Here I am with one of our<br />
Charolais heifers on the<br />
block<br />
At the Butchers<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
29
Brigadoon take judging to another level<br />
The Connolly family at Brigadoon<br />
have been in the Charolais business<br />
since 1979. They’re huge supporters<br />
of both national and local shows in<br />
Northern Ireland. Their passion for<br />
showing is perhaps unsurpassed<br />
across any breed in the UK and<br />
Ireland.<br />
In their short mid-May to July<br />
summer show season, it’s not<br />
unusual for them to attend up to<br />
eight shows, often varying their<br />
team each week to showcase<br />
the progeny bred at their 90 plus<br />
head herd. If you’ve ever had the<br />
opportunity to visit the Royal Ulster<br />
Agricultural Show at Balmoral, then<br />
you can’t have missed their stand.<br />
They’ve won the coveted Champion<br />
Interbreed Display Award multiple<br />
times, and their success in the<br />
show ring follows suit with a raft<br />
of silverware, championships, and<br />
placings, including Interbreed success.<br />
So, when you’re hit with Covid-19 and no show team to<br />
prepare, it’s no surprise that the Brigadoon crew sprang into<br />
action to deliver a novel idea. They wanted to encourage<br />
interest in the Charolais breed whilst at the same time<br />
creating a bit of fun, and so they developed a Stock Judging<br />
Competition on Facebook.<br />
David Connolly, Council Member for Northern Ireland, told us<br />
that he had the idea in the run up to what’s usually their last<br />
show of the season at Clogher. “I was thinking that it was sad<br />
that there was no National Show at Clogher, as last year was a<br />
tremendous spectacle for us.”<br />
As Chairman, David was pivotal<br />
in organising the NI Charolais<br />
National Show. He was also the<br />
driving force behind the young<br />
stock judging teams visiting<br />
Northern Ireland to participate in<br />
UK Finals for the first time.<br />
David said “I was completely<br />
delighted with the turnout of<br />
stock for our National Show and<br />
the number of young people who<br />
arrived to take part. It really was<br />
a sight to behold watching the<br />
young breeders walk across the<br />
show field en masse to judge<br />
the rings of cattle. There was<br />
huge interest, with the ringside<br />
spectators standing three or<br />
four deep. We also had a small<br />
team of 17 cattle out at the show<br />
ourselves, so it was a pretty full<br />
on day… thankfully we also had<br />
the full Brigadoon crew of helpers<br />
out to assist, and a few of the young breeders rolled their<br />
sleeves up and joined us for show time too.<br />
“So, when you don’t have that amount of organising to do,<br />
you have to find something to fill the void. I came up with the<br />
idea of doing the Facebook Stock Judging competition and it<br />
spiralled from there.<br />
“Before I knew it, we had a sponsor on board; Provita Eurotech<br />
Ltd. It’s a locally owned private company who develop,<br />
manufacture and market natural animal health products. It’s<br />
the only GMP licensed facility for the production of veterinary<br />
probiotic products in Europe.<br />
“We’ve been using the products at home and really like them,<br />
so it was really good of George Shaw and<br />
the team to get on board with us. And<br />
then I was off out and about in the fields<br />
with the camera one morning taking<br />
photos of the young stock, no fancy filters<br />
and all in their working clothes.<br />
“Some folk were surprised that the<br />
cattle were all from the same herd. To<br />
be honest I had a bit of a job deciding<br />
which ones to use, as there were many<br />
to choose from. I wanted the classes to<br />
be relatively challenging, as I knew this<br />
would help the young breeders to learn<br />
from the experience. I know the stock<br />
bulls are both breeding really consistently<br />
for us and they’re definitely leaving their<br />
mark, which means that some of the<br />
classes were very close.”<br />
The stock are all home bred at Brigadoon,<br />
from senior stock bull Goldies Icon, and<br />
junior stock bull Newhouse Maxamus,<br />
with many of the dams going back to<br />
generations of Brigadoon breeding.<br />
30 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
“There’s been great feedback about the<br />
way that Ben put his points across and<br />
was certain in what he was looking for,<br />
giving a clear rationale for his placings. As<br />
with every judging, not everyone agrees,<br />
but there’s been huge respect for and<br />
acknowledgement of the fact that Ben<br />
was very clear in what he was looking for<br />
and consistent in his views.”<br />
There were 207 Facebook users who sent<br />
in their results for each of the classes.<br />
David said “To be honest we were blown<br />
away by the interest. We never expected<br />
to get such a cross section of ages from all<br />
parts of the country and across the breeds<br />
sending in their results and even receiving<br />
postal entries too.<br />
David went on to say “We were lucky as kids, as both dad<br />
and mum (Albert & Maree) were instrumental in getting the<br />
Charolais Young Judging up and running in Northern Ireland in<br />
the 80s. We were always encouraged to take part in any stock<br />
judging regardless of the breed.<br />
“We also had a long and industrious career stock judging beef,<br />
dairy, sheep and pigs in the YFCU. It was Young Farmers that<br />
taught us the art of giving reasons, and also how to have a<br />
good honest discussion about the stock with the coaches and<br />
judges.<br />
“Having Ben Harman, current British Charolais chairman as<br />
our master judge was superb. If you haven’t already logged<br />
onto Facebook to listen to his reasons, you really should. I’m<br />
sure that many young people and judges alike could learn from<br />
listening to him.<br />
“We had some of the most elite and<br />
highly respected judges from across<br />
UK and Ireland taking part, and it was<br />
really interesting to see how they would<br />
have placed the classes. It’s also really<br />
special to know that you can have three<br />
generations of a family around a kitchen table, debating the<br />
merits of stock.<br />
“That’s how you learn the art of judging, and with over 1500<br />
viewing the results videos, it really does just go to show the<br />
level of interest in Charolais. We as a family had great fun<br />
chatting back and forward to those who were taking part, and<br />
keeping Maggie (David’s sister) on her toes recording all of<br />
the entries when they were coming in thick and fast. It was a<br />
lovely way to catch up with so many breeders & friends in the<br />
unprecedented times that we are living in. Now the fun has<br />
ended and the goodie bags are parcelled up and in the post.”<br />
If you missed it on Facebook and want to have a go at judging<br />
based on the photos, go ahead, you will find the results on<br />
page 46. You can also go to the Brigadoon or British Charolais<br />
Facebook pages to listen to the reasons for each of the classes<br />
from Society chairman Ben Harman.<br />
Thanks to David and the rest of the<br />
Brigadoon crew for developing the<br />
creative idea and encouraging interest in<br />
the Charolais breed and the development<br />
of our breeders both old and new.<br />
Well done to everyone who took part,<br />
especially to our young breeders.<br />
Congratulations to those who were placed<br />
in each of the classes.<br />
Dougie McBeath won the senior section,<br />
Dougie has had a long and industrious<br />
breeding and show career with partner<br />
Sarah Jane at the Springsett Limousin<br />
herd, although very often seen with a<br />
Charolais in hand.<br />
New and upcoming breeder Naomi<br />
Hamilton who has just recently purchased<br />
her first pedigree Charolais along with<br />
fiancé George Hadnett starting the<br />
Sydenville Charolais herd won the<br />
Intermediates.<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
31
James Morrison, from Drummeer Charolais in Fermanagh won<br />
the junior class. James is definitely following in the footsteps<br />
of dad, Alan and Granda Edwin and has already had great<br />
success across the breeds as he develops his stock judging<br />
skills.<br />
Dougie McBeath Naomi Hamilton James Morrison<br />
PENTERVIN POLLED CHAROLAIS<br />
Large selection of Homozygous bulls available sired by<br />
French imported and homebred UK stock bulls<br />
Easy calving bulls, great shaped calves, semen for sale from<br />
homozygous bulls.<br />
Please contact David & Sadie Littlehales<br />
01743 891188 / 07771 571478 / 07767 633200<br />
www.facebook.com/pentervinpolledcharolais<br />
Sadieanddavidlittlehales2018@gmail.com<br />
www.polledcharolais.co.uk<br />
32 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Measuring pelvic area proving a useful tool in<br />
heifer selection<br />
Measuring the pelvic area of heifers selected for breeding is<br />
proving a useful management tool and reducing the incidence<br />
of difficult calving in suckler herds in the North-east of<br />
Scotland.<br />
Vet, Ewan Jamieson of Meadows Veterinary Centre is<br />
encouraging farmers to weed out heifers with small pelvic<br />
areas with encouraging results in terms of fewer assisted<br />
calving’s and higher scanning percentages.<br />
to increase, but more slowly, up to three years of age. Growth<br />
is influenced by many factors, including breed, weight,<br />
nutrition and genetics.”<br />
Measuring is carried out by the vet using a set of specially<br />
developed callipers. Both height and width are measured –<br />
not just pelvic area – as these are the critical measurements<br />
required to determine whether a heifer is big enough to calve<br />
easily.<br />
“We have found that similar looking heifers often have a wide<br />
range of pelvic sizes,” he says. “Those at the extremes of the<br />
scale are easily detected and pulled out from the group before<br />
bulling.”<br />
ROUTING PELVIC SCORING<br />
Ewan Jamieson is encouraging his clients to adopt the<br />
routine pelvic scoring of heifers. Any heifers considered not<br />
big enough to breed, whether home bred or bought-in, are<br />
finished and culled rather than being taken into the breeding<br />
herd.<br />
Valuable information has been collated on the various types of<br />
cows found in Aberdeenshire and a cut-off point determined<br />
for each breed or cross.<br />
“Selecting on the basis of pelvic score will bring benefits<br />
throughout the animal’s lifetime,” he points out. “Pelvic size<br />
increases most in the first year of a heifer’s life and continues<br />
Pelvic measuring has been<br />
found to improve calving<br />
ease, with less traumatic<br />
calving’s, fewer caesareans,<br />
lower vets’ bills and more live<br />
calves. Easier calving also<br />
means cows get back to the<br />
bull more quickly, resulting in<br />
tighter calving intervals.<br />
“One of the herds we look<br />
after which has been using<br />
Charolais bulls and practising<br />
pelvic scoring for a number<br />
of years had it first caesarean<br />
this year for five years – and<br />
that was only because of a<br />
backward presentation,” Mr<br />
Jamieson reports.<br />
“Similar looking heifers<br />
often have a wide range<br />
of pelvic sizes” - Meadows<br />
vet, Ewan Jamieson<br />
Who to contact at the Charolais Office<br />
• Peter Phythian, Chief Executive – Tel: 07949 262293 Email: peter@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Rusmi Parekh, Office Manager: herd book enquiries – Tel: 07377 119224<br />
Email: rusmi@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Sue Stenner, Communications Manager: for social media, website, competition entries,<br />
Charolais Youth, DNA typing & sales enquiries – Tel: 07958 210243 Email: sue@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Rebecca Fraser: for accounts enquiries, ET registrations, inspections & memberships –<br />
Tel: 07377 119307 Email: rebecca@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Fiona Warner: for registrations, transfers, newsletters & website enquiries –<br />
Tel: 07377 119345 Email: fiona@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Mandy Mooney: for DNA enquiries – Tel: 07377 119312 Email: dna@charolais.co.uk<br />
• Julie Holmes: for Breedplan enquiries, sale entries and herd book enquiries–<br />
Tel: 07377 119233 Email: julie@charolais.co.uk<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
33
Investing in top bloodlines is vital<br />
Hoping that the ‘early bird caught the worm’, respected<br />
Charolais breeder Major David Walter has snapped up the<br />
stunning young bull Elrick Paragon from Mike Massie for<br />
£15,000.<br />
Major David Walter<br />
When the bull arrived at Balthayock, Major Walter said how<br />
pleased they all were in the way he had grown since they first<br />
saw him. “He has great length, good muscling, a fine head<br />
and a great temperament… but only time will tell if he meets<br />
our high expectations when his first sons enter the sale ring in<br />
three years’ time.”<br />
The farm was the under-bidder for a Maerdy Gouverneur son<br />
that took the reserve championship at Stirling in February and<br />
sold to Charlie Boden for 25,000gns.<br />
“Paragon joins the farm’s other new purchase of a half share<br />
with the Smeaton’s of Maerdy Osgood. Both bulls share<br />
Massie, Evans and French bloodlines so will bring something<br />
a little different to our herd. We’ve always used the mating<br />
predictor program to plan our breeding and it’s proved<br />
invaluable. Our policy is to avoid any inbreeding beyond 7 per<br />
cent, so we’ve been on the lookout for some new bloodlines<br />
for a year or so.”<br />
Paragon has incomplete EBVs but his raw data of over 800kgs<br />
when last weighed, and scrotal circumference of 39cms would<br />
give him terminal and replacement EBVs in the low 60s which<br />
will blend in nicely with some of our home grown bulls such<br />
as Impression and his son Nevada who are all in the top 1 per<br />
cent of the breed. Gouverneur’s calves in three herds have all<br />
had low birth weights with is an added attraction.<br />
“There’s a direct correlation between scrotal circumference<br />
and fertility,” he says, “and at 39cms he’s well above average<br />
for his age.”<br />
Major Walter is all too aware that this young bull still has<br />
everything to prove, but hopes he was the early bird that<br />
caught the worm, buying the bull before he was put in the sale<br />
ring.<br />
“You have to be prepared to spend to find a great herd sire,”<br />
he says. “Yes, it’s high risk because you don’t know what you<br />
have, but you must invest in the future or you don’t make any<br />
progress.”<br />
He’s very enthusiastic and supportive of Breedplan, and as a<br />
Charolais breeder for the past 50 years, is keen to do all he can<br />
to improve the national herd as well as his own animals.<br />
Balthayock is 1600 acres, mostly grass, and carries 115<br />
pedigree Charolais cows and followers, plus 140 suckler cows<br />
which are a mixture of cross Simmental and Shorthorn. The<br />
heifers run with home bred Charolais bulls that they know<br />
offer easy calving. A flock of 700 Lleyn run with Texel tups to<br />
complete the livestock enterprise. The farm also grows oats<br />
and both spring and winter barley, all for its own use, selling<br />
any surplus.<br />
“We use an Aitchison direct drill from New Zealand and add<br />
clover and good grass into the paddocks. We buy in a lot of<br />
straw as the animals are inside over the winter, well-bedded,<br />
and then spread this on the fields from spring. The dung adds<br />
P and K and the clover helps to fix N.”<br />
After such a severe drought this spring the farm may have to<br />
reconsider its stocking rates, but the aim will still be to sell<br />
between 30 and 40 bulls a year through the national sales, and<br />
privately, plus some pedigree heifers, but the policy has always<br />
been to keep the cow herd young and benefit from the rapid<br />
genetic improvement that’s available.<br />
The cattle are all housed in big open sheds, and around the<br />
turn of the year the bull calves are weaned from their mothers<br />
and put in pens of three with access to their own, separate,<br />
small paddocks controlled by electric fencing. The grass<br />
paddocks allow them to exercise and, as they grow at a fast<br />
rate, give them room to move about.<br />
“There’s no double that the supermarkets and largely Irishowned<br />
abattoirs are doing the suckler industry no favours,”<br />
says Maj Walters. “Beef from the dairy herd is a poor imitation<br />
of the wonderful beef we have traditionally produced in<br />
Scotland from grass-reared cattle of native breeds and also<br />
from continental breeds which, during the past 50 years have<br />
been introduced and modified to suit our environment and<br />
extensive system of beef production.<br />
They are vital to the management of the 60 per cent of our<br />
countryside which cannot grow arable crops and which would<br />
otherwise soon become an unsightly wilderness of scrub<br />
and bracken. What sort of effect is this going to have on our<br />
tourist industry?”<br />
“At the same time arable farmers are finding that the organic<br />
content of their soil is fast disappearing. A simple way to put<br />
that right would be to fill their empty sheds over winter with<br />
store cattle and they would soon find that the resultant dung<br />
34 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
spread on their fields would transform the soil quality and<br />
might even earn them some extra Government support for<br />
their efforts.”<br />
Maj Walters points out that a costing exercise in Northern<br />
Ireland by a cost accountancy firm nearly 20 years ago found<br />
that the annual cost of keeping a suckler cow was £800 and<br />
the breakeven price of its offspring was 480p/kg.<br />
“As producers we used to be paid 55 per cent of the retail<br />
price for fat cattle, now we’re lucky if we get 44 per cent,”<br />
he says. “I can’t help but think there is some conspiracy<br />
among the Irish abattoirs to promote the beef from Ireland to<br />
replace our quality Scottish beef from our herds and supply<br />
the supermarket’s less discerning customers with Holstein<br />
crosses.”<br />
He finds it interesting to compare the Scottish industry with<br />
that in Norway. “The main difference there is that their<br />
Government appreciates the importance of maintaining the<br />
suckler herds and insured that the farmers are paid a price<br />
which leaves them a well-earned profit. The abattoirs are all<br />
owned cooperatively by farmers and the result is a price of at<br />
least £6.50/kg or equivalent for both the breeder and feeder. I<br />
think we have much to learn from their system.”<br />
He says that Charolais are “the most wonderful cattle to work<br />
with” and that now the breed has moved on from going for<br />
big backsides at the price of difficult calving, the Society is<br />
breeding cattle that calve easily with unbeatable liveweight<br />
gains, milk fertility and good temperament.<br />
“After 50 years in the breed I still feel I have a lot to learn, but<br />
with the help of Breedplan I have seen huge improvements<br />
in the breed and I’m confident that we’ll soon reclaim the<br />
position of the breed as first choice in beef production.<br />
“Over the years I have tried all the breeds, and I know from<br />
my own experience that nothing can compare with a Charolais<br />
as a terminal sire on a suckler herd. And, with their great<br />
character, they’re a joy to work with.”<br />
Declarations at Society Sales<br />
All VET declarations at Society sales will be placed on the pen card and marked as<br />
yellow on the lot number.<br />
THE YEAR LETTER FOR 2021 IS S<br />
New Entries on to the Semen Royalty Scheme<br />
Northhouse Mccoist MBM0070239 £30.00<br />
Prices include the VAT<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
35
UK Charolais bull gets selected for leading AI business<br />
A Charolais bull has hit the record books<br />
- purchased by Norbreck Genetics for<br />
the bull catalogue offered by leading AI<br />
company Semex.<br />
The young bull, Millbridge Pedro, has<br />
been purchased from Emily Harryman at<br />
Wigton, and will now enter performance<br />
testing where Norbreck Genetics will<br />
record between 150 and 200 of his<br />
calving’s in the next 14 months before<br />
confirming his suitability for Semex sales.<br />
Assuming all goes well, his future may<br />
well be in Hungary where the European<br />
stud for Semex is based, allowing for<br />
easier semen export across the world.<br />
This is the first UK-bred Charolais bull to<br />
be purchased by Norbreck, and director<br />
Philip Halhead has said he’s ‘excited’ to<br />
be adding the bull to his collection. He<br />
enters the breed records as the first<br />
UK Charolais bull to be purchased for<br />
Semex’s bull catalogue.<br />
Millbridge Pedro was born on March 19<br />
2019, and was shown once as a calf at<br />
Thirsk, where he scooped first prize in a<br />
multi-breed Rising Star class at eight months of age.<br />
He is by Northhouse Mccoist, the farm’s stock bull, out of a<br />
Blelack Flower dam that was bought with money from Emily’s<br />
parents for her 21 st birthday.<br />
“I’m really excited to have secured this lovely young bull,”<br />
said Philip. “The partners did a cracking video of him at the<br />
start of lockdown that they placed on social media, and I was<br />
immediately attracted to the type of bull he was. I went to<br />
visit him and was equally impressed.<br />
“In the past dairy farmers have moved away from the Charolais<br />
as an obvious cross because they used to have some calving<br />
difficulties. But today’s Charolais is a very different animal, and<br />
dairy producers are coming back to Charolais in droves. They<br />
The Millbridge family with Millbridge Pedro<br />
have so much to offer in terms of growth rates, beef yield and<br />
market demand.”<br />
Philip says he was particularly drawn to this bull because of<br />
his calving ease, liking his smoother shoulder and slightly<br />
lighter bone, which is combined with shorter gestation length<br />
attributes.<br />
“The number one priority is to provide a bull that’s first and<br />
foremost what dairy farmers need to provide the demands of<br />
the supply chain. Now we can combine easy calving with high<br />
growth rates we’ve a breed in big demand within this sector.”<br />
Emily says she was overwhelmed when Philip approached<br />
her about the bull. “We’re a small set up, with only seven<br />
pedigree Charolais cows on 30 acres. So to sell a bull to<br />
Norbreck is really exciting.”<br />
Emily farms with her mother Judith Hunter at Bridgemill<br />
Farm, Wigton near Carlisle in Cumbria. She milks cows as<br />
a living, and her mother is a bank manager, so she admits<br />
the cows have always been ‘a bit of a hobby’.<br />
“I’d love to be able to grow the herd, but so far I’ve sold<br />
virtually all the progeny. We always thought a lot of Pedro<br />
as a calf and when he won the class at Thirsk we had lots<br />
of comments about him. So it’s great to know that others<br />
like what we like.”<br />
She admits to having a couple of tears when he was<br />
loaded to leave the farm, but’s excited about following his<br />
future, and still having access to his semen.<br />
Millbridge Pedro<br />
“He’s a lovely example of the Charolais – he has the easy<br />
calving traits as well as growth rates, and we are very<br />
proud breeders.”<br />
36 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
Society Chairman Finalist in the <strong>2020</strong><br />
British Farming Award<br />
Society Chairman Ben Harman has been shortlisted in the Beef<br />
innovator of the year category of this year’s British Farming<br />
Awards which are held in association with Morrisons.<br />
Now in its eighth year, the awards celebrate British farmers<br />
who have successfully introduced innovations to drive their<br />
businesses forward.<br />
Sophie Throup, Head of Agriculture, Fisheries and Sustainable<br />
Sourcing at Morrisons, said the awards were a welcome<br />
reminder of the dedication and hard work demonstrated by<br />
UK farmers all year round.<br />
“In these unprecedented times, we’d like to thank and<br />
celebrate the work of British farmers and growers who are<br />
helping to feed the nation,” she says.<br />
“At Morrisons, we’ve always valued British farming and being<br />
able to buy products directly from farms for our stores and the<br />
many food banks who rely on us is more important than ever.<br />
“The awards provide us with a timely reminder to pause and<br />
acknowledge the effort, innovation and skills which go into<br />
providing food farmed to the high standards that we all enjoy.”<br />
The awards night, and presentations, will take place on<br />
Wednesday, October 21, <strong>2020</strong> and due to the current<br />
restrictions will be taking place virtually.<br />
Ben was nominated for the awards after the article written by<br />
Angela Calvert featured in the Farmers Guardian in April, an<br />
extract of which follows:<br />
‘Ben’s enterprise runs across three holding, totalling 677 acres<br />
of the Chesham countryside in Buckinghamshire. His 50 cows<br />
and followers (totalling about 120 head) include his beloved<br />
Chesham pedigree Charolais herd and his father Dan’s Silver<br />
herd.<br />
“My aim is to produce easy calving bulls with the focus not<br />
on the backend but on the cuts which add value, such as<br />
loin and fillet, so increasing the eye muscle area is key. Milk,<br />
functionality and temperament is also important, as quiet<br />
cattle grow better and are easier to manage,” he said.<br />
“Although being in a TB one area makes it hard to take bulls up<br />
to Stirling, it’s the farms location which is proving to be one of<br />
our greatest assets when it comes to beef sales. We’re within a<br />
25-mile radius of eleven of the country’s richest postcodes and<br />
19 million of its richest consumers which presents a fantastic<br />
opportunity to sell a high value product.”<br />
The product Ben is marketing is his Chagyu beef, which he<br />
explains is a concept, not just a cross. It derives from the result<br />
of Wagyu semen used on his Charolais females.<br />
Ben started using a little Wagyu<br />
semen from around 2006, but a<br />
visit to the Rockhampton beef<br />
week in Australia in 2009 led to a<br />
greater understanding of how to<br />
achieve repeatable quality meat,<br />
hence the creation of the brand.<br />
Ben Harman<br />
He said: “The Charolais already produces a quality carcase but<br />
crossing with Wagyu results in increased marbling on the meat<br />
and produces a succulent high-quality beef which is not as<br />
extreme in taste as pure Wagyu.<br />
“To be successful when direct selling, the product has to be<br />
consistent and be consistently of the very highest quality – it is<br />
about repeatability. Every time the consumer eats our beef it<br />
has to exceed expectations.<br />
“This is not only down to genetics, but also to feeding and<br />
management throughout the animal’s life, at slaughter and<br />
immediately afterwards,” says Ben.<br />
“Stress has a big impact on meat quality and it takes 42 days<br />
after an animals has been stressed for its hormones to return<br />
to normal. We take the right steps throughout the animal’s<br />
life to reduce stress by avoiding mixing groups, using fence<br />
line weaning and ensuring we have a good handling system in<br />
place. We also maintain a consistent diet to minimise growth<br />
curve disruption and avoid gristle developing in the meat.”<br />
Ben aims for his heifers to calve at two-and-a-half years old<br />
and all heifers are inseminated with Wagyu semen, which is<br />
chosen purely on the eye muscle area and marbling estimated<br />
breeding values. He says “By using Wagyu on heifers, it gives<br />
me the opportunity to see what they’re like as cows before<br />
using them for pedigree breeding. I don’t use Wagyu semen<br />
on any cows.”<br />
The resulting calves are usually slaughtered at 21-23 months<br />
old, producing a 400kg carcase, which Ben says achieves a<br />
balance between tenderness and flavour. The beef is then<br />
hung for 28 days after slaughter and butchered locally before<br />
being sold to private customers and high-class pubs and<br />
restaurants.<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
37
James Jeffrey 1926 -<strong>2020</strong> A Charolais Pioneer<br />
James Jeffrey (Jimmy) was born on the<br />
10 <strong>September</strong> 1926 and was raised<br />
at Deuchrie, an upland farm in the<br />
Lammermuir hills in East Lothian. It was<br />
mainly a sheep farm carrying flocks of<br />
Blackface and Border Leicester sheep.<br />
The Border Leicester flock is still in<br />
existence and is the oldest registered<br />
flock. In 1953 Jimmy married his wife,<br />
Margaret Young and in 1958 followed<br />
his uncle into Kersknowe, a much more<br />
productive farm on the Roxburgh estate<br />
in the Scottish Borders close to Kelso.<br />
Jimmy and Margaret had four children<br />
namely Elizabeth, Judy, John and Susie.<br />
Jimmy<br />
Being a keen livestock man Jimmy<br />
became excited when the Charolais<br />
cattle were given the green light to<br />
be imported from France into the UK under strict quarantine<br />
conditions. He applied for some heifers in 1965 and was<br />
bitterly disappointed to miss out on the ballot as due to foot<br />
and mouth in France, only breeders in England were allocated<br />
animals.His disappointment didn’t last long as he secured six<br />
‘C’ heifers the following year and the Kersknowe Herd was<br />
founded with a membership number of 173.<br />
and Northern Charolais Association as well as<br />
setting up the Charolais sales with MacDonald<br />
Fraser (later to become United Auctions) in the<br />
Caledonian Road Perth market. In 1971 the first<br />
5 figure Charolais bull was sold at Perth when<br />
Kersknowe Festival was sold for 10,000gns to the<br />
Scottish Milk Marketing Board. Since those early<br />
days there will have been Kersknowe bulls sold<br />
annually through the Perth/Stirling Society sales.<br />
Jimmy`s involvement with the BCCS culminated<br />
in his presidential appointment in 1991/92 and<br />
during this time he together with Margaret<br />
attended the Australian World Charolais<br />
Congress. Another highlight of his presidency was<br />
presenting Queen Sofia of Spain with a Charolais<br />
figurine when she officially opened the newly<br />
constructed Charolais pavilion during the 1993<br />
Royal Show. (Pictured below)<br />
Jimmy became very much involved with the recently formed<br />
BCCS and was appointed onto the Council of Management<br />
and subsequently visited France on numerous occasions on<br />
the official buying commissions. These were heady days in<br />
the early years of the Society and to listen to Jimmy telling<br />
countless yarns of the buying groups splitting up to view<br />
cattle and then re-convening at La Renaissance hotel in<br />
Magny Cours to discuss the day`s selections over a glass or<br />
two of rouge with the occasional brandy was quite absorbing,<br />
particularly when his old friend Bobby Robinson was leading<br />
the Commission!!<br />
Jimmy was one of the members who formed the Scottish<br />
In 1992 Jimmy was awarded an OBE for his services to<br />
agriculture and in 2002 the Royal Highland Agricultural Society<br />
awarded him the Sir William Young award in recognition of<br />
his service to the Scottish livestock sector. Other honours<br />
included being the Deputy Lieutenant of Roxburgh, Ettrick and<br />
Lauderdale for his commitment to the Borders area which was<br />
so dear to his heart.<br />
Beyond the Charolais world he was also chairman of the<br />
Moredun Institute and was instrumental in setting up Scott<br />
Country Potato Producers co-operative in Kelso which<br />
specialises in seed potato production. He was also, for a time,<br />
the President of the Borders Area in the SNFU and for a period<br />
was the livestock convener.<br />
Kersknowe Festival in the paddock prior to being sold at<br />
the Perth bull sales for a then record price of 10,000gns<br />
Jimmy attended the Kelso tup sales every year since 1942<br />
when he sold half bred tups and Border Leicester tups. He<br />
was a past president of the Border Leicester Sheep Society,<br />
38 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
as were his father and grandfather<br />
before him and like his father<br />
and grandfather kept all the sale<br />
catalogues going back over a<br />
hundred years. In fact he recently<br />
showed me a catalogue in which his<br />
grandfather had shown sheep and<br />
he wistfully remarked whether the<br />
next generation would have a good<br />
bonfire when his time was up.<br />
In 2019 he was given the accolade<br />
of ringing the bell at 10 am at the<br />
Kelso tup sales for the various<br />
auctioneers to be given notice to<br />
start the sale in their various rings.<br />
This was a momentous occasion<br />
as it set a precedent for somebody<br />
other than the Border Union<br />
secretary to announce the start<br />
of the sale in this time-honoured<br />
manner.<br />
Some 20 years ago he and Margaret<br />
left the farm and moved to Kelso<br />
into a house which overlooked<br />
the Tweed Bridge and beyond to<br />
the world-famous salmon fishing<br />
Junction Pool and Floors Castle.<br />
When at home he continued to<br />
take the papers to Kersknowe<br />
each day and keep an eye on the<br />
proceedings particularly when John was away with his rugby<br />
commitments. He was also a regular visitor to Deuchrie and up<br />
to being 90 would stay there for several weeks during lambing.<br />
When visiting Deuchrie he would return with bottles of the<br />
fresh spring water, which tasted much sweeter than that from<br />
the cold-water tap, especially so when added to his favourite<br />
tipple of Johnnie Walker Black Label<br />
On a personal note one of my first recollections of meeting<br />
An early importation of heifers at Kersknowe are checked over by Jimmy and Bobby<br />
Robinson, Alec Calder, Pierre Dewavrin, Jacques de Maintenant,<br />
Perry Fairfax and Margaret Jeffrey<br />
Jimmy was when he was judging Charolais at the Great<br />
Yorkshire Show in 1982.<br />
I was working at Brampton and we had won the Charolais<br />
championship and the Burke Trophy the previous week at the<br />
Royal Show with Parsonage Nebulus and we came back to<br />
earth with a bump when Jimmy placed the bull third, although<br />
he did make amends by making Brampton Mull champion and<br />
later backed his judgement by buying her bull calf.<br />
When my daughter moved into the Kelso<br />
area, I would call in to see Jimmy for a chat<br />
or to pick him up and drive him to a Charolais<br />
show or sale. He had the most remarkable<br />
memory for people, places and dates and<br />
loved to tell a story or tell a joke.<br />
Time soon slipped by when listening to<br />
Jimmy telling livestock stories about the good<br />
old days with a glass of Johnnie Walker Black<br />
Label and Deuchrie water to sip.<br />
He lived life to the full and he had even taken<br />
in two sheep sales a day or two before he<br />
passed away. He has unfortunately taken a<br />
wealth of knowledge with him.<br />
So the next time you have a drink of whisky,<br />
especially Black Label, raise a glass to the<br />
memory of Jimmy Jeffrey one of the early<br />
Charolais pioneers.<br />
Jimmy enjoying the Stirling bull sales pictured with Jim Goldie<br />
David Benson<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
39
John Blewitt - Reddivallen Charolais<br />
Monday 10 February <strong>2020</strong>, after a weekend of 80 mile an<br />
hour gale force winds, family, friends and neighbours from<br />
all over the South West travelled to the beautiful parish<br />
church in St Teath to remember and say our goodbyes to<br />
John Blewett. The day came with the full gamut of Cornish<br />
weather as the mass of crocuses around the church shone<br />
and sparkled in the sunshine and showers, with a dash of<br />
thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure. After a<br />
service full of references to John’s beloved Cornwall, with<br />
the haunting sounds of Jethro’s renditions of ‘Red Rocks’<br />
and ‘Cornwall My Home’ still in our ears we decamped to<br />
The White Hart for refreshments and a ‘catch up’ when all<br />
the happy memories of past shows and sales with John,<br />
Marjorie and the family brought laughter and tears.<br />
Members of the South West Charolais will remember the<br />
whole family being involved with the Reddivallen herd<br />
and they were an important part of our Show scene. John<br />
was a past Chairman and President of the SWCA and twice<br />
represented us Nationally as our Council Member. His<br />
knowledge of the breed made him the ideal person to help<br />
and give advice to any new members and his humour and<br />
friendship was something we all missed when they left for<br />
Australia.<br />
John’s children Clare, Mark and Fay have sent me some<br />
words and pictures which sum up John’s love of our breed<br />
– pointing out his ‘claim to fame’ as being the only person<br />
to win a Supreme Championships in Perth on two different<br />
continents. Some achievement. Thank you for this - he was a<br />
real champion.<br />
--------------------------------------------<br />
Sadly John Blewett (Reddivallen Herd 1983-2000) passed<br />
away peacefully, in his adopted country of Australia in January<br />
this year after a long illness. John and Marjorie founded the<br />
Reddivallen herd in Cornwall in 1983 with the purchase of a<br />
cow from the Balmyle herd, a heifer from Wesley and the bull<br />
Dunningswood Utrecht, a Lunesdale Harvest son. They went<br />
on to expand their herd with additions from the Tamar herd<br />
and in 1987 they purchased two heifers from Mrs McAlpine’s<br />
Cullum herd. These two heifers Beaujolais and Britannia<br />
proved to have a huge influence on the Reddivallen herd.<br />
Beaujolias went on to produce Reddivallen Eau De Vie who<br />
sired some excellent quality females and Reddivallen Heiniken,<br />
a Brampton Chopper son, who went on to produce the Perth<br />
Supreme Champion, Reddivallen<br />
Magnum in 1998.<br />
With the addition of two heifers<br />
from Gredington, and two cows<br />
from Givendale the herd size<br />
increased and in 1993 a great<br />
breeding cow Meade Christa was<br />
purchased. She bred cattle with<br />
presence and excellent growth. One<br />
of her sons Reddivallen Oneman<br />
went on to be Junior Beef Breeder<br />
Champion at The Royal in 1999.<br />
In 1994 Coley Jackpot was<br />
purchased at Perth as a calf for his<br />
great backend which proved to be an excellent investment<br />
as he passed this onto his progeny. Jackpot was out of<br />
the excellent cow Brampton Crystal and sired by Chamois<br />
Ambassador who was Perth Champion in 1986. Moyness Mars<br />
sired by Maerdy Impeccable was purchase at The Royal in<br />
1997 after being Junior Champion and his two brothers both<br />
being placed first in their respective classes.<br />
A highlight for John and Marjorie was being part of the British<br />
Charolais contingent to<br />
travel to the 1997 World<br />
Charolais Convention in<br />
the USA. Where they<br />
viewed some outstanding<br />
cattle and made some<br />
great memories. They<br />
even experienced prairie<br />
oysters!<br />
The Reddivallen herd<br />
was dispersed in 2000<br />
following the family’s<br />
decision to emigrate to<br />
Western Australia and John<br />
and Marjorie settled just<br />
40 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
outside Kojonup in Western Australia with their son Mark and<br />
his family on a 4,000-acre property. It didn’t take long for John<br />
to start building a Charolais herd again, he purchased about 25<br />
or 30 cows and he also imported semen from his bull Moyness<br />
Mars.<br />
John continued to show his beloved Charolais’ across Western<br />
Australia and had most success at the Perth Royal Show. In<br />
addition to his pedigree cattle he branched out for several<br />
years showing Commercial Steers and won the Supreme<br />
Championship at the Perth Royal.<br />
In recent years John and Marjorie’s health failed them but the<br />
Charolais herd is still run commercially on the property near<br />
Kojonup.<br />
John leaves his wife Marjorie and family in both Cornwall and<br />
Australia.<br />
Obituraries<br />
We’re very sad to tell you about the sudden and tragic deaths<br />
of two of British Charolais’ longest standing members in the<br />
past month. Our thoughts and sincere sympathies go out to<br />
their families and friends.<br />
John Davies – Tanat<br />
A well-known and well-respected breeder, John was a stanch<br />
Charolais supporter. His interest began with a holiday to<br />
Brittany in the early seventies, and progressive as he was, he<br />
recognised the potential of the breed, taking a trip back over<br />
to France shortly afterwards to purchase his first Charolais<br />
cattle.<br />
Heavily involved in the Society from the beginning, he was<br />
a Welsh representative of the council of management in the<br />
1980’s plus a steward at the Royal Welsh show for many years,<br />
and his animals regularly featured amongst the top priced at<br />
the Society’s Welshpool sales.<br />
Described as a quiet man and a real gentleman, when asked<br />
for advice it was said that he would always give you a level<br />
and measured response.<br />
Mike Brown, Barons Cross Charolais Stud –<br />
Charbron<br />
Having joined<br />
the Society in<br />
1977, Mike<br />
Brown will be<br />
remembered<br />
for his<br />
determined<br />
and spirited<br />
nature. He<br />
was passionate<br />
about the<br />
Charolais<br />
breed, and a regular attendee and Charolais exhibitor at the<br />
Three Counties, National and Royal Welsh shows, to name but<br />
a few. Securing a continental title at the Burwarton show, an<br />
interbreed championship at the Three Counties, and a reserve<br />
supreme championship at the Royal Welsh were just three of<br />
the highlights of his show career.<br />
Throughout his time as a Charolais member he was a constant<br />
supporter of Society sales and took bulls to auction marts<br />
throughout the country and as far afield as Stirling, where<br />
he had his most successful visit in 2013 selling three bulls<br />
to average almost £10,000 and topping at 12,000gns, an<br />
impressive feat from a six-cow herd.<br />
Beginning his career as a grader for MLC, grading lambs and<br />
cattle at livestock markets, his love for exhibiting cattle began<br />
at the fatstock shows before he purchased his first Charolais,<br />
although his passion for showing Charolais didn’t really take<br />
hold until his retirement in the late 90s.<br />
Mike leaves behind his wife Anne, son and daughter. His<br />
beloved Charbron herd is due to be dispersed at Welshpool on<br />
22 <strong>September</strong>.<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
41
NOSTALGIA Can you remember what happened 25 years ago?<br />
See page 51 for the answers<br />
1<br />
6<br />
6<br />
2<br />
7<br />
3<br />
4<br />
8<br />
5 9<br />
10 10<br />
42 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
BALMYLE CHAROLAIS<br />
SCOTTISH & NORTHERN OVERALL HERD WINNERS 2018<br />
A PREMIUM CATTLE HEALTH SCHEME HERD<br />
JOHNE’S LEVEL 1: BVD ACCREDITED: IBR ACCREDITED: TB 4 YR TESTING<br />
STOCK BULLS <strong>2020</strong><br />
His<br />
Dam<br />
OVILL LENNON<br />
Sire: Goldies Usher by Dingle Hofmeister<br />
SAGESSE FLORIENNE<br />
“ALL IRELAND “ Champion heifer<br />
OVILL LENNON Sired the best group of 3 at Stirling in October 2019 including the<br />
Intermediate Champion Balmyle Oscar sold for 9,500gns.<br />
He also sired Balmyle Onward sold for 9,000gns in February <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
He is the sire of 5 more outstanding bulls for sale at Stirling in October <strong>2020</strong><br />
BALMYLE JASPER<br />
Sire: Gwenog Banjo Dam: Balmyle Flourish<br />
Sire of Allanfauld Neptune 20,000gns<br />
His first son from Balmyle ‘Oleary’ sold to Balthayock<br />
for 10,000gns<br />
Calving ease +5.5<br />
SEMEN FOR SALE FROM MOST OF OUR PREVIOUS AND<br />
CURRENT STOCK SIRES<br />
BULLS AND FEMALES FOR SALE PRIVATELY<br />
BALTHAYOCK MINSTREL<br />
Sire: Balthayock Ferdinand Dam: Balthayock Gem<br />
UA Stirling Champion February 2018<br />
His first son Balmyle Panther is impressive and will be sold<br />
at Stirling in October <strong>2020</strong><br />
Calving ease +11.7<br />
Bruce Farms - Balmyle, Meigle, Perthshire PH12 8QU<br />
Phone - Office/Bill Bruce: 01828 640228<br />
Herd Manager/Dane Ivison - 07881 100378<br />
Fax: 01828 640287 E-mail: bill@brucefarms.co.uk<br />
Web: www.brucefarms.co.uk<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
43<br />
43
Northern Ireland<br />
NI CHAROLAIS CLUB PRIZEGIVING SUCCESS<br />
Northern Ireland Charolais club held<br />
their prize giving night after the club’s<br />
AGM at the Glenavon House Hotel,<br />
Cookstown on 27 February <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
The club would like to thank all our<br />
sponsors who have supported the<br />
club throughout the year.<br />
Awards as follows:<br />
March sale 2019<br />
THE MILLAR TROPHY – SUPREME<br />
CHAMPION, MARCH SALE- 2019 MR C<br />
& S McIlwaine– CORRICK NAPOLEON<br />
THE NORTHERN BANK SALVER – HOMEBRED SUPREME<br />
CHAMPION - 2019 MR C & S MCILWAINE – CORRICK<br />
NAPOLEON<br />
FIRST TRUST BANK SALVER – CHAMPION FEMALE MARCH<br />
SALE - 2019 MR K VEITCH – DRUMLONE NADINE<br />
Eilis Kelly<br />
pictured with<br />
Neil McIlwaine<br />
receiving the<br />
Millar Trophy<br />
and the<br />
Northern Bank<br />
Silver Salver<br />
SWATRAGH SALE 2019<br />
THE ELMPARK CUP – SUPREME<br />
CHAMPION, JUNE SALE<br />
2019 Aaron Quigley – Ardmacree Noah<br />
Aaron Quigley<br />
with his trophy<br />
the Elmpark<br />
Cup at the<br />
Swatragh Sale<br />
in June<br />
THE BARDIN TROPHY – BEST CHAROLAIS ANIMAL, BALMORAL<br />
2019 Patrick Gallagher – Elgin Nancy<br />
THE BREEDERS PERPETUAL CHALLENGE PUNCHBOWL WITH<br />
ORNATE LID – BEST BULL BALMORAL<br />
2019 David Bothwell – Killadeas Orlando<br />
THE ORAGE TROPHY – BEST COW OR HEIFER, BALMORAL<br />
2019 Nigel & Gail Matchett – Tawny Jasmine<br />
H A CURRY CUP – BEST JUNIOR BULL BALMORAL<br />
2019 David Bothwell – Killadeas Orlando<br />
JOHN K CURRIE CUP – BEST HEIFER BALMORAL - 2019 Patrick<br />
Gallagher – Elgin Nancy<br />
BRIGADOON PERPETUAL TROPHY – BEST HOMEBRED<br />
ANIMAL, BALMORAL -2019 Susan Smyth – Bessiebell Nana<br />
Eilis Kelly<br />
presenting<br />
Kenny Veitch<br />
with the First<br />
Bank Salver<br />
Patrick and Niamh<br />
Gallagher pictured<br />
with their trophies,<br />
The Bardin Trophy<br />
and the John J<br />
Currie Cup<br />
MAY SALE 2019<br />
THE SIMPSON TROPHY – SUPREME CHAMPION, MAY SALE<br />
2019 S MCCAUGHEY – FYMORE OLAF<br />
Eilis Kelly<br />
presenting David<br />
Bothwell with his<br />
trophies for Best<br />
Bull and Best Junior<br />
bull at Balmoral<br />
Eilis Kelly<br />
presenting Sean<br />
McCaughey<br />
with the<br />
Simpson Trophy<br />
at the May<br />
Dunnganon sale<br />
Gail Matchett pictured with<br />
The Orage Trophy for the best<br />
cow or heifer at Balmoral<br />
44 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
BANK OF IRELAND NI NATIONAL CHAROLAIS CHAMPIONSHIP<br />
FARMING LIFE CUP – SUPREME CHAMPION - 2019 Matchett<br />
Family with Summervilla Niki<br />
BEST PAIRS – BROKERS BOWL - 2019 Matchett Family<br />
SENIOR MALE CHAMPION – PLAQUE - 019 John McGrath with<br />
Sportsmans Monarch<br />
JUNIOR MALE CHAMPION – PLAQUE - 2019 S & D Bothwell<br />
with Killdeas Orlando<br />
SENIOR FEMALE CHAMPION – PLAQUE - 2019 Matchett Family<br />
with Summervilla Niki<br />
JUNIOR FEMALE CHAMPION – PLAQUE - 2019 – Jeremy<br />
Paynter – Drumilly Overjoyed<br />
OVERALL PAIR - PLAQUE - 2019 Matchett Family<br />
Eimear and Orlagh<br />
McGovern pictured with<br />
their trophies, Eimear<br />
was senior champion and<br />
Orlagh was the intermediate<br />
champion<br />
Eimear and Orlagh<br />
McGovern pictured with<br />
their trophies for highest<br />
points in stockjudging<br />
Eilis Kelly presenting Gail<br />
Matchett with her plaque<br />
for the Senior Female<br />
Champion and Overall<br />
Pairs champion<br />
Gail and Nigel Matchett<br />
with their trophies for<br />
Supreme Champion and<br />
Best Pair<br />
NOVEMBER SALE<br />
LAMBEG CUP NOVEMBER SALE – SUPREME MALE CHAMPION<br />
2019 - Royaldowns Orlando owned by M McKeown<br />
AUCTIONEERS SILVER SALVER – BEST EXHIBITOR BRED<br />
ANIMAL NOV SALE<br />
2019 - Royaldowns Orlando owned by M McKeown<br />
ULSTER BANK ROSE BOWL – FEMALE CHAMPION NOVEMBER<br />
SALE - 2019 - Gallion Nancy owned by E Johnston & Son<br />
Sarah Johnston<br />
receiving the<br />
Ulster Bank Rose<br />
Bowl for female<br />
champion at<br />
Dungannon<br />
David Bothwell pictured<br />
with his plaque for Junior<br />
Male Champion<br />
Eilis Kelly presenting<br />
Jeremy Paynter with his<br />
plaque for Junior Female<br />
Champion<br />
STOCK JUDGING 2019<br />
McAllister shield – Adult StockJudging: 2019 – Trevor Phair<br />
Millar Shield – Junior Stockjudging: 2019 – Erin Quigley<br />
UK Stock Judging Trophy - Highest Points in Stockjudging at UK<br />
level: 2019 – Orlagh & Eimear McGovern<br />
Eilis Kelly presenting<br />
Trevor Phair with the<br />
McAllister Shield for<br />
adult stockjudging<br />
Eilis Kelly presenting<br />
Erin Quigley with<br />
the Millar Shield for<br />
junior stockjudging<br />
Jenna and<br />
Mervyn<br />
McKeown with<br />
the Lambeg<br />
Cup and the<br />
Auctioneers<br />
Silver Salver<br />
for Supreme<br />
Champion<br />
ALLAMS FATSTOCK SHOW<br />
MCALLISTER LIVESTOCK TROPHY - Commercial Champion,<br />
Premier Beef & Lamb Championship - 2019 - Alan Veitch<br />
Kenny Veitch receiving<br />
the McAllister<br />
Livestock Trophy<br />
for Commercial<br />
Champion at the<br />
Allams Fatstock Show<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
45
NI CHAROLAIS CLUB AGM<br />
The Northern Ireland AGM was held in<br />
Glenavon House Hotel, Cookstown Co Tyrone<br />
on 27 February 20, Chairman Mr David Connolly<br />
welcomed members and thanked all the<br />
sponsors who have financially supported the<br />
club events over the past year.<br />
Eilis Kelly (secretary) gave a flavour of events<br />
over the past year. Outlining the success of<br />
Sales and especially congratulating our young<br />
breeders who represented Northern Ireland at<br />
the youth stock Judging Finals at Clogher Valley<br />
Show a first for the club to host.<br />
Treasurer Trevor Phair outlined his report on<br />
the past financial year showing that<br />
sponsorship was up and sales where<br />
well up because of the demand of the<br />
Charolais breed. A number of new<br />
members had joined the club, and this<br />
was to be encouraged. Membership<br />
by Standing Order is £20 or cash<br />
payment annually £30.<br />
The NI Charolais Herd Competition<br />
was re-announced after its great<br />
success last year and also the National<br />
Charolais Championship to be held in Clogher.<br />
After the business was dealt with David introduced the<br />
speaker for the evening Donagh Berry from Teagasc and he<br />
gave a very informative talk on genomics.<br />
There was great audience participation and plenty of<br />
questions from the floor.<br />
David thanked Donagh for coming to speak to us.<br />
New committee members elected – Liam Devine,<br />
Sandra Cochrane & Nigel Matchett.<br />
Office Bearers for <strong>2020</strong><br />
Chairman Jeremy Paynter, Armagh<br />
Vice Chair Robert McWilliams, Maghera<br />
Treasurer Martin Donaghy, Dungannon<br />
PRO/Youth Officer Kevin Reavey, Jerretspass, Newry<br />
TB Stakeholders Group Will Short Beragh<br />
David closed the AGM by thanking all our sponsors and asked<br />
that we all give them our support. He thanked our outgoing<br />
committee members for their hard work<br />
and dedication. He thanked our judges,<br />
stewards, breeders, and exhibitors without<br />
whom this year would not be a success.<br />
Thanks were given to Glenavon House Hotel<br />
for their hospitality for the year and for<br />
accommodating our meeting.<br />
David wished everyone a safe journey home.<br />
Brigadoon take judging to another level - Results<br />
Brigadoon Stock Judging Placings<br />
Here are the results of the stock judging competition in our<br />
article on page 30. The classes were all judged based on the<br />
photographs by Charolais Society chairman Ben Harman. You<br />
can check out his reasons on the Brigadoon or British Charolais<br />
Facebook pages.<br />
Class 1 – 1st X, 2nd A, 3rd Y, 4th B<br />
Class 2 – 1st A, 2nd B, 3rd Y, 4th X<br />
Class 3 – 1st A, 2nd X, 3rd B, 4th Y<br />
Top places were as follows:<br />
Seniors: 1st Dougie McBeath, 2nd Carmel McConnell, 3rd John<br />
Robson<br />
Intermediates: 1st Naomi Hamilton, 2nd George Shaw, 3rd<br />
James Rea<br />
Juniors: 1st James Morrison, 2nd Holly McConnell, 3rd Mark<br />
Turney, 4th Jason Whitcroft, 5th Annabelle Howell<br />
46 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
THE BREED THAT IMPROVES ALL BREED<br />
CHAROLAIS TO THE FORE IN BALLYNAHINCH<br />
With another challenging<br />
year in the beef sector now<br />
over the focus on many<br />
suckler farms throughout<br />
the country now turns to<br />
the year at hand. Among<br />
the major decisions and<br />
projections for farm maybe<br />
be the purchase of a new<br />
stock bull, with this comes<br />
a huge range of factors that<br />
must be considered. These<br />
include the farming system,<br />
breeding females in the<br />
herd and the end product<br />
for the marketplace.<br />
The Charolais breed is the first choice for top breeders,<br />
given their prolific growth rate and returns that top the<br />
marketplace week on week.<br />
One such farmer was the winner of the 2019 Charolais<br />
Suckler herd of the year Mr Frank Reid from outside<br />
Ballynahinch Co<br />
Down. Mr Reid and<br />
his family operate a<br />
spring calving herd<br />
of approximately<br />
30 select cows and<br />
a small flock of<br />
commercial sheep.<br />
The spring calving<br />
herd aims to calve<br />
in early spring and<br />
the cows comprise<br />
of predominately<br />
black and blue lim<br />
cross cows as well as<br />
approximately ten<br />
pedigree charolais<br />
cows under the<br />
Burrenvale prefix.<br />
A major emphasis<br />
on the Reid farm<br />
Brownhill Owenroe pictured with Mr<br />
Reids pedigree heifers<br />
is one of ‘quality and not quantity’ whereby select cows are<br />
combined with the use of top charolais bulls to achieve the<br />
optimum product for the farms output. The business focuses<br />
on producing top end charolais calves for sale in the winter<br />
suckling sales and Franks aim is to have bull calves coming<br />
to market in the region of 350-400kg and the heifer calves in<br />
the 300-380kg bracket, it is aimed to calf early and get teams<br />
to grass as soon as ground conditions allow, with creep feed<br />
being offered in the final 8-10 weeks prior to sale. Over the<br />
year’s calves have been sold in the charolais suckler sale in<br />
Hilltown mart where the herd has achieved numerous awards<br />
and excellent prices for quality produce.<br />
Frank Reid pictured with Rodney Carson Brown, Danske Bank<br />
(sponsor) of Dungannon show and sale in March and<br />
Jeremy Paynter NI Charolais club<br />
issues and when hit the ground continue to grow and<br />
thrive all the way through to weaning stage. So satisfied<br />
with this purchase Frank purchased another bull from<br />
the same herd in November 2019 in the form of the days<br />
Reserve senior champion Brownhill Owenroe, a Rumsden<br />
Fawkes son with tremendous character that he believes<br />
will cross onto the herds cows to further improve the<br />
quality of calf on the farm. The NI Charolais Club would<br />
once again like to congratulate Frank and his family on<br />
their success in the suckler herd competition and for<br />
allowing us to visit and showcase his farm operation and to<br />
Dasnke bank for their continued support.<br />
The NI Charolais Club show and sale was held on Friday, 6<br />
March, and the full report can be found in the sales section<br />
at the start of the newsletter.<br />
Calves currently on the ground on farm are bred out of a<br />
former Dungannon reserve senior champion Brownhill Issac<br />
purchased in the November sale 2014, Frank commented on<br />
the quality of these calves and how they are born with little<br />
Calves recently born<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
47
Scottish & Northern - Carlene Mackay<br />
This is the time of year when I start to write up our autumn<br />
newsletter and in normal circumstances, I always have lots<br />
to report on and can take me a few weeks to collate all the<br />
information and pictures but sadly ‘normal circumstances’<br />
have changed and we are all living in a ‘new’ normal. Face<br />
masks & sanitizer are our new way of life for the foreseeable<br />
if we decide to leave our own bubbles and venture out. The<br />
shows, open days and social gatherings are obviously a great<br />
miss for us all, but we will come back next year stronger, wiser<br />
and with a hunger to win and get involved.<br />
daughters in total and most of her female calves have been<br />
retained for breeding in the herd. One daughter which was<br />
sold was Elgin Lynsey who made 3,600gns at the 2016 herd<br />
reduction sale at Stirling.<br />
Summer 2021 will most certainly be a massive Charolais<br />
party!! And as a breed we certainly know how to put on a<br />
party!! So let’s look forward to kist parties, highland show<br />
antics and lots of laughs. In the meantime stay safe everyone.<br />
Carly x<br />
May Bull Sales<br />
Stirling<br />
Leading the Charolais trade was Harestone Oblivion from Neil<br />
& Stuart Barclay’s Harestone Herd at Banchory, Aberdeenshire.<br />
Oblivion sold at 7200gns and is by the 12,000gns Carlisle<br />
reserve senior champion Wesley Equinox, out of Harestone<br />
Mo, a homebred daughter of the 25,000gns Stirling<br />
intermediate champion Inverlochy Ferdie and was sold to A<br />
Smith, Tarland, Aboyne.<br />
Carlisle<br />
Solwayfirth Oneal took the top spot this time selling for<br />
£10,000 to J Wight & Sons, Biggar. Oneal is the first bull to be<br />
sold by the 11,500gns Glenericht Majestic. His dam Solwayfirth<br />
Ingrid was a daughter of the Perth Supreme Champion<br />
Blackford Samson.<br />
Full Sales Reports can be seen on page 18 onwards<br />
Scottish Farmer – Champions of the Decade Competition<br />
The Scottish Farmer ran a competition over the few weeks<br />
leading up to what would have been our annual outing to<br />
the Royal Highland Show. This was to find the prestigious<br />
Champion of the Decade animal - The public voting whittled<br />
down the charolais entries to a short lead of three and then<br />
the judges - Society Chairman Ben Harman and Society<br />
President Michael Atkinson had the difficult task of deciding<br />
the ultimate Charolais champion. They found their champion<br />
in Elgin Catherine from the Milne Family at Kennieshillock.<br />
Elgin Catherine then continued her virtual success and won<br />
the Interbreed Championship which was judged by Kay Adam,<br />
Newhouse, Glamis.<br />
Previously in 2013 Elgin Catherine won the Charolais<br />
Champion and then went on to win the interbreed beef<br />
championship at the same show along with her Februaryborn<br />
heifer calf Elgin Iona. No stranger to the show, she had<br />
previously won the junior female title in 2009.<br />
Bred and exhibited by the Milne family, out of their 50 strong<br />
pedigree cow Elgin herd based at Kennieshillock, Llanbryde,<br />
she is by Gower Versace and out of the 14,000gns Rumsden<br />
Samurai daughter Elgin Unity, a cow which has bred sons to<br />
9,000gns.<br />
2013 was her last year in the show ring and she sadly passed<br />
away in the Spring, however she has produced nine sons and<br />
Elgin Catherine<br />
Charolais Youth Development – Maisie Turley<br />
With one of our main focus’s as a breed being the Charolais<br />
Youth Development we are going to be doing spotlight<br />
interviews in every newsletter on our up and coming young<br />
breeders. This time round we spoke to Maisie Turley whose<br />
grandad is the very well Kent face of Jim Muirhead at Firhills<br />
along with Aunty Alison. They have both ensured Maisie is<br />
starting life with the same enthusiasm and passion for the<br />
breed as they both have. We can’t wait to see Maisie out in<br />
the show ring with her chosen one ‘Firhills Polly’ next year.<br />
Can you tell us about yourself and the name of your most<br />
favourite charolais animal and why it’s your favourite ?<br />
My name is Maisie Turley and I am 10 years old. I stay in<br />
Markinch with my Mum, Dad and little brother, Hamish. My<br />
hobbies are gymnastics, country dancing and Judo.<br />
When I get time I visit my Grandad Jim and Auntie Alison - I<br />
enjoy helping out with the cows and now the new addition of<br />
sheep.<br />
My favourite Charolais at the farm this year is Polly. I got a<br />
chance to show her this year and she is the one I have been<br />
able to work with.<br />
Looking to the future what would you most like to win in the<br />
years ahead ?<br />
I would like to start showing the cows once I am old enough<br />
and as my favourite show is the Highland maybe winning<br />
at that would be good. I have been at the show every year<br />
since I was a baby until <strong>2020</strong><br />
What is your most favourite task and least favourite task<br />
outside on the farm?<br />
On the farm my favourite job is feeding the cows and helping<br />
48 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
with handling the cows . My least favourite job has to be<br />
moving the dung especially during washing.<br />
What do you want to do when you grow up ?<br />
I am going into Primary 7 and I have no idea what I would like<br />
to do yet - plenty of time.<br />
What things would you like to see the British Charolais Cattle<br />
Society do in the future for the Youth Development ?<br />
Not being able to be on the farm as often as others I think<br />
it would be good if the Society were able to post tutorials<br />
online from others giving ‘top tips’ on handling, grooming and<br />
showing, explaining what to look out for.<br />
Golden Wedding Anniversary<br />
There were more celebrations this summer at Balthayock as<br />
Major Walter & Lady Sarah celebrated their Golden Wedding<br />
Anniversary in June. Congratulations and the very best of<br />
wishes to you both.<br />
Births<br />
During lockdown these very special little people made an<br />
entrance into the world – wishing both of the families many<br />
congratulations with the new additions to their herds.<br />
Jess Malone came into the crazy world on the 30 March and<br />
now has a very proud big sister Alba to look after her and<br />
show her the ropes at Pitcairn, including looking after the new<br />
brood of hen’s. Wishing Craig, Katreen, Alba and Jess all the<br />
very best.<br />
Gayle & Bruce Campbell had an arrival in May, of a new<br />
junior stockman at Thrunton – Fraser Bruce Campbell. Many<br />
Congratulations to you all at Thrunton.<br />
Engagement<br />
Very best wishes and a long & happy future for freelance<br />
stockwoman Kim Brown & her partner Colin Mcewan who got<br />
engaged during the summer.<br />
Young Farmers Overwintering – Thainstone<br />
Cameron Hunter (pictured<br />
right) with his Young<br />
Farmers Overall Charolais<br />
Champion heifer which he<br />
bought for 324kg £820.00<br />
from WM Paterson & Son,<br />
Upper Forgie, Keith – this<br />
April born heifer was sired<br />
by Bill & Garry’s home bred<br />
bull Aultmore Gladiator.<br />
The heifer had a daily<br />
liveweight gain of 1.219kg<br />
and she sold weighing<br />
502kg for £1200.<br />
IMPORTING ANIMALS, EMBRYOS AND SEMEN<br />
CHECKLIST<br />
A link for all the information you require on importing can<br />
now be found on the Charolais website at<br />
http://www.charolais.co.uk/society/admin-proceduresand-fees/<br />
then clicking the relevant link.<br />
Other useful information and forms can also be found on<br />
this page.<br />
Please give the office a ring on 02476 697222 if you<br />
have any queries.<br />
January 2021 Journal<br />
The next edition of the Charolais Journal<br />
will be published in January 2021.<br />
ADVERTISING - KEEP YOUR HERD IN FRONT<br />
By producing a more attractive publication<br />
it is envisaged that it will be used as a<br />
Charolais reference point throughout the<br />
year.<br />
Advertising is available at the following<br />
prices:<br />
Members<br />
Full page colour price of £250.00 + VAT<br />
and 1/2 page colour £150.00 + VAT<br />
Non Members<br />
Price on application<br />
This represents remarkable value and the<br />
adverts can be either sent camera ready<br />
or send draft details for Fiona to design<br />
the advert. Email: fiona@charolais.co.uk<br />
Deadline for adverts is 3 December 2019<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
49
Border - Betty Graham<br />
South East - Peter Heath<br />
Our year started in February with the AGM held at the<br />
Auctioneer with a decent turn out of members. The officials<br />
were re-elected with Will Cleasby starting his second year<br />
as Chairman, Judith and Betty continuing in their roles as<br />
Treasurer and Secretary respectively. After the formal business<br />
we had a business meeting to receive suggestions for activities<br />
for the coming year.<br />
These suggestions were all in the process of being activated<br />
when coronavirus arrived and then lock down started. We<br />
would like to pay tribute to all key workers including NHS who<br />
have worked very hard and long hours and continue to do so.<br />
Many offices closed and many began to work from home albeit<br />
in more difficult conditions.<br />
Many businesses have suffered as they had to close but we<br />
wish everyone well as re-opening is allowed and restrictions<br />
are lifted.<br />
Our thoughts go to anyone who has had the virus and hope<br />
they have made a good recovery. It has been strange times<br />
to live in and we have all missed the summer shows and<br />
events that we look forward to attending. Health is the most<br />
important factor so we look forward to 2021 when hopefully<br />
events will be re-scheduled.<br />
In August our Club members Tom and Claire Lawson got<br />
married and celebrated with a small gathering in their garden.<br />
We wish them well for their future together.<br />
<strong>2020</strong> has been a bad year for the weather and coping with the<br />
pandemic but in true farmer style, we struggle on. We have<br />
had a significant lack of rain and many farmers are winter<br />
feeding in our area and with a poor yield from this year’s crop<br />
there is concern about feed shortages over the winter – let’s<br />
hope it rains soon!.<br />
It’s been a sad year for me as I made the difficult decision<br />
to sell my cows. Dad isn’t as mobile as he used to be and<br />
he has been subsidising the farm as we’ve had a tough few<br />
years at the bull sales. I feel I’ve had a good run over the past<br />
25 years enjoying every minute with various achievements<br />
including first prizes at the bull sales and senior champion<br />
at Stirling with Hercules. A significant success was in Perth<br />
selling Casanova for 20,000gns to John Jeffrey and Claudius for<br />
18,000gns - I’ve never managed to repeat it! Sackville Adonis<br />
was sold at Carlisle for 14,000gns to Bill Bruce & Bob Adams<br />
and has since had a big impression on the breed, most notably<br />
his grandson Thrunton Gladiator who is still going strong.<br />
I have particularly enjoyed the shows with my highlight being<br />
a win in the cow class with Sapphire (dam of Adonis) at the<br />
Royal at Stoneleigh. I have gained many friends through<br />
owning Charolais and I would like to thank everyone who has<br />
helped me on my journey. I always remember my first time<br />
at the Royal Show being greeted by David Benson and made<br />
to feel very welcome even though I was only a small breeder.<br />
I would consider Charolais the friendly breed and would<br />
encourage anyone who wants pedigree cattle to buy some. I<br />
think over the years I have achieved most of my goals but I still<br />
have a few embryos so haven’t quite finished yet!<br />
I have sold a couple of cows with calves at foot, two in-calf<br />
heifers and six yearlings to help start up a new herd near<br />
Clitheroe in Lancashire. three cows have also been sold to<br />
Robert Temple’s old Rumsden farm which is now owned by<br />
Australian Cate Blanchett and I wish them all the best in the<br />
future. My farm has been rented out and they have purchased<br />
a bull and a few cows from me so I still have an interest in<br />
them and can stay a bit involved. They may buy a few more in<br />
the future to increase the herd.<br />
We are running a herd competition this year following the<br />
virtual format of photos and videos with Libby Clarke and<br />
a few youngsters from Northern Ireland agreeing to judge.<br />
Unfortunately, we have taken the decision to cancel the<br />
calf show as we feel it would be unsafe to hold it with the<br />
pandemic still having a large impact on events – this year will<br />
have to be a write off and here’s to next year being better.<br />
Tom and Claire with their children Charlie and Hannah<br />
We hope the Autumn sales can all go ahead with social<br />
distancing in place and there is a good demand for stock.<br />
Keep safe everyone and we hope 2021 is a better year.<br />
Autumn sales look to be impacted by the pandemic as<br />
well with sales happening via online auctions, and other<br />
means including facebook and sell my livestock. The use of<br />
technology has been hastened and even I have managed a<br />
zoom meeting. I have been watching the virtual show classes<br />
that have been happening, along with online sales, and I have<br />
been shocked by the mobility of some of the bulls – care<br />
needs to be taken on preserving the longevity of the bulls as<br />
we don’t want the breed to get a bad name.<br />
Closing date for regional reports in the next January Journal<br />
is 2 January 2021<br />
50 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
NOTALGIA, 25 Years ago with Charolais<br />
Picture 1 - Mrs Newby won the bull carcase section and a Border Fine Arts Charolais bull model<br />
Picture 2 - Charolais were reserve in the Duke of Norfolk competition at the Smithfield Show. l t r: Limestone Icicle,<br />
Fairway Itman, Bold Ideal<br />
Picture 3 - Riddlecombe Enrico Overall and interbreed champion at the Royal Ulster Show<br />
Picture 4 - The BCCS Vice-Chairman Ralph Needham received the Trehane Trophy from Sir Richard and Lady Trehane<br />
Picture 5 - Ray and Jean Holmes congratulate Alistair Smith on his sucess in presenting Bassingbourn Impact at Perth<br />
Picture 6 - Greta Barker and Anglia Club Chairman John Goodwin congratulate Stephen Flack on winning the trophy<br />
for the highest priced sold bull sold from the Anglia region, awarded to the 10,000gns Culford Imperial<br />
Picture 7 - Thrunton Ideal with Ian Campbell are congratulated on the Perth championship by the judge Sandy Innes<br />
and the Society President Major David Walter<br />
Picture 8 - Charolais ‘The Farmers Choice’ at the Dairy Event<br />
Picture 9 - The Interbreed winning group at the Royal Welsh Show<br />
Picture 10 - Kelton Celeste Overall champion at the Royal Highland<br />
GIFT ITEMS<br />
Insulated Travel Mug £6.00<br />
Rucksack £10.00<br />
Notebook with Pen £3.50<br />
Calf Measuring Tape £5.00<br />
Umbrella £17.00<br />
Lorry Sticker £6.00<br />
Mug £5.00<br />
Key Ring £10.00<br />
CHAROLAIS BOOKS<br />
The Charolais Adventure by AS Harman £10.00<br />
A Calf Called Valentine by Berlie Doherty £5.00<br />
Valentine’s Day by Berlie Doherty £5.00<br />
Charolais Leading the British Beef Revolution Hard Back<br />
£5.00<br />
Charolais Leading the British Beef Revolution Paper<br />
Back £5.00<br />
Promotional Goods<br />
ACCESSORIES<br />
Spotted Ties Burgundy, Navy or Pink £10.00<br />
Baseball Caps (Suede Peaked) Silver £8.00<br />
Woollen Hat with Logo, Charolais or Bull £6.00<br />
CLOTHING<br />
Carlton Quilted Jacket (Dark Green) £55.00<br />
Selkirk Softshell Jacket £35.00<br />
Mens Regatta Softshell Bodywarmer £30.00<br />
Ladies Regatta Softshell Bodywarmer £30.00<br />
Poloshirt £15.00<br />
See our sales catalogue on the<br />
promotional page of our website<br />
www.charolais.co.uk<br />
All postal orders are subject to P&P – prices vary depending on the size of the item from £1.50. ** postage is<br />
included in the price. Overseas postage prices on application.<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
51
MINUTES OF THE 58th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE<br />
BRITISH CHAROLAIS CATTLE SOCIETY LIMITED (Limited by guarantee)<br />
Held on THURSDAY, 18 June <strong>2020</strong> at 1.00P.M. in The Charolais Office<br />
Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, CV8 2RG and via zoom with permission<br />
from the charities commission<br />
Chairman:<br />
Mr B Harman<br />
The Chairman welcomed members to the 58th Annual General Meeting of the British Charolais Cattle Society Ltd.<br />
1. To read the Notice convening the 58th Annual General Meeting of the Society<br />
The Chairman called upon the Chief Executive, Mr Peter Phythian, to read the notice convening the Meeting.<br />
2. Apologies for absence<br />
Apologies were received and recorded as follows:<br />
Peter Donger<br />
3. To approve the Minutes of the 2019 57th Annual General Meeting of the Society<br />
The minutes of the 57th Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 20 June 2019 were included in the <strong>September</strong> 2019<br />
issue of the Charolais News and circulated to the membership.<br />
The Chairman asked if there were any questions.<br />
There were no matters arising and Mr Allen Drysdale proposed acceptance of the minutes as a true record. Seconded by Mr<br />
David Thornley.<br />
4. To receive and consider, and if approved, adopt the Report of the Council of Management presented by the Chairman of<br />
Council.<br />
The Chairman re-iterated that it was a great honour and privilege to chair the society over the last year and he had really<br />
enjoyed it and met a lot of great people, he invited the member’s to read the chairman’s report which follows:<br />
When I wrote this, we are about a month into the Covid-19 lockdown, facing the biggest social and economic upheaval<br />
since 1945. Last year’s Chairman’s report talked of the uncertainty and confusion in the industry caused by Brexit. While<br />
that remains, it has been completely usurped by the immediacy of a global pandemic, the effects of which will be felt for<br />
years to come.<br />
Our society was quick to react, Rusmi (our office manager) set up the facility for staff to work from home before it became<br />
compulsory, systems were put in place to keep the office working for members for as long as the lockdown continues.<br />
We held our March council meeting online, this was successful in terms of input from the council members, in terms of<br />
safeguarding the health of staff and council members. It is likely that we will continue to work in this way for some meetings<br />
even after life returns to ‘normal’.<br />
The society holds significant funds invested on our behalf, the dividends and growth from these funds has served to<br />
subsidise the members costs for many years. In recent years council has taken the view that these should not be relied<br />
upon as a guaranteed income. Through better use of our assets, cost cutting and by finding other revenue streams Peter<br />
(the chief executive) has helped steer the society closer towards self-sufficiency. It was prescient. Nearly 30% of the value<br />
of the portfolio has gone, dividends will be seriously cut. The pain felt by members over the loss of the spring bull sales will<br />
also be reflected in the accounts for next year where we will see a significant drop in sales commission.<br />
There is financial disruption right across the food industry, McDonalds alone takes 50,000T of beef a year. The closure of<br />
pubs, restaurants, hotels, and venues has directly led to a drop in slaughter price and a consequentially to store prices of<br />
around £120/head.<br />
Peter has been working closely with the main auction houses to find a way to run the spring sales in new and innovative<br />
ways in order to find ways for members to be able to market their bulls at this most important time in the annual calendar.<br />
At the time of writing that work is ongoing. Sue has been editing and publishing to our social media sites videos of<br />
members’ bulls and creating online catalogues. I should take this opportunity to thank all our staff. We are so fortunate to<br />
have the team we have. Peter, Rusmi, Sue, Rebecca, Fiona and Mandy have all done their utmost to look after our business<br />
before and during this pandemic. I am happy to speak on behalf of the entire council when I thank them all for the work<br />
that they do for us.<br />
The show season has been at best severely disrupted and at worst may still be written off completely. It doesn’t take me<br />
52 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
to tell you what a blow that is. Agriculture’s shopfront to the general public has gone as well as the highlight in the social<br />
calendar for so many stock people whether it be your small local show or one of our fantastic National events. I fear that not<br />
all shows will be able to sustain the hit on their finances that a cancellation will bring.<br />
The Chairman concluded by thanking everyone.<br />
The Chairman asked if there were any questions on the report.<br />
There were no questions on the Chairman`s report.<br />
Adoption of the report was proposed by Mr Chris Curry and seconded by<br />
Mr David Connolly.<br />
5. To receive and consider, and if approved, adopt the Annual Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet for the 2019 year<br />
and the Auditor’s Report thereon, presented by the Honorary Treasurer<br />
The Chairman invited the Treasurer to present the 2019 accounts.<br />
During this pandemic crisis and indeed the 2019 year the staff deserve a special mention. I guess that I work more closely<br />
with them than most and fully appreciate their individual qualities, skills, and talents. I do not mind repeating myself, the<br />
BCCS is extremely fortunate in the staff that we have.<br />
Moving on to the financial results for the year there was a degree of satisfaction with the year end result coming in<br />
considerably better than budgeted. Long term underlying trends as with the pedigree sector as a whole saw reduced<br />
registrations and membership, although it must be said that BCCS registrations fared far better than most breeds. On the<br />
whole there is a lot to be positive about in the results, albeit in a vastly changed place from pre-BSE days.<br />
2019 Financials<br />
At the end of the year BCCS funds stood at £2,936,056 (2018 - £2,585,582), up by £350,474 which was mainly due the stock<br />
market rebound with an agreement on BREXIT and more political stability.<br />
The total income for 2019 increased in the year by 24% from £549,700 to £680,177. The major contributions to the Society<br />
income are derived from members’ subscriptions, registration fees, transfer fees, auction sale commissions and investment<br />
income.<br />
Breedplan income totalled £51,918 (2018 - £52,776) whilst PCS and ABRI support cost £54,051 (2018 -£52,413).<br />
Investment income<br />
• The dividend income from the investment portfolio decreased by 2% to £78,331 (2018 - £79,770).<br />
Cattle Society Income<br />
• Rent received from the society tenants increased to £47,471 (2018 - £38,001).<br />
• Registration income increased to £183,019 (2018 - £164,235).<br />
• Membership income decreased to £65,046 (2018 - £71,418).<br />
• Gift aid refund and interest increased to £11,039 (2018 - £10,843).<br />
Expenditure<br />
Total expenditure for the year increased to £692,656 (2018 - £628,427).<br />
• Staff were given a 2% pay increase in line with inflation.<br />
• Building repairs increased £3,376 (2018 - £195).<br />
• Computer repairs and maintenance increased to £5,344 (2018 - £1,716).<br />
• The purchase of promotional goods increased to £6,446 (2018 - £3,471).<br />
• Legal and professional fees increased to £8,164 (2018 - £6,407).<br />
BCCS members were refunded £16,800 for supporting the Charolais classes at the National and Royal Shows.<br />
This support attracted 22 more Charolais cattle than in the previous year, the credit of £100 per animal forward assists with<br />
some of the expenses incurred by the Charolais exhibitors.<br />
SNP testing, the change over from microsatellite cost the society £26,864 which has also been fully capitalised<br />
The loss for the financial year was £21,434 (2018 - £40,593) compared to a budgeted loss of £89,000.<br />
Last year I mentioned that difficult decisions were going to be considered. In <strong>September</strong> I presented a budget to the council<br />
for discussion. After long and detailed consideration, the proposal was adopted unanimously. In the light of the current crisis<br />
WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK<br />
53
we have had to revisit the budget recently. With the inevitable reduction in dividend income and the likely reduction in sale<br />
commissions along with the possibility of reduced registrations all pointing towards reduced income. On the expenditure<br />
side of the calculation we are foreseeing considerable savings in<br />
show expenditure, Charolais youth etc with an overall difference to the budget of £1,000. These calculations unfortunately<br />
involve a lot of guesswork, and will be regularly monitored, but if correct are far better than we first hoped.<br />
Finally, I would like to wish you all the absolute best of luck and hopefully the pandemic will soon be over and we can start<br />
looking forward to renewing friendships.<br />
There were no questions on the Treasurer’s report.<br />
Adoption of the report was proposed by Mr David Barker and seconded by<br />
Mr David Thornley.<br />
6. Election of members to the Council of Management<br />
The Chief Executive reported:<br />
Messrs D Barker (Southern England), D Thornley (Northern England) and R A Owen (National) were re-elected unopposed to<br />
serve for a further term of 3 years.<br />
Mr J H Christie made a decision to retire after his first 3-year term and therefore a vacancy was available for the Scotland<br />
region.<br />
Nomination for this vacancy was received from Mr M Milne (Scotland) which was unopposed.<br />
Mr G C Robinson has been asked to become Honorary Treasurer for the next 12 months.<br />
The Chairman welcomed the new council member and thanked the outgoing council member for their contributions over<br />
the years.<br />
7. Election of President<br />
The Chairman started by thanking Mr Michael Atkinson for acting as president for the society for the last year. Mike is wellknown<br />
and is highly regarded throughout the UK and has represented the society fantastically well.<br />
It is the feeling of the council that due to the Pandemic Mike should stop on another year so he can complete a full year of<br />
show and sales<br />
Mr G Robinson proposed, Mike should stay on another year David Connolly seconded the motion<br />
The Chairman then welcomed Michael as the new President and asked for a few words<br />
Mike began by thanking the society for presenting him with the great honour of being president for a second year. He went<br />
on to say he has enjoyed meeting many old friends and is looking forward to meeting many new ones in the future, he has<br />
thoroughly enjoyed all the shows and sales especially the Royal shows and the Clogher show which was a great success for<br />
the young breeders and what a great job the NI club and Sue had done to organise the event, Another highlight was the<br />
Welsh winter fair where he spoke to the Prime minister Boris Johnstone and offered him some advice!<br />
Mike went on to say he is looking forward to the shows and sales starting again so once again we can enjoy the social side<br />
of the membership at the events<br />
The Chairman then went on to thank Mr Robinson for the hard work he does as Treasurer of the society and said he would<br />
like to invite him to continue as Honorary Treasurer for the next 12 months.<br />
8. To appoint Auditors<br />
The Chairman invited the Honorary Treasurer, Mr Robinson to propose the Society auditors for the forthcoming year.<br />
Mr Robinson proposed Harrison Beale & Owen Ltd to continue as auditors. Seconded by Allen Drysdale.<br />
9. To transact any other business<br />
There was no other business.<br />
Meeting closed 1.26pm closed<br />
54 WWW.CHAROLAIS.CO.UK
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