BCCS September Newsletter 2022

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Lois Scott and Bartley Finnegan Charolais Youth trip to USA Lois Scott At the end of July I was lucky enough to travel to Missouri in the USA, with Bartley Finnegan to attend the Charolais Charbray International Youth Conference. After nearly missing two out of my three flights, I finally arrived in Kansas city where I was greeted by David Hobbs and Kaitlyn Chism from the American Charolais Association. There were representatives from Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Canada and the USA. On the first day of our trip we started off with a factory tour at Biozyme. The company offers a line of high-density supplements and feed additives for animals across the world. We then travelled to Northwest Missouri State University where we had a tour of their new agricultural college and farm before heading to Wright Charolais. At Wrights we got a tour of their impressive sale barn and sale set up. They currently sell around 150 bulls off farm with their bull sale and have started selling females in the back end. At Wrights we were lucky enough to see the renowned LT Rushmore, a very popular bull, having sired approximately 2000 registered charolais and thousands more commercial animals. On day two we went to the American Charolais Association office and met with their executive vice president and staff members. While at the office I was surprised to come across the Scottish Farmer. We then had a flying visit to The National WWI Museum and Memorial before traveling to Kansas to attend the Charolais Youth CharFocus event where we met people from across the states. The conference kicked off with some workshops on animal nutrition, controlled burning, animal traceability (the USA is VERY behind with this) and animal selection. The first day of the conference started off with a meat demonstration. It was fair to say that we were very confused when they said that a sirloin was not a good cut of meat. However, we soon realised that what they refer to as a sirloin steak we refer to as a rump steak. We then boarded the bus and headed to Finks Beef Genetics, this was my favourite visit of the whole trip. We started the visit off by learning about fetal sexing with a live demonstration on what they look for. After this we were shown how they split an embryo and through extensive questioning I was amazed to learn that if the embryo successfully holds, the calves of a split embryo are not any smaller than a regular embryo. We then had the opportunity to work with embryos, identifying them using a microscope and grading them.We were given the opportunity to practice inserting AI guns into the cervix and finding the optimum spot to place the semen. At another station we got to see IVF egg collection and were talked through the process. Embryo programs are a huge part of many cattle setups in the states and it was interesting to hear that they no longer find any difference between conventional and IVF embryos. The highlight for all of the international representatives at finks however, was a sweet black simmental heifer. After Finks we then travelled to Next Gen where we got to see their feed lot and some of their Charolais cattle. The last day of the Conference was a fun day with a trip to an outdoor activities center. Bartley was very shocked to learn that there were tighter restrictions on our archery activity than there were guns in America. We then went to Tiffany Cattle Companies Feedlot. This was very interesting to see the Sheer size of an actual feedlot and it was interesting to hear about their operation and the use of hormones. They also told us about how they mainly prefer black cattle however some ranchers are starting to realise the benefit of using charolais’ for finish cattle and they are seeing more of these coming through. After the Charfocus event it was back to being the 11 international representatives. We visited a couple of universities to learn about their courses and current research projects. One thing we were surprised to learn is that dairy cross beef is only currently being researched in the US. We also visited some stock yards, one that stood out was Joplin. This livestock market encompasses 10 acres under one roof, has surrounding land with numerous pens and traps and is considered one of the three largest livestock markets in the United States. Marketing 600,000+ head of cattle yearly. It was interesting to see horses being used to pen cattle once they came out of the sale ring. I also enjoyed listening to the auctioneers who at some points sounded like they were singing. We continued to visit a lot of different herds including Bradleys, Wild Indian Acres, Stephenson and Shaffers. Each enterprise had something different to offer and each ran their operation differently with some selling bulls privately, some hosting on farm sales and others using online sales. All the herds we visited had polled charolais, animals being polled is 64 - No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet - September newsletter 22.indd 64 16/09/2022 15:01:12
something a lot of ranchers look for with one set up telling us how their best bull didn’t make much in their sale due to it not being homozygous polled. We also noticed that the cattle in general were a lot smaller and less muscly than what we would have here in the UK. Something else that surprised us was when we went to one place and there was a pedigree red Charolais. These differences allowed for some (mostly) friendly debates. Some other visits we had included a tour of the Bayer Agricultural Research and Development Center - the world’s first biotech facility and a tour of Missouri Prime Beef Packers owned by Next Gen, one of the ranches we visited earlier on our trip. The facility opened in early 2021 and processes approximately 500 head/day. One thing that surprised me on the tour was how thin the cull cows were going to slaughter, sort of resembling a dairy cow. We also got to visit the Ozark County Fair. Our visit wasn’t all farm tours as we got to enjoy visits to Bass Pro, a massive country sports shop, a visit to the St Louis Arch, and a trip to Top Golf which we all really enjoyed. We finished our trip off by going to a baseball game to watch the Kansas City Royals. By the end of our trip it is fair to say I have made some very good friends from across the globe and learned so much about the charolais breed and the American approach to pedigree and suckler cattle. I would like to say a huge thank you to the Charolais Society for giving me this opportunity, to David Hobbs, who I’m sure will not miss driving us all around or our singing, and Kaitlyn Chism for organising all of our visits and ensuring we all had a great time. Bartley Finnegan At the end of July I had the privilege of heading to America along with Lois Scott to take part in the International Youth Programme. We spent 9 days touring around farms in Kansas and Missouri. We saw some great cattle and met some great people. It was brilliant to see how different the cattle are in America and how they suit the system and the type of farming out there. Massive thanks to David Hobbs and Kaitlyn Chism for organising a brilliant tour and to the British Charolais Society for sending us across, it was a once in a lifetime experience and one I thoroughly enjoyed. - No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet - 65 September newsletter 22.indd 65 16/09/2022 15:01:15
Page 1 and 2:
Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II
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As I write this, weeks after record
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Special thanks I would like thank a
Page 7 and 8:
Mr R A Owen (National) Tynewydd Gar
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Charolais gives milk producers a re
Page 11 and 12:
Burradon Rebecca at 9,000gns Cayler
Page 13 and 14: Westcarse Ruler at 20,000gns Silver
Page 15 and 16: Maerdy Rocketman at 16,000gns Maerd
Page 17 and 18: Aberdeen March Charolais maintains
Page 19 and 20: Brogher Radar at 6,300gns 3 - W Sho
Page 21 and 22: Swatragh April The hammer comes dow
Page 23 and 24: 4 - W Whyte - Innisrush Roan - s. C
Page 25 and 26: Champion Graiggoch Samuel at 7,800g
Page 27 and 28: Stirling May Robert burns the compe
Page 29 and 30: Class 2 - BULL, born on or between
Page 31 and 32: Harestone Rolex at 14,000gns Harest
Page 33 and 34: 2 - K J Thomas - Moelfre Sonnybill
Page 35 and 36: eeding Charolais for hundreds of ye
Page 37 and 38: Loch-Ends on a high after reaching
Page 39 and 40: 6 - R McWilliams - Stranagone Siobh
Page 41 and 42: Overall champion Bessiebell Nana an
Page 43 and 44: Strawberry - s. Balmyle Oscar Class
Page 45 and 46: Beef Team reserve champions Airthma
Page 47 and 48: Female champion Tophill Roxanne Sca
Page 49 and 50: Overall champion Seawell Olympian a
Page 51 and 52: Royal Welsh - Judge John Christie S
Page 53 and 54: Class winner Breos Nel Class S.441
Page 55 and 56: Owenroe marches to the top at Castl
Page 57 and 58: Reserve junior female champion Brig
Page 59 and 60: NOSTALGIA Can you remember what hap
Page 61 and 62: 3rd place: Kelly Stott, age 25 - Ch
Page 63: - No bull works harder for the farm
Page 67 and 68: Numbers were sprayed on the animals
Page 69 and 70: Pasture tour at Teme Charolais Afte
Page 71 and 72: Slides from the presentation by Rom
Page 73 and 74: Danny Sawrij, of Swalesmoor Farms,
Page 75 and 76: Ian Goldie uses a Shorthorn bull ba
Page 77 and 78: The 2022 Participants Australia Can
Page 79 and 80: Thank you to all the Sponsors of th
Page 81 and 82: Sell Live & Thrive With Welshpool L
Page 83 and 84: Scotland’s leading livestock auct
Page 85 and 86: Obituaries BILLY TURNER 1935 - 2022
Page 87 and 88: as a mark of the esteem they were h
Page 89 and 90: Brigadoon host finale to World Char
Page 91 and 92: Harestone Royallady. This royal pri
Page 93 and 94: sales and love being on the farm. I
Page 95 and 96: Advertising in the 2023 Charolais P
Page 97 and 98: Steve Hookway accepts the Trophy fr
Page 99 and 100: and 7th place went to David Miller
Page 101 and 102: Other News Congratulations to Georg
Page 103 and 104: Wales Eva Jones Shwmae pawb! It is
Page 105 and 106: The Chairman said we are taking leg
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