British Simmental Review 2018

Contents
President’s
REGIONAL CLUB REPORTS P. 070 - 147
YOUNG MEMBERS P. 148 - 155
ROYAL SHOW REPORTS P. 157 - 181
SHOW RESULTS P. 182 - 196
INTERBREED SUCCESSES P. 198 - 201
SALES REPORTS P. 209 - 235
Message
F
irstly, I would like to say what a great honour it is to be
President of a breed I love so much, and a formidable
task to follow such a prestigious list of previous
Presidents. My special thanks go to our retiring President,
Robin Boyd, for the support he has shown to the Society
and its members during his two years at the helm.
My thanks and congratulations to all breeders who
continue to take cattle to Stirling Sales on a regular basis;
the bar seems to be raised higher sale on sale. In October
2018, 69 bulls averaged at £6187, up by £467, achieving
79% clearance. Well done - this is great for the breed. We
continue to produce bulls more suitable to the needs of our
customers, whilst still retaining the maternal traits no other
breed can offer.
I have always tried to attend all sales up and down
the country, and the Worcester Sale continues to grow in
strength. A big thank you to all the breeders who support it
year on year. However, Carlisle still remains a challenge. For
2019, Carlisle will hold two spring sales, but no leading ladies
sale. A huge thank you must also go to all the breeders who
continue to support summer shows and events up and down
the country.
As we are all aware, post-Brexit is on the horizon, and
it’s important to keep improving our market share and
clearance rates. If we as breeders continue to improve the
quality of our stock by relentlessly culling inferior animals,
and breeding only from animals that carry superior breed
characteristics, the breed will continue to move in the right
direction.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the British Simmental
Cattle Society, and your Chief Executive and his organising
committee already have plans well in hand to celebrate
this prestigious milestone. The venue at Carlisle market has
been chosen, and we will hold a show and sale and a dinner,
as well as farm open days. In 2020, all efforts will focus on
the anniversary event, and there will be no national shows.
I would like to ask all members to take part, and to put on
a show of cattle which will be the envy of all other breeds.
There is no need for me to remind members how very
important quality of stock is for this event.
Another major milestone to happen in 2019 is the
relocation 9of the Society office. Sounds easy as we are only
Michael Barlow
President
moving next door, but this involves moving fifty years worth
of documentation, and will cause a Neil and the ladies in the
office a great deal of extra work and stress. I would like to
ask all the members to be as supportive as they can during
this time. Sue Walley has recently left, and I would like to
thank her for her commitment to the Society, and wish her
all the best for the future.
Our young members stock judging finals last year
were held in Northern Ireland. A huge thank you must
go to the Robson family at Kilbride Farm for inviting us to
see such an outstanding herd, and Richard Rodgers and
family at Hiltonstown for hosting the stock judging finals
and displaying another wonderful herd of cattle. Our
appreciation goes to the office staff and Emma McInnes
for arranging this event. I have hosted one of these
events, and know just how much work goes in to making
them successful. Young members find these events very
interesting, and they are a great chance to meet breeders
of their own age. The Council continues to look at young
members and how to develop their skills within the Society.
Recently, three young members attended a Future Leaders
Course which they thoroughly enjoyed, and which led to
them taking part in their own British beef promotion video.
This was released before Christmas onto social media and
the Society website. It was very well received and clocked up
many thousands of views.
May I conclude by giving my sincere thanks to all Council
members, Neil and the office staff for their hard work
and support. I would like to end this message by saying
how fortunate we are to have such an enthusiastic Chief
Executive, who looks after the Society’s interests as if they
were his own.
www.britishsimmental.co.uk
009
SIMMENTAL REVIEW 2018
SIMMENTAL REVIEW 2018
SIMMENTAL REVIEW 2018
BREED PROMOTION
n order to remain at the leading edge of breed and sale
promotion, we have started using video to promote the
Ibreed and individual sales. Using a powerful brand, we
can deliver a clear and bespoke message to commercial
customers near and far. These video productions are
timeless, and non-critical of other breeds and processes,
the most recent production being a big push on the
benefits of eating British red meat. We saw this as a means
of giving our commercial customers a boost by promoting
their produce. With regard to cost, these videos produce
a much better return in terms of pence per view. We shall
continue to advertise in the mainstream agricultural press,
but adverts will be less in number, smaller in size and more
targeted. This week’s press adverts are next week’s chip
papers.
These videos have predominantly been released on
social media – both Facebook and Twitter - and have been
linked to the Society website and Youtube channel (Simm
TV). Our target market of young commercial farmers are
increasingly using social media and the internet to learn
and source information about the industry. The social
media platform is free to view for anyone with internet
access, and a phone that doesn’t go clunk. Adverts in the
mainstream agricultural press tend to require dipping into
one’s pocket.
A special mention to both Catherines at MacGregor
photography for their ground breaking work in producing
and launching the videos three months ahead of the
original schedule. We are delighted to be industry leaders
in the use of this type of advertising, and whilst we are sure
other breeds will follow suit, everyone will remember who
was first.
www.britishsimmental.co.uk
025
Sheeted Gate
25 34 - 35
006 www.britishsimmental.co.uk
A Member’s
Answer
to TB
Main Electric Fence
The TBAS identifies four main sources of infection;
1. Brought-in cattle. This can be cattle which have
been purchased at a market or privately, your own
cattle which have left the holding for a show or
those which return unsold from the market.
2. Neighbouring cattle. However biosecure and
health conscious you are, if your cattle have noseto-nose
contact with other cattle, there’s a risk.
3. Latent infection. The TB skin test does not have
absolutely 100% detection rate, and animals can
retain infection without reacting to a skin test.
4. Wildlife. Be it from badgers, deer, alpacas, or other
sources, there is no doubt that wildlife is a threat.
The TBAS spent some time looking round the farm,
Main Electric Fence
noting current biosecurity, hazards and TB history. They
define biosecurity as measures, or a series of measures,
which reduce the risk of disease; in livestock terms, this
is based on the premise that prevention is better than
cure. We were presented with a chart showing what
n November 2018, DEFRA released a report reviewing locality. Two years ago, we decided to take the bull by the
percentage risk each of the categories above currently
the Government’s 25-year strategy with regard to
horns, and look into what we could do to secure our cattle.
posed. In our case, we run a closed herd, and although we
IBovine Tuberculosis (TB). The review included major First up was a detailed risk assessment. This was done
show cattle, they are always isolated and tested before
recommendations to help meet the challenge of preventing by walking the land boundaries and looking for badger
rejoining the herd. We are largely bordered by roads,
spread of the disease, and in particular for farmers to have incursion; setts, latrines and runs. Whilst most of the fields
rivers and railways, and the only field with neighbouring
a duty of care to protect their own livestock against the showed no signs of incursion, a single field, set some four
cattle has a minimum 6 metre gap. At this time, we had
threat of TB. General diseases of cattle, such as BVD and miles away from the farm, had evidence of badger activity.
one non-homebred animal in our herd, and although this
IBR are relatively easy to manage and eradicate; the source A search of the area located two setts within a mile of the
had passed four years worth of TB testing, a 5% risk was
of any infection can be culled, and a vaccination program field. Around this time, the TB Advisory Service (TBAS)
allocated. Which left us with a whopping 95% of our risk
put in place. Unfortunately, these choices are not available were advertising for farmers in the high risk area to call on
being allocated to wildlife.
in the case of TB, and other options need to be considered. their services. We decided there was nothing to lose, and
It was very clear from this that the responsibility to
Main Electric Fence
We farm in a high-risk area, and TB is in evidence in the booked an appointment.
protect our cattle from wildlife threat lay with us. We had
034 www.britishsimmental.co.uk www.britishsimmental.co.uk 035