YOUNG MEMBERS YOUNG MEMBERS EMMA MCINNES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Tel: 07920 485059 Email: mcshow71@gmail.com Tour 2016 After some epic journeys to Norwich we all settled down to dinner, which included entertainment by our very own magician. We were very privileged to begin our trip with a visit to Blake s abattoir. Once suited and booted, Adrian Crow from MLC meat marketing took us through to the lairage where four beasts where penned ready for us to judge and grade as a live animal. Adrian went through what we should be looking for and what points to look for to ascertain the grade in which the animal in front of us deserved. It was interesting to listen to everyone s point of view as to what grade they thought each animal should get. Through into the shop floor of the abattoir, we saw the whole process from start to finish. Every member of the trip chose to see the process. The process was undertaken very calmly and no animal or person involved was under any stress. We were shown the relevant parts that got sent for testing and told why this happened. At the point in which we were stood looking at two sides of beef Adrian showed us why you should only handle a beast across the loin from one side. We then did a reverse tour of the rest of the abattoir with Bob the abattoir manager. Starting from the boxed meats out in the chillers, waiting to be dispatched then through into the boning room. The speed in which the men in there worked the knives was impressive! Slowly we worked our way through the chillers until we got up to the shop floor again. Once again the four carcasses that we had judged earlier in the morning were in front of us. It was here where you could see the points that Adrian was showing us in its actual form. One carcass in particular graded very well compared to what we all initially thought upon our first judgements, she looked quite a plain heifer in the pen then Adrian explained where she was strong and how he would grade her. Yes, she didn t have that lollipop on the end but was full of meat in the loin where the expensive cuts are. She was a Simmental x heifer. If anybody does get the chance to go to an abattoir especially with a member of the MLC team like we were privileged to do, I would definitely recommend that they go because you get an insight into the end product you are manufacturing. I d like to thank Andrew, his team and Adrian for giving us this opportunity, I know that the young members, myself included, took a lot away from the visit. That afternoon we travelled down the road to Paul & Linda Gunther s enterprise. To begin with, Paul gave us a run down as to what they do there, which included contracting on a massive scale, an expanding agricultural supplies shop, and the cattle - both commercial and pedigree. Paul ran a number of small competitions through the afternoon, which created camaraderie between the participants and we soon learnt the competitive ones amongst us! We all had a look around the machinery in the yard which I found very interesting, having only known about the livestock side of the industry and the insight into contracting and the machinery on that scale was impressive. One of the pieces of machinery sat in the yard cost more than a house does! The first field was the show team, who were awaiting their final show of the year in the next week or so. Horatio the bull calf looked very well and I m sure we will be seeing him at a sale in the not too distant future. In the field full of cows with young calves at foot we saw some promising outfits and found a ring feeder full of one of Paul s experiments. It contained whole crop barley and oats which had been baled and silage wrapped. The cattle certainly looked well on it and it smelt good enough to eat. There was a tour of the housed fat cattle which gave the YM plenty of opportunity to have a go at grading the cattle with their new wealth of information learnt earlier on in the day. This was fantastic to listen to and also sparked debates amongst them as to how each person came to the grade given. The next exercise was to guess the amount of bales in the biggest straw stack I have ever seen. Some people got more exercise out of this than others, some walked up and down counting, some strode out the stack and some guessed! Paul definitely saved the best field of cattle till last, his field of two year old heifers were a fair sight to see. They were all of the same type and I m sure exciting things are to come from them in the future. Thank you to Paul, Linda and his right hand stock woman Emma, for laying on such an interesting visit. It certainly showed us that sheer hard work and determination pays off in time, an enterprise that didn t ever have a quiet five minutes and with an exciting future ahead of it. Friday took us to the Thursford herd of the Mitchell family, Denis runs the pedigree herd as efficiently as
SIMMENTAL REVIEW 2016 A view of the Fircovert herd along the way that others dream of doing and I m sure that their breeding will go to other breeders and will carry on their success. Thank you to Denis and his family for giving us the opportunity to see your set up. We took to the rural Norfolk roads once again and we eventually got to the boat just in time to set sail for a trip YOUNG MEMBERS A view of the Thursford herd Frank Gwynne presents Paul Gunther with a quaich in appreciation of his support of the Young Members tour anyone can, in my opinion. We had a look at the maiden heifers, where a number of the heifers prompted what s the breeding behind that Denis? Then onto the park in which Denis calves the cows down on. One or two calves were on the deck, the rest were ladies in waiting. The park is a lovely setting itself without being occupied by a group of strong Simmental females. We spent a long time in here and the youngsters asked lots of questions which did actually spark a debate into the future of British farming. The last field had cows with strong calves on, with one bull calf in particular that everybody took a liking to. In March 2017, Denis and the family are selling the herd, I m sure it s with a heavy heart that they have made this decision. Over many years Denis and his father have dealt and bred cattle, making some fantastic achievements Matthew Robson presents Denis Mitchell and family with a quaich in appreciation of their support of the Young Members tour
YOUNG MEMBERS down the Norfolk Broads. It was serene and some of the waterside houses where out of this world. You couldn t fit a cattle shed on any of the plots though, absolutely no use to any of us! Saturday brought us to the main event on the whole trip, the stock judging competition held at the Williams herd. We kicked off with a bull class and finished with a heifer class, this was the class that the reasons were to be given on. The results were given out after lunch, we then had a look around the cows and calves. The young members Young Member s Stockjudging event
were very interested in the different breeding that Hayley and Andrew had bought, bred and used. We saw a number of cracking heifer calves, including Belle, who was the admiration of each person on the trip. A view of the Williams herd Were the boys peckish or over interested in the feed? I guess we ll never know In the cattle sheds we saw the show team, it was in here that Frank Gwynne saw the heifer Williams Girlie 2nd, he really took to this heifer. Frank went on to win the 500 to spend at a society sale, which he spent on buying her at the November Carlisle sale, she stood female champion and reserve overall of the sale. On the YM stock judging trip 2015 Dafydd Gwynne won the junior section representing Scotland and used the 500 voucher he won to buy Popes Susanna s Ginger. Dafydd Gwynne and his heifer Popes Susanna s Ginger purchased at the Leading Ladies sale in Carlisle. David Donnelly presents Hayley & Andrew Clarke with a quaich and a bottle of whisky in appreciation of their support of the Young Members tour
YOUNG MEMBERS Hayley, Andrew, William and family gave us the centrepiece of our trip and we wouldn t have been able to hold the whole thing if it wasn t for their hospitality, cattle and facilities. So thank you for all that you did for us. The final day of the tour took us across to the Twyford herd of Tony and Phillida Hurn. They run both a commercial and pedigree herd of Simmental and Aberdeen Angus. We had a tour of the housed fat cattle where they were kept in large batches moving up the pens as they were ready to go. We had a look around the commercial cows and calves. The calves on the cows were all of a high standard with good tops in them and a nice bit of shape too. In the pedigree cows and calves field we saw some promising young stock and yet again some nice heifers coming through. Although we are all Simmental breeders we had a look at the Angus herd, they were kept in a beautiful setting and we saw the Gretna House bull they had bought a couple of seasons ago. We were treated to fish and chips and sat and spoke to Phillida about their breeding and some of their achievements across the years. Thank you to Tony and Phillida for the opportunity to have a look around the cattle and for your generous hospitality. Joel Tobler presents Phillida & Tony Hurn with a quaich in appreciation of their support of the Young Members tour A view of the Twyford herd The opportunity to see so many different aspects of the industry that we work in was phenomenal. I overheard a couple of the young members speaking to some fellow youngsters at a society event a couple of months after the trip, they were explaining bits about what we learnt at the abattoir and described how interesting it was. To me, the fact that it was still a topic of conversation months after the events speaks volumes. The opportunity to attend this event is open to any young member. Not only do you get the chance to win a very worthwhile prize and have a great insight into the industry but you get to spend a couple of days with like minded people your own age. So this coming year I look forward to having 50 plus of you all to knock up for breakfast in the morning.
Stirling Stockperson Winners 2016 Gerald Smith presenting Louise Allen with the New Trend Trophy for Best Stockperson Stirling February Bull Sales 2016 Gayle Houliston presenting James McKay Wightman with the Scottish Club Trophy for Best Stockperson Stirling Bull Sales October 2016 YOUNG MEMBERS TRIP 25TH-27TH AUGUST 2017 Friday 25th Arrive in Lancashire late afternoon, Social night and quiz. Saturday 26th Visit to the Denizes herd and Barlow Brothers Trailers, courtesy of the Barlow family. Stock judging competition & BBQ Sunday 27th Visit to the Blackpool herd, courtesy of David and Christine Loftus Depart home ***NEW for 2017*** The highest placed individuals from each country will qualify for a trip to visit the National Show in Denmark in 2018 - courtesy of the Society.