Dairy Shorthorn Newsletter December 2015

Membership Fee 2016 Please be reminded that your membership fee will be due 1st January 2016. Please submit your cheques to the office at this full address: The Shorthorn Society, 4th Street, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG. Please state your name and membership number, if known, on the back of the cheque so the cheque can be matched up to the correct member. If paying by standing order this fee will be collected in the usual way.

Transfers

Our transfer system is now up and running. This service is currently free of charge. Any animals sold at society sales will now automatically be transferred to the new owner, however if you sell or buy an animal by other means please call Claire or return the pedigree certificate to the office and we can proceed with the transfer and issue an up to date certificate showing the new owner. This transfer will also ensure that all animals are listed under the correct owners and will appear in the correct herd listings for classifications etc.

AGM & Judging Day Mr Dan Stamper of Chichester College, Brinsbury Campus, Pullborough, West Sussex has very kindly offered the college’s facilities for us to hold our AGM and judging day in 2016. The event will take place on Saturday 18th June. We hope to be able to invite other young farmers and students to attend and take part in learning about and having a go at judging cattle. More details will follow in the spring newsletter but please make a note of the date in your diary.

TO ALL OUR SHORTHORN MEMBERS WE WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

rooms have been reserved by the office so please call the hotel direct to book. The rates are: £60.00 single room £87.25 double room.

The Meetings will also be held at: Tern Hill Hotel: The presidents dinner will be held on Wednesday 2nd March 2016: Wednesday 2nd March 2016 @ 7.00pm for Lunch @ 1.00pm.

7.30pm. The venue will be the Tern Hill Ho- Red Cattle Genetics AGM & Directors tel, Tern Hill, Market Drayton, Shropshire, meetings @ 2.00pm followed by TF9 3PU. Tel: 01630 638310. Email inFinance & Administration. fo@ternhill.co.uk, same venue as last year. Presidents dinner @ 7.00pm for 7.30pm Tickets for the dinner are £21.00 per person. Thursday 3rd March 2016: Please call Claire at the office so that your Judges Committee meeting @ 9.00am name can be added to the Attendees list. followed by Council meeting.

Accommodation is available at the hotel for Lunch @ 1.00pm. the Wednesday evening and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Some

Presidents Dinner

Events 2016 Wainwright

Presidents dinner: Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Wanderings 2016

Summer Show & Sale at Beeston Cattle Market: Friday 10th June 2016. There will be a coloured breeds sale there too.

The next Wainwright Wanderings is taking place on the Scottish/English borders on Sunday 8th May until Thursday 12th May. Accommodations is The Crown Hotel, Wetheral in Carlisle. This is a 4 star hotel with pool. Prices are £90 for a double room or £65 for a single room.

The “Wanderings” will include a visit to 6 farms, a tour around a brewery, a tour around a Scottish Whiskey distillery, a visit to a Porridge museum, a trip to Gretna Green and a BBQ on the beach near John Teasdales. An action packed event.

Please ring David Wainwright on 07968 757 956 before end of January so he can collate numbers.

www.shorthorn.co.uk

Borderway UKDairy Expo @ Carlisle: Saturday 12th March 2016

AGM & Judging Day: Saturday 18th June 2016 National Cheshire Show: Tuesday 21st & Wednesday 22nd June 2016 Royal Highland Show: Thursday 23rd June 2016 to Sunday 26th June 2016

Great Yorkshire Show: Tuesday 12th July to Thursday 14th July Royal Welsh Show: Monday 18th July to Thursday 21st July 2016 UK Dairy Day @ Telford: Wednesday 14th September 2016 The Dairy Show @ Bath and West show ground: Wednesday 5th October 2016 All Breeds All Britain calf show @ Three Counties Showground, Malvern 15th & 16th October 2016 Autumn Show & Sale @ Beeston Cattle Market: Friday 21st October 2016

www.shorthorn.co.uk

Gold Cup and how to enter These Competitions were inaugurated in 1926, largely through the efforts of the President of the Dairy Shorthorn Association for that year, the late Mr JL Shirley: the necessary funds being subscribed by a number of firms and individuals in response to a personal appeal by Mr Shirley who was himself a generous contributor. The Council, therefore, directed that the trophies should be known as the “1926” Gold Challenge Cups. The Gold Cup is awarded annually to the Overall Winner of the Competition. So do you have any cows which meet the criteria for entry into the Annual Gold Cup Competition; To qualify a Cow must have: - produced an average of 6000 kg milk with a minimum total of 7% Fat and Protein combined average.

- with a minimum average of 3.2% Protein over 3 lactations.

- had 4 calvings, 3 of which are complete lactations (305 days or less) and must be within a period of 3 years and 4 calendar months, as printed on Cow Lactation Certificates from NMR or other Official Milk Recording Company.

- the date of the last calf born must be in the year of the Gold Cup being held. The competition runs one year behind so for 2016 the date of the last calf must be born before 31 st December 2015. Any entries where the calf is born after this date will be submitted for the next Competition if they meet the above criteria.

- the closure date for entry is the end of May each year and the Winners are announced at the National Show in Cheshire in June. If the animal meets the criteria they will receive a Dipolma Certificate and Star on their pedigree. The Star Brood Cows list is displayed in the journal each year. If you wish to enter please complete the Gold Cup Diploma Entry Form which can be downloaded from the website or call the office and return it accompanied by the milking lactation records and a cheque for £5 & VAT, for each animal.

www.shorthorn.co.uk

Coates’s Herd Book (Dairy) The Council of the Shorthorn Society decided in the late 1960s to open the herdbook to registrations of animals from other breeds in what became known as the “Shorthorn Breed Improvement Scheme” This scheme allowed progeny of Shorthorn cattle by other red and white breeds to be entered in to the herdbook in the supplementary register and the percentage of pure Shorthorn blood displayed after the animal’s name. This scheme has been incredibly successful in modernising the Dairy Shorthorn breed by introducing more dairyness in to the breed whilst retaining the important structural beneficial traits of the Dairy Shorthorn. Whilst this scheme has resulted in huge improvements in the breed there is concern amongst some members that if the use of outside blood is continued we will begin to lose the unique identity of the Dairy Shorthorn. The average percentage purity of animals registered in Coates’s Herd book is declining every year and there is real concern that the physical appearance of some animals is becoming indistinguishable from some other breeds. Council is currently considering, therefore whether or not the time is now right to close the herdbook to direct registrations from animals of other breeds. This would not of course prevent animals from other breeds being graded up to Dairy Shorthorns through the grading register and new bloodlines being imported from other recognised Dairy Shorthorn herdbooks. The Beef Shorthorn Society adopted this course of action in 2001 with spectacularly successful results. A separate sheet is included with this newsletter explaining in more detail how this could be achieved. Please consider this

document and discuss it at your regional meetings with your Council representatives so that they can feed back your opinions to the next Council meeting.

Herd Books

It has been bought to our attention that there are 11 Northern Dairy Shorthorn Herd Books ranging from Vol 1-11 from 1994 to 1954 available from Val Murdoch on 01833 638882. Please call Val if you are interested.

Also we have been advised about some Northern Dairy Shorthorn Breeders review magazines, spring 1950 to 1964, Please email whitfieldandsons@gmail.com for further details. Also there are some Grading Registers vol 30 to 40 dating 1948-57, contact trishatwigs@yahoo.co.uk.

www.shorthorn.co.uk