Southern

from Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society Journal - Volume 18, 2022

Central

Cattle thriving and prospering in all environments

It was an honour and a pleasure to be asked to judge the Southern Club herd competition taking myself and Tracy from Kent to Cornwall. We had an amazing journey, we found good cattle amongst all the herds but some were exceptional demonstrating how Beef Shorthorns can thrive and prosper in all environments.

Our small herd champions were Maplegem, a new partnership near Swindon with reserve going to Penny and Simon Cave and their Poyntington herd. Both herds had great cows and calves, while some promising young heifers. A special mention to the Ringmore herd who have just purchased their first Beef Shorthorn heifers and young stock bull - one to watch in the future.

The overall champion cow and calf coming from the smallest herd in the competition was Legsheath Lilian and her heifer calf, Princess Rosanna - what a cracking outfit.

In the medium herds section, both champion and reserve were extremely hard to split and it came down to who I had awarded most first places - Simon Bradley Farmer and Tina Russell with their Longfield herd just pipping the Hursley herd managed by Curly Holdforth and Penny Lowdes. A fantastic selection of cattle in both herds.

In the large herd Meonhill came to the fore. When we walked out onto the farm the enthusiasm of Mary Chaplin was only surpassed by her cattle. Being stood in the middle of what I can only describe as awesome, cows and calves made me smile from ear to ear. Reserve was taken by the Bloomfield herd owned by S and J Davis whose cows had great udders and very sound feet.

The overall champion herd was awarded to the Meonhill herd managed to perfection by John and Mary Reynolds. This herd showed a quality of breeding as good as I have seen in my time with Beef Shorthorns.

Thank you to all the breeders for your kind hospitality and for allowing Tracy and myself to have a thoroughly enjoyable time.

Mark Severn

Judges: Mark and Tracy Severn Champion herds* Small 1, Maplegem 2, Poyntington 3, Ringmore Medium 1, Longfield 2, Hursley 3, Whitehall Large 1, Meonhill 2, Bloomfield 3, Stanford Park

Champions* Senior bull: Charlesbury CK Macjettic, Hursley Bull 2020: Charlesbury MacDonald, Maplegem Bull calf 2021: Renaissance Man, Longfield Cow pre 1.1.18: Candy Queen, Meonhill Cow and calf 2018: Lilian, Legsheath Heifer and calf: Flossy Nutmeg, Hursley Heifer in calf 2019: Meonside Millicent Ninnet, Longfield Heifer 2000: Oceanview Perfection, Smith Heifer calf 2021: Gemma, Meonhill Group of heifers: Meonhill Herd: Meonhill Judges’ pick: Meonhill Myrtle * results as supplied by the judges

Meonhill Myrtle

Farm walk: welcoming new members

After Covid restrictions it was great to get back farm visits. As a Club, we organised a visit to John and Judy Fry’s farm based at Billingshurst, West Sussex to see there Hansford herd. It was great to see so many members turn out on the day, especially a growing number of new members. The Club has been fortunate to gain several new herds during lock down.

A quickly expanding herd, the Frys have built a good grounding for their cattle to further develop.

Their original purchases came from Woodhatch and Meonhill bloodlines, they later introduced fresh blood from Fearn and Millerston. Meonside Fusillier and more recently, Coldrochie Leroy have both bred well, with some lovely cattle retained from a home bred bull Hansford Moonshine.

Accompanying the Millerston heifers was Millerston Monopoly, a Bushypark Tiger son out of a Dunsyre cow. His first crop of calves are looking well and promise a good future for the Hansford herd and the Fry family.

To feed their herd the Frys have some extensively grazed water meadows. Managed under an HLS scheme early spring grazing is not allowed, so we saw plenty of forage in front of these cows and they looked very well. More of the HLS ground is set aside for silaging and winter keep. To compliment the water meadows, we saw some lush mixed herbal leys, full of plantains, clovers and wildflowers where the cows looked equally at home. It is great to see various grazing management systems with the Beef Shorthorns thriving on both.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Fry family for their hospitality on a wonderful day that celebrated the end of lock down.