President’s report

What an exceptional year 2022 has been, with the emergence from Covid and the Coates’s Herdbook bicentenary.

The return to a normal level of activities and the extra factors that have been part of the bicentenary have meant an increase in activities for our team led by Clive Brown with Ellie Doak and Rusmi and the staff at the Charolais office. I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to every one of them for all they do.

It has been good for all of us to get back to normal and meet up again at shows and events throughout the year. Among the benefits to come out of lockdown has been the ability to master the virtual meeting, which has meant that as we have come out of Covid we have continued to use virtual meetings for every alternate board meeting and for most sub-committee meetings.

The advantage of this is its much easier for people to attend and there is, of course, a reduction in costs. However, nothing can match meeting in person, so we still have at least two meetings a year in that format.

A major part of the recognition of The Coates's Herdbook bicentenary was the national championship show at The Great Yorkshire Show. There was a tremendous gathering of 137 entries which was a delight to see and drew many admiring comments from people not involved in our breed.

I would like to thank all the exhibitors for their efforts and commitment over that week. We were honoured on this occasion to be visited by our Patron, The Princess Royal, to whom we presented the ‘200 years strong’ portrait. She also presented two President's Awards, to mark the bicentenary, to Liz Lang and Sally Horrell for outstanding service to the breed and the Society.

There was a chance on this occasion for The Princess to meet the young members who were present as part of The Shorthorn World Conference Tour. This tour was a great success, leading to a conference at Lumley Castle and, while a report will appear in later pages, we must thank the Dairy Shorthorn Society and in particular Ros Rimmer, for organising it. Thanks are due to Mark Severn and Tina Russell for representing the Beef Shorthorn Society on the conference committee. The other event our Patron was due to attend this year was the development day hosted by the Hannington herd. Very sadly, due to the death and funeral arrangement for Her Majesty, The Queen, the visit was cancelled, but by royal command, the day went ahead.

On this occasion we were able to announce the winners of the inaugural national herd competition, the Podehole herd. Congratulations to them.

The Morrisons premium scheme continues to operate and while numbers are rising, there is scope for more, particularly in England and Wales. The commercial flexibility of our cattle continues to amaze me as they thrive and finish to a high standard on a huge range of systems from intensive to the most extensive imaginable.

We are all aware of this, but to be able to prove it to those considering moving into Shorthorns it is essential to record performance and submit this to ABRI, through the Charolais office. The more data we can gather, the more easily we can prove the performance of our cattle. There has been a huge genetic improvement in our breed over the last 30 years and in order to continue this, we need sound information and data.

Carbon is at the front of many people’s minds at the moment and as a part of Morrisons drive for their food to be carbon neutral by 2030, the Barwood herd is leading the way as a demonstration farm and the Hannington herd is a project farm being monitored for carbon use. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the sustainability of the breed, something we all know, but again need to be able to prove.

It has been an honour and a privilege to have been the Society’s president for the last two years and I would like to thank the board, the officials and the members of the Society for their help, support and advice over that time.

Charles Horton President