Welcome

Welcome to the 2023 Journal

Well, I am now 18 months into my role and would like to thank all of those that have supported me as I have found my feet, by putting up with my questions and letting me know when I am going wrong. A special thanks goes to Ellie, Morna and the staff in the Charolais office, though I am having to accept that you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

The last 12 months have certainly been a year to remember with some great highs and some sad lows. The fact that we were able to get back to some normality post pandemic was particularly timely as we looked to celebrate 200 years of Coates’ Herd Book.

The summer show season saw Beef Shorthorn exhibitors out in force and enjoying considerable success across the country. It was also a delight to welcome our patron HRH The Princess Royal to the Great Yorkshire Show and present her with the commemorative portrait ‘200 Years Strong’.

The subsequent 200 limited edition prints of the portrait proved popular with members and I was pleased that all of those that expressed an interest were able to obtain a copy, with a few spare.

It was also a pleasure to see the World Conference delegates in attendance at GYS which gave numerous members opportunity to renew old acquaintances, including one of my predecessors Frank Milne.

It felt right that the World Conference was hosted in the UK in the Bicentenary year and although the pandemic caused some uncertainty and undoubtedly reduced the number of overseas delegates, a lot of credit should go to Ros Rimmer, from the Dairy Shorthorn Society, for her efforts as the main organiser, although ably supported by many others.

Part of my brief when I joined the Society was to review and improve what we do and although things never move on as quickly as I would like, I feel we are making progress. The office team and board of directors have made a conscious effort to ensure members are well informed through our internal communications and social media and our attention is now turning to how we can improve the website.

A marketing review confirmed the opportunities that are available to the breed to make the most of the current shift in the cattle sector as farmers place greater emphasis on reducing input costs and farming in a way that is more sympathetic to the environment. Many members will have already noticed a new emphasis on Sustainability on the Society’s new show graphics and promotional literature.

The review also highlighted the opportunity to up the Society’s marketing profile and so the board is currently looking to increase in-house resource in that area. It was good to see the National Herd competition finally get introduced and my thanks go to Pedigree Sales for their sponsorship and my congratulations to Podehole as the inaugural winners

As the breed’s popularity continues to increase, the Society is receiving increasing enquiries for stock and there are many new faces around the sale rings. Although Society sales remain popular, and there have seen some record prices this year, there does appear to be an increase in farm-to-farm trading so that is one area the Society will be looking at to ensure it is servicing members’ needs.

The board continue to play an important role in the direction of the Society and I feel it is important there is a strong connection between them and the membership, so you will see in this publication an increased emphasis on who they are and what they do, with subcommittee reports and mini profiles on some board members.

There are also a few other changes to the publication, but I will let you discover those for yourself.

Happy reading and thank you for your ongoing support.

Clive Brown Operations Manager/Breed Secretary