Herd profile; Upsall

Always on the up at Upsall

Founded more than 110 years ago in 1909, the Upsall herd is now in the hands of the fourth generation of Turtons, with the Hon Gerald Turton currently at the helm.

The Upsall herd started with Gerald’s great uncle’s registration of a bull calf. Before the war the herd was selling heifers to Canada through Bertie Marshal of Cruggleton who was a keen supporter and buyer at the York sales.

Gerald became involved in 1959 when the decision was made to introduce the polling factor with an American bull Hilldale Collynie 100th (P) and shortly afterwards Harold of Denend (P), a son of Constructor (P).

Then, in 1963 he flew to Canada and was taken to Shorthorn sales in the mid-west by Wib Donaldson of Louada fame. He had been buying whole herds in Britain and every year had a Louada sale. “It was a tremendous education,” says Gerald.

After moving through herds in the States they did the same in Saskatchewan. Among the animals Gerald saw at Louada was Constructor's dam, a very thick Queen of Hearts cow.

In 1965 Upsall was offered Royal Leader or Constructor (P). They chose Constructor. He had enjoyed an impressive show career. Then, following the tragic death of Gordon Blackstock, Gerald bought three females from the Victoria family at his Bapton herd dispersal sale. When Victoria Muriel calved the bull calf she had been carrying Wib Donaldson arrived to try and buy him. He was turned down as he was homozygous polled and Gerald wanted to use him.

In 1967 Foot-and- Mouth closed the export market until the early 1970s when the herd sold two bulls and a heifer to New Zealand and then shortly

Strong female lines have been the backbone of the Upsall herd, with the Ury Maid family producing numerous show winners, including Ury Maid X693, champion at the Great Yorkshire in 2016.

after four bulls were sold to the USSR. More recent exports include bulls to the Czech Republic and Germany and embryos to Austria.

The late 1970s saw Ronnie Henderson buy semen from two Australian bulls and the Upsall herd used Mandalong Super Elephant to great effect. He was a massive bull and suited Upsall cows.

Moving through to more recent times, in the 1990s Gerald bought Glenford Director (P) a son of Sutherland Titerlist (P) and when he had the opportunity, he also bought Glenford Prince from Bob Howard.

One of the most notable purchases was Loch Awe Lysander(P) which had been supreme champion at the Bull Sales when bought in 1998. Following on from him came Uppermill Recto (P) and Gerald had been watching his offspring.

Dingo of Upsall (P)

In 2005 the herd took a team to the bull sales and only bulls with an Upsall prefix received a trophy, including one that had been born at Upsall and sold in a herd sale.

One thing Gerald has been keen to ensure over the years has been a record of the thoughts of previous breeders and, having lost a great many breeders in the 1950s, he set about interviewing key breeders of the time. Interviews included Donald McGillivray, Jimmy Biggar, Roby Minty and Willy McGowan to record their memories and thoughts on the breed.

And to encourage breeders to spread the message about Shorthorns and increase the social aspect of the Society also introduced the idea of regional clubs around this time too.

Back with the herd and having been using AI successfully for many years Gerald tried to buy the semen rights for Broughton Thunder from Glen Trengove, but he had already agreed to sell to Major Gibb and he did not wish to deal with more than one buyer. Happily, the Major and Gerald came to an agreement and Broughton Park Thunder proved a good breeder.

The resulting calves included Dakota, Dingo, Governor, Eurosceptic and a host of other good breeding bulls including Hussar of Upsall (P) and in 2022 Palmerston, a son of Dingo, was the top priced bull at the February Stirling sale.

Females from the herd have also always fared well at shows and sales and in 2016 Ury Maid 963 was supreme champion at the breed’s National Show at Harrogate. And then, this year, another Ury Maid heifer won a first prize at the National Show.

Dakota of Upsall was one of the first sons sold from Broughton Park Thunder, selling to the Scott family at Fearn.