CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
I had wanted this report to be brief but as I trawled through my diary and minutes of the past year I realised this was not going to happen. So I will try not to bore you too much.
The first item of the year was a classification workshop held at Horton Wharf Farm, Ivinghoe Aston with kind invitation of the Carnell family. This was the first workshop involving all the Classifiers. As I recall it was a bitterly cold damp day but we had a frank exchange of views which ended in agreement and fairly consistent results from all.
We then had the sad news that our oldest Committee member Chris Bradbury MBE had died and many farmers and cattle breeders were to be found in the congregation at his funeral. We will all miss Chris, he was such a great character.
Our summer herd visit found us once again Ivinghoe Aston courtesy of the Carnell family. This was well organised and well attended by breeders of all Black & White cattle. After a brief introduction from John were able to walk through and inspect the milking herd, many with impressive records. After a super spit-roast lamb for lunch, most found the opportunity to find the heifers or to find their way to see the bulls on show. An impressive show of cattle and we thank them all for the invitation to visit.
The EDFE at the NEC was the next opportunity for us to promote our cattle but the numbers who actually took part in the showing was reduced due to circumstances beyond their control and so we thank the Burroughs family who again came along and exhibited their animals and the Lawson family who came for the first time. We had a rolling pictures display on the HUK stand for the first time which was well received showing photo’s of typical good British Friesian cows. Ken Proctor was our Judge and he did a great job and we give him a big thank you. I do hope the of the organisers of the event manage to improve the floor covering in the cattle building as many found it too dusty and not at all good for humans or cattle to breathe.
We had BF classes in the UK Dairy Expo as well as the annual Bull sale at the Boarderway Mart in Carlisle and a BF section was added to the October dairy sale at the Bristol sales centre.
The dispersal sale of the Chosenhome Herd of Ben & Adam Pullen in June saw very good prices realised, although these were non-pedigree cattle. Though just how that VW Golf towed the stock bull back to Wales down the M4 is only to be imagined!!!
Bulls and Friesian Semen sales countrywide remained buoyant throughout the year as breeders take advantage of the more Robust genes of the Friesian to produce a cow fit for purpose while maintaining Pedigree status. The numbers of O1 progeny registered to British Friesian sires is testament to that. At least some Pedigree black & white breeders have started to listen to what we have been saying about using Friesian to get that boost in heterosis from crossbreeding and when it is coupled with the other traits well recorded from our classification and production data it is more than the shot in the dark they are going for with the coloured breeds. I noticed that in this week’s Guardian, an article on crossbreeding where DairyCo advocate using four different breeds and nowhere did they say the words British Friesian. Surely our Society could help give us a higher profile to combat this degradation of the National herd. Once this course is set then these animals and therefore potential members are lost to the Society forever.
Milk from grass has never been more important for us farmers. We still face rocketing fuel and fertiliser prices and who knows what as happen to feed prices whether there is a drought or not.
We had all just about got a handle on Genetics when Genomics became the latest topic to dominate the breeding press. We had been told that due to the huge numbers of animals needed to gather enough information for it to be of any use, there would not be any genomic evaluations done for the Friesian. So when DairyCo decided to spend some of our hard earned levy monies to send a selection of Friesian semen over to the USA we were amazed to say the least. I was told it was done so that they would have comparisons for work they may do in future. That was how the parentage of Newfailand Mr Frosty came into question and you all know the results of that enquiry. Since October when this was first came to light it has occupied many hours of my and Suzanne Harding of HUK’s time. I would like to thank her for the professional way she has dealt with the whole situation.
To say that we are angry about this so called mistake is an understatement. Now, through no fault of our own we have lost many hundreds of, as we thought, qualifying Friesians.
When you look at the individual evaluations of the affected bulls, it is plain to see that the conversion used to give them an O1 proof is almost laughable if it was not so tragic. Our 87.5%BF has put us in a position of strength with regard to pure breeding but there must be a way of calculating that gives a truer figure on the animals that fall short by a couple of % points. This would also aid the breeding decisions made by many Holstein Friesian breeders, many of whose cattle fall between 87.5% H and 87.5% BF.
The second event that was to dominate during last summer was the incredible weather; drought experienced by some and the summer wash out by others. Some farmers had to graze first cut silage ground and face a winter with limited stocks and others had to keep cows in as they were ruining the grass as they grazed. I have heard of potatoes and wheat that were never harvested because of the wet and rape and wheat not worth putting through the combine. Climate change!!! Global warming!!! Or just British conditions.
Of course the scourge of Bovine TB continues to be a huge problem and it is high time some hard decisions were taken. We breathed a sigh of relief on March 9th when we went clear in our annual test.
I am indebted to all the BF Committee for their hard work and long journeys to meetings. A big welcome and thank you to Gavin Stockdale for agreeing to be my Vice- Chairman. Let’s not forget the wonderful job done by Ewart Grant our Treasurer and David Armett our Secretary.
Our Committee meetings were attended by Simon Gee from HUK in May and also by Nick Helyer a Trustee of HUK in June and we are very grateful for their contributions. Our December meeting took place at Scotsbridge House where we met some of the staff. We had invited David Hewitt, Secretary of the World Holstein Friesian Federation to give us his views on the influence of Genomics on the future of Breed Societies. There are undoubtedly changes coming in the future as those with the genomic information seek to push out the more traditional breeding techniques to their advantage. As with any new advances it remains to be seen whether it will be yet another flash in the pan. Let’s hope it does not backfire on unsuspecting breeders leaving them to pick up the tab. After all if we make mistakes in our businesses it costs us and we have to pay. If these so called experts make mistakes, then that costs us too, they go home at the end of the day with their salaries or research grants.
Our modern British Friesian with its smaller frame is well placed for whatever the future throws at us. Efficient utilisation of grazed grass and grass silage is the key coupled with her natural fertility and the contribution that the male calf can make to overall profitability is not to be forgotten.
Our next challenge is supposed to be Carbon Footprints.
We farmers are told that on one hand we will not be able to feed the world’s growing population and so many will starve and at the same time we must cut back on the numbers of methane burping cows so there will be less milk and beef to feed the starving masses.
We could just reduce the numbers of bureaucrats who wouldn’t know a day’s work if it fell on them!
I found the following quote in one of our shooting magazines;
The power or not of words.....
Pythagoras’ Theorem – 24 words,
The Lord’s Prayer – 60 words,
Archimedes Principle – 67 words,
The Ten Commandments – 179 words,
Gettysburg Address – 286 words,
UD Declaration of Independence – 1,300 words,
US Constitution with all 27 amendments – 7,818 words,
EU Regulations on the sale of Cabbages – 26,911 words.
Before I end this report I would like to express my gratitude to our retiring President Ivor Davies who has been a steadying hand as well as giving us sound advice and support throughout his 3 years. I thank Jimmy Hull the President on HUK for his interest and support since we met at the EDFE in September.
Congratulations to Willie Bell and Harry Meikle for jointly winning the brochure judging competition. I will announce the winner of the Bull Progeny Competition in a few minutes.
Her Majesty the Queen has surpassed any award we might have made. For her promotion of Sustainable farming Mary Mead was awarded the OBE in the New Years Honours. We congratulate you Mary and we know how much it is deserved.
I look forward to seeing many of you at this year’s Herd visits to Lismulligan and Dechmont in July. There will be another chance to see the Deangate herd in September as it forms part of the official itinerary of the HUK Celebration and of course we can be found at the usual shows around the country.
Finally the British Friesian Breeders Club would like to wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 many congratulations on her Diamond Jubilee.
Thank you.
