2012 Chairman’s report
Any annual report for the past year has to begin with the Weather! We began 2012 with a drought in our part of the country and by the beginning of April we wondered just what we would feed our cattle on. However, Mother Nature always has a trick or two up her sleeve and we could never have guessed what she had in store for us all. The wettest year any of us could remember with all that entailed. I am not going to dwell on the various catastrophes that happened to most of us suffice to say we did what we could or what we had to do to get by.
When the BFBC was first formed to Preserve and Develop the Friesian Breed there were no Friesian bulls being tested by AI Companies and so we began our own young bull evaluation scheme. We have come a long way to the healthy state we see today. BF semen is being exported to at least 16 countries who have recognised they need a more robust, versatile and profitable cow in their national herds.
We have been Classifying British Friesians for 17 years and each year we try to have a workshop which now includes all the classifiers. In 2012 this was held at Holt Farm, Blagdon in May, as this was the most convenient for all to get to. This year we are to have our workshop in the Autumn.
Our Herd Visits up into Scotland in July were ground breaking. Despite the downpours we managed to inspect cattle on both farms during periods of Sunshine. Over 150 of us were treated to great hospitality by the Lawson’s(Lismulligan) and the Meilke’s (Dechmont) and we thank them very much. It is surely ideal to inspect cows in their own surroundings and at the same time meeting like minded breeders and friends. We were fortunate in our choice of hotel ( The MacDonald Houston House) who were very helpful enabling us to organise a dinner on the evening between the two visits enjoyed by all. This year we are meeting in Kent so if you are in that corner of England in July, why don’t you come along?
September was a busy month with the HUK Celebration in Staffordshire and the Livestock show at the NEC closely followed by the SW Dairy Show at the beginning of October. The BF cattle of John, Connie and Ian Robotham were outstanding on the first day of the HUK Celebration. I was there with many other club members to enjoy the spectacle. Tom Cope took on the role of President of HUK at the Agm at The Belfry.( I would have enjoyed it more if the F word had been used at least once during the proceedings). Friesian breeders remember him most especially for his bull Huddlesford Doraman, a Friesian many of us used.
At the Livestock show there were awards for long life cows by Genus , the BF one going to The Robotham’s Deangate Queenie 9. John Carnell received his prize for winning our Herd Competition from Jimmy Hull the President of HUK. The cattle in the show were well received if not numerous, with the winning heifer coming from Oakalby and the cow from Lismulligan.
17 BF calves were entered in the ABAB calf show at Stoneleigh with BF classes for the first time. Another ground breaking event and a huge personal success for Margaret Vale (Oakalby) who tried for so long to get more support from the BF Breeders. So get your calves chosen and let’s try as hard this year.
Despite the BF being numerically the second largest dairy breed in the UK our share of press coverage does not reflect this at all. Even if we place adverts to encourage the Editors they remain very slow at responding with any articles. Thanks to our website at least worldwide we are able to get the message across which has resulted in the huge amount of exports. We do still have a couple of pages dedicated to the BF in the Holstein Journal but this only goes to pedigree breeders anyway!
I am constantly getting calls and emails from farmers up and down the country asking why the BF has to be 87.5% to qualify as a Friesian when other breeds do not have the same criteria. It has long been a thorn in our side when comparisons are made between breeds and very often there are more than one breed in the makeup. Even in the show ring some breeds seem to have differing rules.
As we begin another year we can look back with some degree of satisfaction. The BF has proved herself to be truely sustainable in any situation and she excels in grazing systems. Her superior fertility is the key with her more robust body providing a second income stream from her calf as well as ensuring better feed efficiency. Both male and female Pedigree registrations have increased and BCMS figures are also up with the correct ratio of male to female reflecting that BF bull calves really do make a significant contribution to the bottom line.
It seems there will be no quick fix from GM crops to feed the expanding world population if what we read via the internet is to be believed and we are facing huge rises in energy costs in the near future according to recent reports. So where are we with Carbon footprints, TB is still decimating our herds and now Schmallenberg has arrived to challenge us. Will we achieve realistic farmgate prices for our milk so that we can afford all the ever increasing paperwork and assurance none of which prevented our home market being flooded by sub standard meat products containing horsemeat!
None of us has a crystal ball but one thing we can be sure of, the British Friesian can produce milk from forage and unless we have another ice age then we can grow grass even in the wettest summer on record, harvesting it is quite another thing.
I would like to thank the Committee for their hard work, Judges for travelling around the country and giving of their time, HUK for their support and finally our members for their unswerving belief in the Friesian cow. It’s feels great to be proven right doesn’t it!!!
