The Western Holstein Club held our Annual General Meeting on 28th March 2017 at Hunter’s Lodge, Crewe, at which the results of our “Top 10” Winter Herd Competition were announced by our Judge for this event, Mr Andrew Birkle of the award-winning “Whinchat” herd.  The results were:

 

Winning large herd: Woodhey Holsteins – accepted by Mark Robinson

Winning small herd: TI & J Shepherd – accepted by Ivan Shepherd

Best cow: Broomlea Farms Ltd with Broomlea Sietske 44 – accepted by James Lomas

The Chairman, Graham Dimelow, gave a comprehensive review of the year and had great pleasure in announcing that his Member of the Year plaque would this year be awarded to Ross Murray, our HYB Co-ordinator, for all of the hard work Ross has put into encouraging and developing our Holstein Young Breeders.

Our Spring Show on 11th April at Southview Arena was one of the highlights of the Club year, with a similar number of entries to 2016 and of extremely high quality.  The results for this are in a separate Journal article but the Club would like to thank everyone involved, including entrants, sponsors and spectators.  Our special thanks go to our Show Directors, Phil & Jane Arrell who worked tirelessly to put the show together and, of course, our Judge, Brian Carscadden (Canada) who not only gave us an insight into his experience and expertise through his fantastic reason-giving, but also hosted a talk the night before which included a presentation demonstrating the changes through the decades in the showring.

 

We’re looking forward now to our Spring Bull Show & Sale at Beeston on 28th April 2017, followed by the start of our Stock Judging season on 31st May, by kind permission of Anne Stones, Smeaton Hall, Wrenbury  – always very popular events with Members.