The thought of trading a New England Tableland winter for a fine English summer, the chance to attend two of the largest agricultural shows in the United Kingdom and the opportunity to visit and stay with Aberdeen Angus breeder's pedigree herds in England and throughout Scotland , has made my first 19 days of the Andrew Stebbings Memorial Scholarship thoroughly enjoyable.
After arriving at Heathrow airport in the early hours of the 11 th June I was soon welcomed to the international traveller's way of life, when it appeared that the airline had dragged my suitcase by its wheels from Australia behind the plane. However after a quick suit case change I met Trevor Stebbings and the UK Angus adventure began. When I reached Trevor and Kate Stebbings property in Norfolk, I soon realised after seeing their 1400kg + bull, that any preconceived notion that I may have had in regards to the stature, growth, genetics, and nutrition of Aberdeen Angus cattle within the United Kingdom would soon be challenged.
On the 13 th June I travelled by train to Wedderlie the home of John and Marion Tilson, their daughter Wanda her husband Andy and Irish employee Noel. John, Marion and Marion 's late father Jock Campbell have all been past presidents of the Aberdeen Angus cattle society and interestingly Noel had been a past winner of an Aberdeen Angus Youth Scholarship, where he spent time visiting Angus herds throughout the New England region and rest of Australia . When Luke McClenagan, a TAFE student from Armidale arrived at Wedderlie the same day that I did, I thought that this family had got more than they bargained for (two Australians and an Irishman).
The Wedderlie herd is the largest pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd in the country set on 1060 hectares in the Lammermuir Hills of the Scottish Borders at 240-370 metres above sea level. Their 220 pedigree Angus cows are run in two calving groups comprising of 100 spring and 120 autumn calvers which are joined over an 8 week period using stock bulls “pedigree bulls” and AI sires. Embryo programs are also utilised to progress genetics. This calving pattern allows Wedderlie the flexibility of calving spring born cattle in autumn or autumn born cattle in spring which is quiet handy in the case of 1 st time heifers or cows which may gradually become later in their calving pattern or are not quiet old enough to join. Bulls can also be produced for autumn or spring sales. The cattle are run alongside 1800 ewes of which around 200 are purebred registered Texel's and the majority are Scottish Blackface ewes mated to Texel rams which dominate the more elevated country or Texel ewes mated to Texel rams on the lower country.
When it was time to earn my food and board it was off to the silage pit to remove wet and mouldy silage, a task which I will happily leave to the more experienced UK Angus breeder. I also had the opportunity to administer All-Trace cattle mineral boluses to around 120 of the autumn calvers, which had just had calves weaned at about 6-8 months of age. This occurred while Wanda and Noel injected a dry cow treatment into the teats of the cows. This was the first time I had ever seen a dry cow treatment used within a beef cow herd, however as I was informed the relatively wet environment, winter housing and summer heat, all combine to foster large number of flies that rapidly cause the spread of mastitis. The shear size of these cows was quiet breathtaking compared to what I was use to in Australia, especially considering they had just had calves weaned and still weighed between 650-950 kg's. I was quiet impressed with the quality of cows, yearling bulls and stock bulls I viewed at Wedderlie, it was a credit to the years of breeding and management which had taken place. Interestingly Marion Tilson had been one of the most influential people in promoting the adoption of group Breedplan in the United Kingdom . Consequently the Aberdeen Angus Society changed from the old Signet recording system to the group Breedplan system run through ABRI in Armidale. Now various other breeds have followed suit.
Left: Administering All-Trace cattle boluses at Wedderlie
Right: A typically functional Wedderlie cow
On the 14 th of June I travelled to Galawater Angus the home of Jim Logan and family. The 585 hectare property which is 255-495 metres above sea level is situated at Galashiels within the Scottish Borders. Galawater runs a spring calving herd of 60 registered Angus cows with one group mated naturally, another group artificially inseminated to observed heat and 5 cows flushed in an ET program. 99 head of commercial cattle which were mainly Simmental cross cows are either, joined to Angus bulls, used as embryo recipients or not mated due to age. Around 30 Purebred and commercial heifers are kept for replacement females and the rest are sold for breeding or finished on silage/barley at 20-22 months. The best of the bulls are retained or sold privately at Angus Society sales and the rest are intensively finished at 12-14 months. Similarly 50% of the steers are finished at 12-14 months and 25% are extensively grazed, then finished on hoppers at 18-20 months.
For a relatively new Angus breeder Jim has progressed quickly through the purchase of quality females and males and the use of AI and ET technology. A testament to this was that one of Jim's home bred bull was Champion Angus at the February Perth Bull sale and went on to sell for 15,000 guineas or $39109.10 Australian Dollars (a guinea is 1 pound and ten pence). The February and October Perth bull sales are regarded as the premium stage to sell Angus bulls in the UK and Angus without size, weight, eye appeal and breeding, fail to compete with their Charolais counterparts.
While viewing Jim's yearling heifers, yearling bulls, cows, calves and stock bulls it was not hard to notice what an effect immaculate ryegrass dominated pastures could have on cattle which were well bred. Although I was suitably impressed by the quality of the cattle, Jim's registered and unregistered sheep which were focused on prime lamb production were equally impressive. Never had I seen such a variety of sheep breeds on one property.
Above: A stock bull at Galawater Angus
On the 17 th June I ventured with Noel and Luke for a day trip to the Rawburn, home of John, Joan and John Elliot Jnr at Kelso within the Scottish Borders. John Elliot Snr had also been a past president of the Aberdeen Angus Society. The Rawburn herd consists of 150 pedigree cows which are joined over an 8 week joining period for spring calving. The cattle are run alongside a Suffolk and Texel sheep operation on about 267 hectares of country. Artificial insemination and embryo programs have been used to a large extant in the herd with the majority of genetics being sourced from Canada and America . I had heard that Rawburn were known for producing large framed cattle, but I was pleasantly surprised with the combination of moderate and large frame females which I viewed, with some particular cow and calf units really attracting my attention. I had never seen relatively young Angus calves expressing the degree of muscling, that some of the calves were. It was evident that Rawburn had acknowledged that increasing role of EBV's for bull and female buyers in the UK beef industry. Many of there stock bulls and females have been bred or selected for a high Angus terminal index (the sole UK Angus index), which roughly equates to faster growth, larger mature size, leanness and increased carcase muscularity. A typical example of this is Rawburn Transformer, who has been one of the most widely used sires in the UK . In 2007 the top 10 bull calves in the country for Terminal Index all had Transformer in their immediate pedigree.
Above: Rawburn Transformer at 10 years of age
From the border region of Scotland I travelled to Huntly in the North East of Scotland where I stayed at Auchincrieve with Charles, Jillian, Emily, Charles Jnr, Lucy and Ben McCombie. The McCombie's run some 130 head spring calving cows of which approximately 30 are registered Aberdeen Angus and 20 are registered Charolais and crop winter wheat, barley, malt barley and turnips, on their 1000 acres of owned and leased country. It was evident that the surrounding district was predominantly Charolais based and that Angus males and females without frame and weight within this area would complete in the domestic market. The McCombie's also ran a number of Suffolk ewes which are bought in from neighbouring farmers and crossed with Texel rams to produce meat lambs that are slaughtered at around 15-22kg dressed.
Above: Charles McCombie with stock bull Blelack Widgeon
As is the case with most properties in Scotland cattle at the McCombies are housed in sheds for about 6 months of the year over the winter period from October to April and then turned out in the spring to graze ryegrass dominates pastures which have cocksfoot, white clover, red clover and native grasses present to varying degrees. Pasture is cut during the summer and used to produce pit silage, baled plastic wrap silage or plastic wrapped haylage depending on the size of the herd, equipment at hand, feeding preferences of the producer and kindness of the weather. This year has been the wettest since 1914, which has meant silage, haylage or hay which should have already been cut weeks ago is lying over in paddocks throughout Scotland . Manure produced during housing, is spread in the summer on pastures after cutting and grazing has occurred. As you can image the yearly addition of manure to pastures rapidly enhances the organic matter content of the soil, subsequently increasing microbial activity and soil productivity. Organic matter is one thing that we could do with more of in Australia .
On the 20 th June I travelled with Charles McCombie to the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh . The Highland is regarded as the premier show in Scotland and the number, quality and evenness of the Aberdeen Angus exhibits within each class reflected this. To see a crowd of onlookers, which rivalled the best of the European breeds, was a welcoming sight. The champion and reserve champion were two young cows which would not look out of place anywhere in the Angus world, and exemplified the superiority of the females over the males on the day. It was great to see a show which combined animal exhibits, with agricultural machinery, tools and craft stalls.
Above: Supreme Angus Exhibit at the Royal Highland Show
Above: A junior bull class at the Royal Highland Show
After the Highland show a travelled back to Auchincrieve with Charles and Jillian before heading back to the Stebbings home in Norfolk . During this time I was treated to pheasant “which tastes just like chicken but has a stronger smell”, black pudding and local cuisine. On the trip to a local pub I was shown a life like statue of Jeremy Eric of Bridgefoot who sold for 28,000 guinies and has had semen exported to Australia . I also had the opportunity to look from the roadside at Tillyfour farm, the past property of Charles's great grandfather William McCombie (1805-1880) to which “modern Aberdeen Angus breeders pay homage”. In the official Aberdeen Angus society reference book and breed history (1977) it has been said that “McCombie was unquestionably the greatest of the early breeders and one whose skill, courage and knowledge enabled the breed to reach its high standard of quality and breeders their modern genetic technique”. It is quiet amazing to be travelling through and viewing Angus cattle within the very region which laid the foundation for the modern Angus development.
On the 27 th June I travelled to the Royal Norfolk Show steeped in tradition and prestige. The experience of being wined and dinned nearly masked the fact that I was there in a judging capacity. Judging the young handlers and cattle paraders classes, was one of the toughest tasks I have encountered in recent years. The standard of parading skills from youth of all breeds was extremely high and the evenness of competitors was remarkable and a credit to the Aberdeen Angus and other beef cattle youth programs within the United Kingdom . I soon realised that parents are the same all over the world and that one wrong decision may determine whether I would continue with the rest of my trip.
Above: Getting down to business during the Young Handlers Class (15-20 years) at the Royal Norfolk Show
Above: The final line up of the Young Handlers Class (15-20 years) at the Royal Norfolk Show
My travel around Scotland and to the two Royal Shows re-enforced the notion that the traditional short, thick and dish-faced Aberdeen Angus, which up until the late 1960's had been the face of the breed due to high export demand from the Argentinean market, had all but vanished. It had been replaced by an animal, which is leaner, faster growing, heavier boned, of larger mature size and increased muscularity. This transformation has occurred in order to compete with European breeds in a UK grading system, which is conformation based, and discriminates in premium terms against animals with reduced carcase muscling at the hindquarter, loin and forequarter. The importation of genetics from Canada , New Zealand , Australia and Ireland in the last 40 years has hastened this size development of pedigree Aberdeen Angus herds in Scotland and England , to an extent that the average breeding females which I have seen would be 100-200 kg heavier than an average Australian Angus breeder.
I would like to express my appreciation to Angus Youth Australia, Angus Youth UK, the Angus Society of Australia and the Aberdeen Angus Society. In particular I would like to thank Kate and Trevor Stebbings for the opportunity to take part in this fabulous adventure. To all the Aberdeen Angus breeders throughout Scotland and show exhibitors at Norfolk , thanks for your hospitality, it has made the first part of my trip thoroughly enjoyable.
