Annual Conference
Annual General Meeting & Conference – Cornwall 2010
This year’s AGM and Conference was set in the majestic Atlantic Hotel in Newquay, Cornwall from 6-8 May 2010. Of the 100 delegates staying and the further 30 day delegates each day, I am sure no-one could say they didn’t see or do anything of interest. The Cornwall Club, and in particular Mrs A Curnow, worked extremely hard to make this conference the success it was and for that the Society are extremely grateful.
Business proceedings commenced on the Thursday afternoon for Council members with a short President’s meeting followed by the formal Council meeting. It was pleasing to see that no-one arrived late (or not at all) due to the air traffic problems caused by the volcanic ash from Iceland. I am sure many of these delegates who had flown in had it on the back of their minds “am I going to get home on Sunday”! I am pleased to say that all those due to travel home on the Sunday did so without any problem.
Thursday evening was a chance for friends old and new to congregate and catch up with news of families (and cows) from all around the country.
Friday’s proceedings commenced with the AGM which saw our retiring President, hand over the reins to Mr Arthur Lawrie with Ms Maggie Howie coming on as President Elect and Mr Robin Barr being appointed Junior President Elect.
Arthur Lawrie (left) and Chris Weaver
After the presentation of prizes and awards Chris Weaver made a special presentation to Jim and Christine Ferguson (Mark) to recognise their outstanding service to the Society.
Jim and Christine Ferguson
The coaches then arrived to take delegates to see what they had come for – cows!!
Our first herd visit was to the Jendale herd of Paul and Penny Jenkins, based at Barton Farm, near Helston. This herd, which owes its foundations to Howie’s and Ickham blood is managed on a “milk from grass” system with only minimal concentrates being fed. The herd was looking well in spite of the chill wind with Blackaddar Milkman and Pat Laro daughters particularly taking the eye. Everyone picked out Doris 145, a Triple Crown daughter, milking with her seventh and looking food for many more years, while Peach 118, a Bankend Waterloo daughter, was another that was much admired.
After a hearty lunch at the Grange Farmhouse Kitchen our next visit was to the relatively new Gadles herd of Trevor Howe, based at Ponsanooth, near Truro. Founded by the purchase in 2002 of 30 cows from Andrew Meikle’s good herd in North Devon, milk from grass is again the aim, though cows also have access to our of parlour feeding. Management again is tip top with figures that would be the envy of any other breed. Cell counts of 80 with a calving interval of 390 combined with a culling rate of only 13% represent the attributes that make Ayrshires stand out from the rest. The backbone of the herd are the full sisters Meikle’s Saphire 5 EX90 (now deceased) and Saphire 6 EX92, both by Hitcham Golden Monarch, who both have bred exceptionally well with good daughters by Jurist, Iceman and Ross, while others that took they eye were Tryst and Blackthorn daughters. It was interesting to see that many of the older cows had their peak lactation in their seventh lactations and later.
Our third visit of the day was to the Devas herd of the Roskilly family, again a herd producing cheap milk from home produced food. The Roskilly family are passionate about their Ayrshires it is not surprising that this herd has developed into one of the top herds in Cornwall. Among the young cows, daughters of the home-bred Black Rajah, a Blackthorn son, stood out, while there were good individual daughters by Navigator, White Flash, Bright Crown and Pant James Bond. Among the older cows, Celandine First Lord, Atwell Amadeus and Brocklehill Bank Book daughters were outstanding. The first daughters of their next stock bull, Devas First Valentine, a First Lord son, are calving in, and like First Lord, look as if they will mature into good brood cows.
This ended the first day of our farm visits and after a fantastic afternoon tea everyone piled back onto the buses for the return journey to Newquay where we met up with wives and partners who had spent an interesting day at the Eden Project followed by an afternoon tea at Kingsley Village.
The evening kicked off with an excellent dinner, you could see several people loosening their belts slightly at this stage! After dinner entertainment was the very talented and amusing comedian Johnny Cowling. During his performance, at one point, if you looked around the room, every delegate was singing and clapping to Queen music. However, the entertainment cannot all be credited to Johnny; the “Up and Down” band, consisting of Messrs Bostock, Gibson and Weaver was a sight for sore eyes, but as far as we can understand, this was a “one-off” performance only! (Chris, why did your guitar shrink to a violin by the end of your act)? Special thanks must also go to the band’s manageress, Sara Bostock, who ensured that her husband’s attire was well looked after!
Saturday morning saw many enthusiastic, if a bit bleary eyed, delegates anxiously awaiting the arrival of the coaches to take them to our first farm visit of the day, the Lyner herd at North Hill. After what seemed a very long coach trip, we arrived at the village of North Hill, with some excellent driving skills being shown by the coach driver, to a welcome cup of tea provided by Mrs Annette Curnow and her assistants.
Those of us who had been to the Judging Seminar the previous September had been very impressed then, and we were not disappointed this time! Arthur and family had the cows turned out to perfection, and was quite a sight viewing the herd against the beautiful scenery of this part of Cornwall. It maybe is an exaggeration to say that this is the herd that Benji built, as it has always been a good herd, but this home-bred son of Stevenson’s Benjamin out of a cow carrying a concentration of Pant Dictator blood had done a magnificent job with classified progeny being 87% VG or better. Good daughters were everywhere to be seen and it is a pity that he is no more, as he could have exerted a big influence on the breed. Other cows that caught the eye were Elma, and EX92 Brendan, two really good Meggitt Amigo daughters and the show winning Triple Crown daughter Festival. Most of the younger cows were by the homebred Ferdinand from the same family as Festival and they looked like following in the footsteps of Benji with his progeny as heifers, with the exception of two, classifying 84 points and above. One of the favourites is Fairy Story 2 VG88second calf already a winner and looking an exciting prospect for the future.
After seeing this herd it was back to the village hall for yet more food and then back on the coach for our visit to the Rosehill herd of the Christopher family at St Allen near Truro, one of the best known herds of the breed, not only in Cornwall, but around the world. Much of that fame has come about from the worldwide success of their sire Rosehill Blackthorn and his famous daughter Rosehill Velour, the first pure cow to classify EX96. It was immediately apparent when you walked into the field why this was so, as we seemed to be surrounded by deep bodied, good uddered, clean boned cows, mostly either by Blackthorn or carrying his blood. Velour looked every one of her 96 points, and better still, her Pardner daughter, Vieyepee looked capable of following her mother’s footsteps. The “other must see” cow is Rosehill Magenta, now half way through her ninth lactation and looking good for many more. She had recently been flushed as had her famous Blackthorn daughter, Black Magenta, who like her mother, is also EX93. Among the youngstock, the daughter of Slightly Magic, Magenta’s Commodore son, stood out as did Black Magenta’s full sister, while everyone admired Velour’s B Jurist daughter, Velourist. There are already 16 EX daughters of Blackthorn in the herd, plus six others from his early AI proof, with many more to come. Conn had worked well here with some attractive second calvers taking the eye.
Our final visit of the day was to view the Perranround herd of the Trevethan family. It is always good to be reminded of the qualities that make the Ayrshire stand out from the rest, things like the ability to forage when others would shelter, long living healthy cows with a low maintenance requirement. These were the very attributes that attracted John Trevethan back to the Ayrshire after an absence of nearly 40 years. This out-wintered herd has only been in existence for the last few years, with many of the foundation cows being purchased from outgoing President Chris Weaver’s Tregays herd. Although many were still carrying their winter coats, you could see that they were indeed ideal for the system with good mobility and functional udders. One of the outstanding cows was Tregays Hen 28 EX90, a Bankend Urgent Request daughter.
Others that took the eye were Trident’s Lot daughters and once more Meggitt Amigo daughters.
It was a fitting reminder that our members and their cows are very diverse and that the Ayrshire cow has the ability to adapt and make a profit no matter the country or system employed.
The 132nd Annual Conference was rounded off by an excellent dinner and dance on the Saturday evening with guest speaker Mr Bill Clarke, Managing Director of Cornish Farm Dairy, who spoke about his business from initial conception through to the successful enterprise it is today.
Plans are already in hand for the 2011 Conference which will be held at Airth Castle in Stirling during the second week in May where we hope to see friends old and new.