Steve & Kay Darnbrooks kindly invited the Group along with members of the South Devon Group to visit their Planetree herd of Dexters and South Devons in August and we had a very good turn out of members of both groups.
The Darnbrooks farm up on the Scottish borders and despite the weather up to the event being very wet the sun came out to give us a very enjoyable day.
After coffee we set of to view the cattle close to home, the dexters in the first field decided we where a very scary lot and high tailed it to the far side of the field.
The next group of cows and calves where much more obliging and Kay explained that this group consisted of their retired show cows with their young calves.
We then moved on to view the South Devons who had no problem being surrounded by a large group of visitors
Quite a lot of the Darnbrooks land is some distance from the farm and on land probably described as less favorable and to view these cattle Steve had arranged for us to be transported by one of Steve’s Lorries and his tractor and trailers.
After an interesting trip round all his cattle we returned to the farm for a very enjoyable lunch of Dexter beef-burgers and sausages accompanied by an amazing selection of salads and some wonderful deserts.
Many thanks to Kay & Steve & Mark for all their efforts, I know everyone had a very enjoyable day.
Gillbeck Herd visit.
Our last herd visit of the year was in the lovely valley of Glaisdale, nr Whitby to visit the Pauline and Brendan’s Gillbeck herd of Dexter's.
The group was blessed with a cold but dry day, and had a good turn out of members and prospective dexter owners. It’s always nice to see people coming along to see if this is the breed for them and meeting like minded people to compare notes.
We were greeted with coffee and a great selection of cakes and biscuits, the family had certainly been busy. One thing these meetings always provide is a chance for everyone to catch up. With our group covering such a wide area if you don’t show your cattle our herd meetings are always a great way to share ideas and renew friendships.
Eventually we managed to get everyone together at go and view the cattle.
Brendan had gathered all the cattle up so they where close to the farm.
It had been planned to hold a talk on A.I at this herd visit but unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances this had been cancelled, and hopefully we will be able to arrange a talk sometime in the future.
However everyone seemed to enjoy the meeting and with members travelling from some quite considerable distances the meeting finally broke up in the middle of the afternoon.
Many thanks to Pauline, Brendan and Brendan’s sister who seemed to have done a lot of baking and was kept busy making sure everyone had plenty of refreshments.
Calf Show.
Our last event of the year is our calf show which we hold in conjunction with the Aberdeen Angus Northern Group. This event is growing into quite a big event as each year more breeds are joining the show.
With all the costs for using the Mart for the day share among all the exibitors this makes sense and much larger entries go for making a busy show.
Caroline Ann Raybould was our judge and she judged our entry with her usual thoughtful manner and explained her reasons for her results to all the exhibitor’s at the end of each class. Which is I’m sure, appreciated, by the exhibitors.
