Autumn herd visit to Yorkshire

In mid-October, together with a few Welsh Club members, the Central Club autumn tour travelled up to Yorkshire.

Our first stop was to see the Highlee herd of Tracy and Mark Severn. As well as seeing this year’s fabulous show team, we saw the cows rearing calves and bulling heifers. Tremendous cows rearing equally tremendous calves; ones to look out for on next year’s show circuit!

Our second visit took us to the Stoneyroyd herd of Tim and Mandy Riley. It was great to see a good herd of cows who were proving how the Beef Shorthorn breed can thrive on steep slopes.

Stoneyroyd herd

Sowerbyparks herd

Day two saw us head to the Sowerbyparks herd of Graham Hunt. The largest herd on our tour gave us the opportunity to see the calves from the several bulls being used across the working cows. Again, we also got a sneak peak at the show team.

The tour then stopped at the Rookwith herd of Ed Page, where we saw a fantastic herd of pedigree cows along with crossbred cows and calves, showing us all how a Beef Shorthorn bull can produce commercial suckler cows and calves. We also got to test our stock judging skills with a group of yearling heifers. We found out who were the competitive ones amongst us.

Checking out the Rookwith herd

Westmoor herd

Day three took us for a walk up the moors to see the superb herd of working cows of Rob and Penny Paisley’s Westmoor herd. The herd certainly have all the characteristics you’d expect of Beef Shorthorn cows and work well among the fantastic scenery of the moor. We also had the opportunity to see Penny’s incredible artwork.

The Beautry herd, owned by Stuart Currie and family was the final stop of the day where we saw wonderful cows and calves and, after a short ride, we viewed the group of fantastic heifers. We were also treated to a viewing of the equine therapy centre at the farm complete with hydrotherapy pool.

Our final day took us on a tour around Woodhead Bros abattoir, owned by Morrisons at Colne. It was great to be able to see where many of our cattle end up and how they are treated with the respect that they deserve. It is always interesting to hear the views of those who see our finished products.

Beautry herd

Woodhead Bros abattoir at Colne

A huge thank you to all we visited during our weekend, not only for allowing us to see your wonderful cattle but also for the hospitality you showed us. All the cattle we saw are a great credit to their breeders, owners and the breed. Thank you to Tina who spent a lot of time organising our tour, ensuring that we had great herds to visit.

Many of us went home after our weekend away and took a fresh look at our herds, whilst talk of next year’s tour has already started.