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The Midland Longhorn Breeders' Club arranged a summer visit which took place on Sunday June 30th in Northamptonshire.

Roger and Tom Elliott, were the Club's herd competition judges last year and kindly invited the Club to visit their farming enterprise. The enterprise is spread over three main sites based around The Homestead all of which we are hoping to get round.

Roger and Tom farm 1500 acres, 350 owned and 1150 rented. They run approximately 800 head of cattle, made up of 300 cows/heifers to calve this year and another 80 heifers going to the bull.  Breeding-wise they have 60 pedigree South Devons (est 1988), 70 pedigree Shorthorns (est 2009), the rest of the herd is nearly all homebred with a mix of mainly Shorthorn, South Devon, Salers and Angus cows.

All heifers calve at two years old to the Salers, 2nd calvers to the Angus, and after that Angus, Shorthorn, Limousin and British Blue are used.  All cattle are taken through to fat, usually killed between 14 & 20 months, with stores also purchased to finish.
Roger and Tom run 50 poll Dorsets lambing Sept/Oct, 800 NZ Romney/Lleyn ewes lambing outside in April. Also 150 Suffolk, Charolais, Texel and Beltex to produce shearling rams to sell.  The also have a few pedigree Welsh pigs. 

There is also a butchers shop run alongside the farming enterprises, which has been in the family for 120 years!!

The Northern Longhorn Breeders' Club arranged a summer visit which took place on Sunday 30th June 2019 at Raby Estate, Staindrop, Darlington, Co Durham DL2 3NF visiting the Raby herd of Longhorns.

The Society organised a Technical Day for all members on Sunday 8 May.

The Society's first Technical Day was held at David and Angela Blockley's Fieldhead Farm, Drighlington, Bradford on a gloriously sunny Sunday.
Members enjoyed a series of talks and demonstrations; feeding and nutrition from Carrs Billington, embryo transfer from Rosie Hetherington, foot trimming from Richard Bartle and disbudding from Hilary Peel.
After a busy morning everyone enjoyed lunch in the sunshine before heading home.
The Society's thanks go to all those who gave up their time to talk to Society members, and to David and Angela who let us use their buildings, cattle and equipment and fed us all so well!

Click here for some photos of the day

The Northern Longhorn Breeders' Group organised a showing workshop on Sunday 1 May 2016.

A less than hoped for turnout but with the weather being as it had in early spring and everyone behind on work it not too surprising.  With no cows turned out as yet we made the best of what we had and had to move indoors as once again it rained.  The demonstrations where carried out by Jim Courts of Thirsk who demonstrated clipping and dressing of a Longhorn senior heifer in preparation for the show or sale ring, followed by members having a go themselves.  Jim selected and judged four cows for a stock judging competition and all members had a go - nobody totally agreed with Jim but the closest was James Emsley.  After lunch two heifers were led into a show ring as Jim explained what a judge was looking for and how animal and handler should behave.  A big thank you to Jim for his knowledge and advice and everyone went home with something to think about!!  Graham Walker Northern Breeders' Group Chairman.

Click here for some photos of the day

The Society's Show Preparation Workshop took place on Saturday 11 April at Mike Shearstone's Tanfield Herd, Lodge Farm, Stathern Road, Eastwell, Leicestershire.

Suitable for both novice members who were looking to take their first tentative steps into the show ring and more experienced members who have showing knowledge and were wishing to brush up or their skills and learn a few ‘trade secrets', the workshop was led by Steve Gray.  Steve is a member of the Society and has been preparing cattle of all breeds for the show ring for many years.  He showed members how to prepare an animal for the show ring.

Members were also treated to a visit around the rest of the Tanfield herd, followed by a delicious home-made Longhorn lasagne lunch.

Click here for some photos of the day.

The Midland Longhorn Breeders Group managed to choose a fine day for their summer visit.

Click here for the report