Monthly Archives: May 2021

Judging taking place during July by judge John Taylor. Rosettes provided by The British Angora Goat Society. No trophies will be awarded. There are no entry fees. Closing date for entries 30th June 2021.

It is with much sadness that we heard recently of the passing of Sue Blacker, the previous owner and managing director of The Natural Fibre Company and Blacker Yarns. Sue died on 5th April 2021 a few days before her 70th birthday.

A former banker, Sue took over ownership of The Natural Fibre Company from Myra Mortlock in 2005 and moved it from Lampeter in mid Wales to Launceston in Cornwall. Years of developments of the business followed and many of us in BAGS were very familiar with the company. Ownership was transferred in 2019 to Colin Spencer Halsey and Graham Higgins who continue the business as a vertically integrated specialist woollen mill with customers from all over the world.

As you read this, I will have already handed over the Administration role to Jackie Andrews, who will be ably supported by David Norman. I wish them both the very best with their new roles. It has been a real pleasure getting to know so many members, often via email or telephone, and sometimes at Livestock Shows and demonstrations. We are a diverse community with a shared passion for livestock, the countryside environment and with angora goats in particular.

A couple of years ago I undertook to help the Society move administration processes on to the Grassroots Herd book. The advantages of this are that there is a commitment to this system that ensures we have a system that will be maintained for the foreseeable future, improved where necessary, and is suitable for, and used by nearly all the breeds of livestock in the UK, including the rare and native breeds. The most visible change this year has been the move from PedeWeb to Grassroots on-line. The Grassroots on-line is a Cloud- based system, which if you love computer systems you will fully understand, and if you are less interested it is a means of ensuring our data is better protected and available for the future as well as the present.

You will also have seen the website has been significantly changed following a crash in March. It was timely to make a change as it allows for more rapid updates and a more modern look.

– Imogen Collis

Postal members:

Please note the new address for correspondence/ registrations/ cheques is:

Jackie Andrews
Barn Close Farm
Cold Ashby Road
West Haddon
Northants
NN6 7AH

CHAIRMANS REPORT – Doug Lockton

Following my appointment as Chairman of BMM in August 2019 there was a very sharp learning curve to organise the sale of mohair to South Africa. Dave and Jacquie’s help was invaluable but Dot did a fantastic job arranging the shipment and sale not least of all as the company in South Africa had only just been reorganised and was in new premises.

Then armed with our new expertise along came 2020 with the pandemic; nothing could be guaranteed and the Board felt that it was too risky to try to move members mohair.

Unfortunately, 2021 does not look much better but something has to be done and we are making enquiries to that end.

Please wish the Board well and we will be keeping you informed of the results of our enquiries.

Board directors – These are unchanged from last year

Chairman: Doug Lockton
Treasurer: Chris Tyler
Society Secretary: Jo Beswick
Other directors: Dot Tyler, Jeannie Camm and Mark Snook-Bevis Ian Mason was removed from the list and there were no new nominations.

Discussion period

The sustainable mohair standard in operation in South Africa leads to a difference of 10% in value between accredited and non-accredited mohair. We have yet to hear back from SA about our adoption of the standard (given our very different farming methods in UK).

Dot reported that the shipping company we used in 2019 is still OK for us to use.

Peter Creber is still OK to carry out the quarantine checks in Longdon.

Doug will contact Nic Fearnley and see if he is able to match the current very high prices in SA.

We will keep you informed of any decisions but there will definitely be a BMM collection this year.

The 2021 Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 17th April 2021 Via Zoom call. Following the cancellation of the 2020 AGM it was determined to make provision for all members who wished to attend to join a Zoom meeting.

There was a good Zoom attendance at this meeting (17 members) and the AGM business was satisfactorily completed.

2020 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – April 2021 Ian Mason

In this very strange year, I hope this message finds you and your animals well.

It has, of course, been a year without Agricultural Shows. There were some virtual shows and I did, on behalf of BAGS, contribute to the Royal Three Counties Virtual Show. BAGS also held their own Virtual Angora Goat Show and I would like to thank John Taylor for the difficult task of judging by photographs. He carried out the task with great diligence and I would like to congratulate all the prize winners and thank all those involved, particularly Kathryn who collated all the entries and photographs. There is hope that in 2021 many shows will return, although there will inevitably be some changes, in particular a likely significant reduction in visitors to the earlier shows in 2021.

We were not able to hold the usual BAGS AGM in April 2020 and the officers and committee have therefore remain unchanged. An AGM will be held in 2021 and will most probably, be an on-line version.

The Society has now been running Grassroots for over twelve months and it does seem to have bedded in well, with I believe, few if any minor teething problems. Many thanks to Imogen for operating the system. Thanks also to the rest of the Committee for their continued support of BAGS.

Sadly I report the death of Richard Yonge’s wife, Mary, who died peacefully at home in July following a fall. Richard and Mary have exhibited their Puslinch Angoras very successfully for over the last thirty years and have been very active BAGS members.

Lockdown has, of course, affected everyone this year in various ways. Those of us who have been blessed with livestock to care for, are, I feel fortunate compared with many. We do have outside space and fresh air to lighten the day. I felt this time did give the opportunity to catch up on fencing repairs, shed refurbishment and re-roofing projects which would have been rather later in completion without lockdown and restrictions on activity away from home.

I hope that 2021 will see a better year for all of us with Coronavirus under control and a return to a more normal way of life. Devon County Show and the Royal Three Counties Show have announced their dates and anticipate proceeding with shows even if in a modified reduced footfall form. This latter Show is now not scheduled , but a Show called the Good Life Show in July at Malvern will be an opportunity for Angora Goats to be shown. A virtual Show for BAGS members is also anticipated but details are yet to be finalised.

I am sure we would like to think that we can meet up next year. Meanwhile, keep safe.

Addendum – more information has now been received about 2021 shows. Devon County Show is going ahead at the beginning of July. The Good Life Show at Malvern is also going ahead on 21st and 22nd July. Our own Virtual Show needs to be discussed and planned. The website host has now changed to a new provider and is still in the process of being updated. Grassroots has also been moved to Jackie Andrews and David Norman. Ian thanked Imogen for all her hard work in getting this system up and running

Officers of the Society

David Haworth remains as our President
Dot Tyler is our new Chairman.
Chris Tyler remains as Treasurer
Jackie Andrews has taken over as Secretary/Administrator and she and David Norman (who is now formally elected onto the Committee) are sharing Grassroots duties.
Ian thanked Imogen for her work on the Committee and hoped to welcome her back in the future.

Discussion period

It was agreed that the Malvern Show would be the Breed Show (judge to be decided) but that the Virtual Show (hopefully with John Taylor as judge again) could be the National Show.
Suggestions for additions to the website were requested. For example, the fact sheets need to be updated.

Well, I’ve had my second injection now and kidding is just about finished – just a couple of stragglers left, so it should be full steam ahead for when all the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

The problem is that I have got so used to just staying on the farm that I am quite reluctant to change my ways. I think I will be keeping on-line groceries deliveries for a while yet.

I’m also feeling my age (74 last week) and struggling with IT changes. I’m trying to do my BPS and Countryside Stewardship applications and haven’t yet been able to manage to verify my identity (I’ve been with Experian in the past). I’ll have another go tomorrow but my smartphone doesn’t want to scan my passport! I am fairly up-to date with IT matters but I wonder how other less able farmers are managing. Maybe it is time to retire!

Certainly the post-Brexit changes to farm payments will be interesting to say the least. How is everyone else dealing with the new ELMS arrangements? Possibly that will be a conversation topic when we next get to meet in person. Zoom meetings are all very well and certainly much better than nothing but we are missing the outside meetings chats in the kitchen over coffee.

Here’s hoping we have a good get together at Malvern in July or at Devon. Please let me know if you want to come to the meal at the Swan in Hanley on Tuesday 20th July.

Good luck to everyone for the remainder of Spring.

Jo Beswick
Bagsbmm@Outlook.com