Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Breed society president to unite the membership

Muran Vallay of Ardbhan from the MacDonald family was the toast of the Oban Highland cattle sale, netting 6,800gns.
Muran Vallay of Ardbhan from the MacDonald family was the toast of the Oban Highland cattle sale, netting 6,800gns.

The new president of the Highland Cattle Society (HCS) has pledged to unite the membership after a winter of discontent following the expulsion of two long-standing members from the breed’s governing council.

The new president, Cambridgeshire farmer Sir Jim Paice – a former UK agriculture minister and briefly chairman of First Milk – said the society’s annual meeting in Oban at the weekend had given all members the opportunity to express their concerns about mistakes made in the management of part of the breed’s sale last October together with what he said was the “unrelated” expulsion of breed stalwarts Angus MacGillivray and Hilary Barker from the HCS Council.

The society’s website reveals the expulsions were related to a verbal harassment grievance against Mr MacGillivray by the society’s new secretary and subsequent “interference” by Ms Barker in support of Mr MacGillivray.

Sir Jim said the expulsions were made in accordance with the rules and the society took legal advice.

He added: “There was also concern over the health status of a fold in October. Errors were made in the management at the sale, but thankfully there turned out to be no livestock health issues.”

He admitted that with just 20 cows he was not an expert in Highland cattle, but said he brought experience in organising and managing organisations.

Meanwhile, demand for Highland bulls appeared “sticky” at the sale, with only 22 of the 60 catalogued finding a home.

The top price was 6,800gn, paid for Murran Vallay of Ardbhan, an April 2017-born bull
from the MacDonald family of Ardbhan, North Uist,  who recently featured in a BBC Alba television programme.  He was bought by Kilchoan Estate at Kilmelford.

The show champion, K2 of Cladich, from Jon and Queenie Strickland, Cladich, Dalmally, sold for 6,500gn to RA Phillip, Green Farm, Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Three bulls made 5,000gn.  The first, Hector of Earn from Heather Corrigall, Nigg, Easter Ross was bought by David Smith, Flowry Brae, Memsie, Aberdeenshire; Michael and Sally Nairn, Balnabroich, Blairgowrie, sold Hector of Balnabroich to the MacDonalds, Ardbhan, North Uist; and Ken and Eva Brown, Ledlanet, Kinross sold Brogach 5th of Craigowmill to RD Schuster,  Glenstrae.

The female champion, Diorbhail Dhubh 3rd of Craigowmill, from the Browns of Kinross, also made 5,000gn and was bought for export to Germany.

nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk